Productivity · Personal Development · United States
American author of time management books such as 168 Hours, Tranquility by Tuesday and Big Time, host of the Before Breakfast podcast and co-host of Best of Both Worlds, which runs a $9/month Patreon community.
Laura Vanderkam is an American writer and speaker who focuses on time management and productivity. According to Wikipedia, she was born in 1978, graduated from Princeton University in 2001 and lives outside Philadelphia. Before her time management books she wrote for publications including USA Today, Fortune, Redbook, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.
Her books include 168 Hours (2010), What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast (2012), Off the Clock (2018), I Know How She Does It, The New Corner Office (2020) and Tranquility by Tuesday (2022). Her most recent title, Big Time: A Simple Path to Time Abundance, was published by W. W. Norton on May 5, 2026. She has also published a children's novel, Juliet's School of Possibilities, and earlier nonfiction such as Genius Denied (2004) and All the Money in the World (2013). A recurring method across her work is tracking time in half-hour blocks over a full 168-hour week, which she promotes through free time tracking challenges run by email, including a September Reset challenge on September 14-20, 2026.
She hosts Before Breakfast, a daily podcast of short time management tips, and since August 2017 has co-hosted Best of Both Worlds with physician Sarah Hart-Unger, a weekly show about work, family, time management and planning. She also writes Vanderhacks, a Substack newsletter launched on November 30, 2023, which publishes free tips on most weekdays and one paywalled post a week. Her website links to Instagram, X, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts under the handle lvanderkam or lauravanderkam; no official YouTube channel is linked from it. Her talk "How to gain control of your free time" was recorded at TEDWomen in 2016.
What she sells is mostly books. The paid offers beyond them are small: the Best of Both Worlds Patreon community costs $9 per month and, according to a July 2026 post on her blog, had about 240 members, who get a discussion board, monthly online meetups and members-only episodes; the Vanderhacks paid tier unlocks the weekly paywalled posts, but its price was not visible on the pages checked; and LinkedIn Learning offers a short audio course based on Tranquility by Tuesday, available through a LinkedIn Learning subscription rather than as a standalone purchase. She does not sell a course or coaching program of her own on her website. She gives keynotes and half-day workshops, booked mainly through the Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau; fees are not published.
On reputation, the verifiable record is book coverage. Kirkus Reviews reviewed Big Time on March 9, 2026 and compared it to What Color Is Your Parachute? for readers who want better time management skills, while a review in Verily noted that most of its main ideas repeat those of her earlier books. Her audience figures on Instagram and other networks could not be read reliably and are not recorded here. Because she does not offer investment advice, securities registries were not relevant to her profile.
Objective facts about their offer, taken from public sources. We don't rate the quality of the programs or the results you may get.
6 without a public price
6 official channels
Facts checked on Sep 15, 2026.
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| Program | Type | Published price | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best of Both Worlds Patreon Paid community for the Best of Both Worlds podcast, co-run with Sarah Hart-Unger: discussion board with several work and life topics a week, monthly online meetups and members-only episodes. | Community | $9 Checked Sep 15, 2026 | View |
| Vanderhacks paid subscription Paid tier of her Substack newsletter on holistic productivity, which unlocks the weekly paywalled post. The price was not visible on the Substack pages checked. | Other | Not published Checked Sep 15, 2026 | View |
| Tranquility by Tuesday: 9 Ways to Make Time for What Matters (Book Bite) Short audio course on LinkedIn Learning based on her 2022 book, covering rules such as setting a bedtime, planning on Fridays and scheduling adventures. Access requires a LinkedIn Learning subscription. | Course | Not published Checked Sep 15, 2026 | View |
| Big Time: A Simple Path to Time Abundance Book published by W. W. Norton on May 5, 2026, on seeing time across weeks and years instead of days. | Book | Not published Checked Sep 15, 2026 | View |
| Tranquility by Tuesday 2022 book presenting nine rules for making time for what matters, also run as a nine-week reader challenge on her blog. | Book | Not published Checked Sep 15, 2026 | View |
| 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think 2010 book built on viewing the week as 168 hours and tracking how they are spent. | Book | Not published Checked Sep 15, 2026 | View |
| Keynotes and workshops Talks and half-day workshops on time management and work-life balance, booked mainly through the Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau. Fees are not published. | Event | Not published Checked Sep 15, 2026 | View |
Prices are those published by the mentor on the date checked and may change. “Not published” means we couldn't find a public price.
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An American author and speaker on time management, born in 1978 and a 2001 Princeton graduate according to Wikipedia. She wrote 168 Hours, Off the Clock, Tranquility by Tuesday and Big Time (2026), hosts the Before Breakfast podcast and co-hosts Best of Both Worlds with Sarah Hart-Unger.
Not a standalone course of her own. LinkedIn Learning carries a short audio course based on Tranquility by Tuesday, included in its subscription. Her time tracking challenges and Time Makeover Guide are free, and her paid options are her books, the $9/month Best of Both Worlds Patreon and the paid tier of her Vanderhacks newsletter.
$9 per month, according to a July 2026 post on lauravanderkam.com, which put membership at about 240 people. Members get a discussion board, monthly online meetups and occasional members-only episodes with Laura Vanderkam and Sarah Hart-Unger.
Big Time: A Simple Path to Time Abundance, published by W. W. Norton on May 5, 2026 (240 pages). It argues that the sense of time scarcity comes more from mindset than from overloaded schedules, drawing on time logs she has collected.
Kirkus Reviews (March 9, 2026) described Big Time as inspiring for readers who need stronger time management skills. Verily's review of the same book pointed out that many of its core ideas already appeared in her previous titles. These are reviews of her books; no press coverage of her Patreon or newsletter was found.
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