Make Time
Cover of Make Time by Jake Knapp by John Zeratsky
Rating: 9️⃣
Make Time is a massive listicle of actionable methods that have been field tested by both Jake and John. They are extremely opinionated that you do not need to incorporate all of the 88 methods listed. Rather, you should incorporate these methods through trial and error and weed out the ineffective ones. It gives a silver lining to remove unnecessary digital distractions, blocking time for your Daily Highlights, how to feed yourself for optimum energy and so on. I appreciate the fact that these methods are tried and true and none of them are set in stone for everyone.
Make Time was also another book recommended by Ali Abdaal's Book Club, so is another book I have notes on this website, Grit.
About Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky
Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky have co-authored two books together, Sprint and Make Time, both these books revolve around productivity and time management at its core. They have worked with leading companies from all over the world to improve their processes and work systems to jumpstart their work output.
Jake and John both worked in the Google Ventures portfolio department supporting startups and Jake even developed the "design sprint" method of managing time. At Google, they've been involved in projects such as Gmail and the Google Suite. Basically, they have partaken in making online things "addictive" and "irresistible". They are also keynote speakers and workshop facilitators. They've given lectures at prestigious universities such as Harvard and MIT and even delivery presentations to top companies. Jake also hosts his own podcast around pop culture, writing and life in general.
Summary
Make Time is essentially split into four parts: Highlight, Laser, Energize and Reflect. These principles are based around the consistent steps of creating a Daily Highlight, giving that highlight your Laser Focus, how to properly Energize that Focus and Reflecting on your Daily Highlight and actions. These steps were built upon experience with leading companies while Jake and John ran "Design Sprints", a week-long work schedule designed to kickstart a startup or product design journey.
They open the book with personal experiences around personal and project time management, elaborating on the distraction-filled era we live in. From dopamine-inducing clicks from social media to ridiculous shifts of expectations in professional work environments. The "Like" button, invented by Facebook, stirred a change in society; leading to a dopamine kicks in humans whenever we receive a notification, keeping us on their platform.
Most jobs expect us to be on call 24/7 nowadays, ready to receive and reply emails instantly. Some companies even go as far as to installing apps that deliver push notifications to their employees, making them accountable to replying instantly to every email that comes their way. A large chunk of the book is focused around the "Laser" section, helping you to remove distractions while focusing your attention on your Daily Highlight. Jake and John have over 40 methods in the Laser section that range from finding focus to distraction management and even as detailed as outlining efficient smartphone apps.
The book is followed with a section on how to properly energize yourself, providing tips and tricks to peak your energy levels and optimal nutrition to fuel your highlight-packed day. This includes diet plans, to sleep schedules, how to properly caffeinate yourself and exercise regimes to keep your body in tip top shape. Jake and John finally end the book with a few methods to reflect on the day and some words of encouragement. They even go as far as to insert some personal diary or journal entries from their initial reflections.
Top 3 Takeaways
Daily Highlights can be anything and everything
The book helps you to create the focus of the day. Whether it is making a meal for your partner, gaining progress on a project or even something like creating an action plan.
Jake and John stressed the simplicity of a Daily Highlight, with the fact that it doesn't always need to be grand. Because of the essence of Daily Highlights, and the fact that it directs your focus Every Single Day, it helps you become process-focused.
Process-focused meaning it aims to connect the smaller pieces of the puzzle, making a larger picture. For example, reading 20 pages can be part of your larger goal of reading 26 books a year, which makes it one book every two weeks.
Smartphones are filled to the brim with apps and services fighting for your attention.
Since apps started populating our phones in the late 2000s, more and more social media apps have come to occupy our headspace; with the likes of Vine, MySpace, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn and TikTok. (RIP TikTok 2020)
There are departments built to design the User Interface and Experience to be irresistible, keeping you on their platform for as long as possible. YouTube would be the best example of this, the mystical “YouTube Algorithm” serves as a double-edged sword. Built to provide the best content to the appropriate users, but only provided it increases the duration spent on the YouTube platform.
The Flow State is the pinnacle of personal performance and there are action plans to get there.
The Flow State is constantly mentioned in self development books nowadays, it even came up in the book Limitless. Have you ever gotten so into an activity that you lost track of time as it flew by? Like playing a sport, being fully engrossed in a game, paying extreme attention to studying and never recognising time passing by?
The Flow State is often described as the state of mind where the conscious mind take a back seat and where the unconscious mind takes over. There are many theories on this, which we will discuss further another day, but Make Time focuses on reaching this peak performance and maintaining it through their methods they have mentioned.