Make Time Book Review

This is my review of the great book, Make Time: How to focus on what matters every day by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky.

Jake and John were both at Google and then launched their careers in writing and productivity coaching. This gives them an interesting view of the intersection of business and personal time.  

This book is a great place to start if you want to know more about productivity and self-improvement. More detail is available on https://maketime.blog/.

This book keeps to the basics and provides ideas which you can work on immediately as the advice is very practical in nature. The writing style of the authors is very easy to read and the book feels approachable. 

I would recommend this book on kindle as I found myself taking a lot of personal notes which is easier in e-book format. 

Below is a list of the key ideas and tips which I took from the book and have implemented effectively in my own life. I have also found myself coaching my teams on these principles at work. 

Avoid infinity pools

Infinity pools are places you can go to which have potentially unlimited content and the ability to absorb your time. These are particularly prevalent in today’s world with TV, the Internet and social media being the obvious ones. On average in the US people spend 4hrs a day watching TV which I find shocking, but I have been known to regularly do the same. 

If you want a great guide to avoiding infinity pools take a look at this blog:

How to set up your iPhone for productivity focus and your own longevity

I used the instructions there to reconfigure my iPhone and it had an instant impact. You can use technology not only for wasting time but it can be used to keep you focussed and avoid waste too. 

Try using recurring reminders on your phone to help reinforce your habits. Just say “Hey Siri, every morning at 9 am, remind me to choose a Highlight”.

Own your time and use highlights

This is a critical concept, especially in the business world. I frequently start my day with a calendar full of meeting invites and hundreds of unread emails. This can be quite overwhelming and I see it regularly with my colleagues. 

In the above scenario, people often find themselves trying to be more productive by reacting to other people’s priorities faster. 

I used to find myself in the situation that i would complete a full day of work and was unable to recall achieving anything in particular. In order to address this issue I started to actively do these three things:

1. Define my highlight(s) in the morning 

The book gives a lot of advice on the highlight process but effectively I decide on a key task which I need to achieve in order to have “been successful” in a given day. On occasion, I may choose two highlights. My highlights vary tremendously from critical work tasks to going for a run or playing a game with my kids. The highlight should take 60 to 90 minutes typically and the most important part is – Write your highlight down!! I have a note on my desktop which I update every day with my highlight.

2. Review my calendar for the day

Block slots of time in the calendar to work on your highlights. I then decline as many other meetings as possible where I do not think I will add value.

3. Restrict checking e-mail to 1 or 2 fixed slots. 

Every time you check your email or another messaging service, you’re interrupting your day to see if any random person needs some of your time. If you always respond quickly you are also telling everyone that you will stop what you are doing at any time to put their priorities to the top of your list. 

There was a study performed where during one week they compared a group who checked their e-mail only three times a day and they found that this group responded to the same number of messages, but they did so 20 percent faster compared to others who check more frequently. 

Restricting how often you check your email can measurably improve your efficiency and save you time. Ideally, you should answer email at end of the day after achieving the highlight.

Be slow to respond!

Coffee habits

I am personally a very heavy coffee drinker and I can’t get enough of the stuff. I was regularly consuming 5-6 large cups per day, especially when working from home.

Make time points out:

“It’s easy to get stuck in a default caffeine habit—like pouring yourself a coffee each time you take a stretch break at work. Caffeine is a (mildly) addictive drug, so even small unintentional behaviours like drinking a cup just to have a reason to get up from your desk can quickly become chemically reinforced habits.”

Following the advice from the book, I have changed my coffee habit such that I limit my coffee consumption from between 9:30 to 2:30 p.m. Outside of these times, I switch to tea or water. This has reduced my overall consumption but importantly I think I have noticed an improvement in my sleeping as well. 

Seek out energy givers

Last but not least I wanted to share their recommendation about energy givers. I find this a very interesting concept and I am starting to see it more and more in my daily activity. 

They recommend the following:

“Even if it’s only once a week, reach out to friends whom you admire, who inspire you, who make you laugh, who let you be yourself. Spending time with interesting, high-energy people is one of the best—and most enjoyable—ways to recharge your battery.”

This idea of tracking who in life are your energy givers and who are energy drains is a fascinating exercise. I have been reflecting on this concept through the lens of building a high performing team. What happens if you hire energy drains into your organisation? I think you can answer that question yourselves. 

Take 5 to 10 mins and write a list of all the people with who you interact and make you smile or leave you inspired afterwards. I would recommend you spend more time with them and look at what they are doing which has this effect. Can you emulate these things with your teams and colleagues? Can you turn yourself into an energy giver?

Summary

This book is very approachable and has a good collection of ideas. I would recommend this to people who are looking for a first introduction to these concepts.

Photo by Aron Visuals on Unsplash