Gil’s personal book notes.
Cause you know… I forget shit.
Make Time by Jake Knapp, John Zeratsky
links: book audible

Summary of the book in a few sentences:

  1. by adopting healthy habits, you’re able to focus your energy on the things that matter
    1. similar thinkings to Cal Newport’s Deep Work and Greg McKeown’s Essentialism
  2. Based on four principles
    1. 🔦 First, we must choose the one thing (the highlight) we should be working on each day.2. 👨‍💻 Shape your environment to be conducive of focus (laser). Get rid of infinity pools and change unhealthy defaults3. 🏃 Take care of your body (energize), it’s the vehicle of which work is done. Eat well, exercise, rest well, socialize.4. 🤔 Reflect and continually improve.

slowing down the crazy rush

it’s not about productivity, it’s a framework to create more time for the things you care about.

Quick start guide to Make Time

  1. highlight – schedule time to do your// highlight.
  2. laser – block distraction kryptonite, free yourself from one infinity pool.
  3. energize – pound the pavement
  4. reflect – reflect every evening for 3 days straights and see what you learn.

Laser, finding focus by removing distractions

In today’s time it’s extremely difficult to control your own time. We fall into two traps:

  1. busy bandwagon – you must fill every moment, otherwise, you’ll fall behind
  2. infinity pool – pull to refresh constant content. a never-ending stream of information.

For most of us, we live life by defaults; while defaults can help us navigate and make less decisions throughout the day, when defaults are not deliberately chosen it could lead us down unintended paths.

There are defaults in every part of our life.

Standard settings like an iPhone that comes with email and social media signs you up for constant notifications and infinity pools. Atomic Habits also talked about this, as well as.

By default its seems okay to have back to back meetings, countless back and forth emails, and and a desire to respond to slack right away. – however these defaults are unhealthy as they a) breakup your day / distract you b) does not add value into your work / ROI does not warrant the distraction.

What would happen if you could override these defaults? In reality it’s not that easy.

Our will power isn’t enough

Apps will wear you down

Productivity improvement isn’t it either, the faster you run the fast it spins.

You have to shape your environment and proactively combat these distractions.

Intentionality:
Choosing what you want to put your time on. Though you can’t always control your time you can control your intentions.

Question the defaults! and change your defaults.

fake work vs important work
in society being productive didn’t mean i was doing the most important work, it meant that i was getting to people faster. we need to break this fake productivity and focus on what really matters; choosing what to work on, focusing our attention/getting rid of the distractions, create a system that consistently enables us to perform, and consistently learn about ourselves and work works or not.

Make Time Framework

  1. highlight – choose the most important thing to work on

choose a single activity

Summary: if you set a single intention at the start of the day, you’ll be more satisfied, joyful, and effective

doesn’t have to be what you need to do, but want to do. like play with kids.

what is the highlight of my day?

“we don’t remember days, we remember moments”

“i’m not good enough yet, but i will be when i reach my goals” – james clear

long term is good at orienting you in the right direction but is not tangible to help guide the day to day.

the never ending tasks lists – lacks a focal point and makes things meaningful.

look for book. rapped. winderfur gallagher

three ways to pick a highlight

  1. urgent highlight – what needs to get done
  2. satisfaction highlight – what you want to get done
  3. joy – what will bring you the most joy

pick something that takes 60-90 minutes. enough to do something meaningful but can be done by blocking time.

Highlight tactics

  1. write it down – things you write down its more likely to happen
  2. ground hog it – do it again. if yesterday brought you joy, do it again.
  3. stack rank your life –

how:

big things that brings you meaning, 2. choose the most important thing. 3. priorities, 4. rewrite the list in priority order, 5. draw a circle around number one. 6. use this list to choose a highlight.

  1. batch the little stuff
  2. might do list
    1. think of your todo list as something as might do list.
  3. burner list – intentionally limited.

front burner and back burner. only 1 on the front burner. make a kitchen sink. can be fine if its not related.

  1. run a personal sprint – keep at it for consecutive days. keep the same highlight.
  2. schedule your highlight. put your highlight on your cal. schedule makes you confront the trade offs.
  3. block your calendar
  4. bulldoze your calendar – bunch your calendar together. shift things around
  5. flake it till you make it – skip a meeting, ditch a meetup
  6. just say no. develop scripts. ‘sorry i’m big projects and i can’t commit to any more.’ ‘i don’t have the time to do a great job on this
  7. design your day – detailed schedule of your day down to when to make coffee / showers etc. 30 min incriments.
  8. become a morning person – start with brightness, coffee, and something to do.
  9. nighttime is highlight time – 1. recharge first. (put things away, reread etc) 2. go offline. (vacation time on the internet). 3. wind down
  10. Quit when you’re done
  11. laser – create an environment that forces focus

Summary:

if you create barriers busy bandwagons and infinity pools you’ll be able to focus your attention like a laser beam.

how you react to distractions?

you can’t stop technology but you deflect. logging out of social email

will power alone isn’t enough to protect your focus.

gmail – how often do they come back

youtube – they measure eyeballs – minutes viewed

infinity pools caused by two things

  1. passion for technology
  2. evolution – consistently improves due to measurable tests
  3. ppl spend >4 hours on phone each day. lots of choice. lots of videos. lots of different apps.
  4. caveman brains – unpredictable rewards

resource, check out the book “irresistible”

create barrier to distractions. when you make it harder you don’t have to worry about will power.

FOMO, don’t want to be left behind.

laser tactics

  1. try to a distraction free phone – removing apps from your phone.
    1. delete social apps2. delete other infinite pools.3. delete email and remove account4. remove the web browser5. keep everything else
  2. logout
    1. when you’re done using your emails, twitter, etc, log out. don’t check remember me.
  3. nix notifications.
  4. clear your home screen
  5. wear a wrist watch – avoid an infinity pool
  6. leave your devices behind
  7. skip the morning checkout
    1. skip it, it’ll be easier to get into laser mode without infinity pools.
  8. block distraction kryptonite
    1. if you feel regret after spending an hour of time browsing, it’s a kyrpotnite.
  9. ignore the news
    1. news is unlikely to change your day to day decisions2. read the news weekly, like the economist or time
  10. put your toys away
    1. don’t leave tabs open.2. sign off twitter, etc.3. hide bookmarks bar. make it easy for you to open your laptop and see anything to distract you.
  11. fly without wifi
  12. timer on the internet
    1. internet is the biggest infinity pool. when it time to go into laser mode turn off.
  13. cancel the internet
  14. watch out for time craters – a small rock can make a dent that’s 35 it’s size spreading up to a mile in diameter
    1. example of posting a tweet for 90 secs and then over the next 4 hours go back and check it. and starts over it again when you get hooked.2. where are the time craters. staying late and feeling sluggush the next day. heavy lunch for 30 min makes you tired for 3hrs.
  15. trade fake wins for real wins
  16. turn distractions into tools
    1. be very purposeful when you use tools like facebook / twitter
  17. become a fair-weather fan
    1. sports takes time and emotional investments. spend time on the highlights and ignore the rest. you can spend a lot of time to keep up with everything for very little gain.

Slow the inbox

  1. deal with email at the end of day
    1. 39% is spent on actual work. 61% is spent time coordinating.
  2. schedule email time
  3. empty inbox once a week
  4. pretend messages are letters
  5. be slow to respond
    1. does any random person need my time? anyone can be reachable by email without priority.
  6. reset expectations – tim farris recommended this. auto response or in the signature.
  7. setup send only email
    1. compose
  8. vacation off the grid
  9. lock yourself out
    1. create a schedule and lock yourself out. like freedom.
  10. don’t watch the news
  11. put your tv in the corner – make it ackward to look at the tv.
  12. Make tv a sometime treat

avg 4.3hrs per day

  1. ditch your tv for a projector – it’s a great viewing experience and it’s a pain in the ass to setup. best of both.
  2. if you love something set it free – cold turkey for a full month. and see how you like it. watch on your computer when you really want to watch something.

Find flow

  1. shut the door – headphone and closed door signals to others you’re focused.
  2. invent a deadlines – have someone keep you accountable
  3. explode highlight – when tasks are too big,break it down. everything should be listed as a verb – just like Getting Things Done by David Allen – Book Notes
  4. find a laser soundtrack

from the power of habit. cue. triggers a habit. after a few times the music is linked to the habit. make sure it’s something you like to listen to so that its both a cue and a reward.

  1. Set a visible timer – time timer.
  2. avoid the lure of fancy tools

may get deprecated. spend too much time setting up. often get in the way. makes you feel more productive than you actually are.

  1. start on paper – paper improve focus because you don’t have to worry about the perfect font. paper allows you to find your own way. you can do anything on paper.

Stay in the zone

  1. make a random question list

when you have a weird twitch to find out about something write it down.

  1. notice one breath – can reset your attention with just one breath.
  2. be bored – gives you a chance to wander.
  3. be stuck – know you what you need to do but not sure how to do it. stay focused, try paper, wander around, look at a blank screen.
  4. take a day off – if you can get focus, but take a rest day.
  5. go all in – wholehardness – sometimes if you’re exhausted, you might not need a rest, it may be better to go all in. you may find energy already there. focus on that one thing. find exciting ways to do your job
  6. energize – make time and invest in taking care of your whole body

Summary: if you live more like a prehistoric human, you’ll enhance your physical and mental energy.

four main categories to focus on

  1. food
  2. exercise
  3. napping
  4. using caffeine strategically

Energize

have a full battery – you got to take care of your entire body.

if you can increase your energy on a day, you can thus improve your productivity.

you are more than a brain. if you’re tired, you’re likely to go into infinity pools, but in contrast when you’re energized, you feel like you can do more, you can find focus.

if you want energy for your brain, you need to take care of your body.

Act like a caveman

  1. keep it moving.
  2. eat real food – things you can find and catch
  3. optimize caffeine
  4. go off the grid – we cultivate quietness
  5. make it personal
  6. sleep in a cave – sleep quality is more important.
  7. exercise every day – just do 20 minutes. go small and go every day. don’t need to be perfect.
  8. pound the pavement (walk) – lots of health benefits. gives you time to think.
  9. inconvenience yourself – 1. cook dinner (for some its meditative). 2. take the stairs 3. use a suitcase without wheels.
  10. squeeze in a super short workout – brief of intense moves. 7 min workout.

Eat real food

  1. eat like a hunter-gather. makes a huge difference to your energy level.
  2. central park your plate. salad on your plate first then design around it.
  3. stay hungry
  4. snack like a toddler – high quality snacks.
  5. go on the dark chocolate plan – switch your defaults. if you want a sugary treat, use dark chocolate instead. it has less surgar.

Optimize Caffine

  1. wake up before you caffeinate
    1. adenocine receptors is what makes you sleepy; caffine doesn’t give you an energy boost but instead prevents you from feeling tired.

wake up before caffine. wake up and drink coffee around 9-10am is most effective, and have the 1:30 to 2:30 pm.

  1. caffeine before you crash
  2. take a caffeine. drink caffine and take a 15 min nap.
  3. maintain altitude with green tea – tea has more consistent. exchange 1 cup of coffee with 2 cups of tea
  4. turbo your highlight – time your caffieine so that it’s most effective right as you’re starting your highlight.
  5. learn your last call – don’t drink coffee in the late afternoon. while it lasts for 4 hours, it stays in your bloodstream and blocks adenosine receptors for longer.
  6. disconnect sugar – doesn’t help with sustained energy

Get off the grid

  1. Get Woodsy – free to direct attention like street signs.
  2. trick yourself into meditating – its difficult to do meditating. it’s rest for your brain. and it’s also exercise for your brain – it’s hard work. 1. use a guided meditation app, 2. aim low. 3. you don’t have to do it sitting, do it on the bus, laying down, etc. 4. call it something else, quiet time, pausing, headspace, etc. 5. short sessions – try headspace.
  3. leave your headphone at home – it doesn’t give you quiet if you try to have headphone every time there’s quiet.
  4. take real breaks – infinity pools don’t give you a real break

make it personal

  1. spend time with your tribe. have real conversations with the people around you. don’t let likes and comments substitute it. who’s an energy giver. talking to people may actually give you more energy.
  2. Eat without screens

you get the benefit of 3 of the 5 healthy habits.

  1. . you’re less likely to eat unhealthy food
  2. you get to socialize with those around you
  3. you give your brain a chance to rest

Sleep in a Cave

  1. Make your bedroom a bed rood

no screens in the room. keep it low tech. shape the environment conducive of sleep and only sleep. It’s not a bad idea to have books in the bedroom but nothing that will stimulate.

  1. fake the sunset

in the evening embrace having the sun fall, use table lamps and turn down the lights rather than keeping it bright

use night mode on phones to keep blue lights away at night that will keep you up.

use a sleep mask to keep it really dark

  1. sneak a nap

napping makes you more alert. don’t even need to fall asleep.

  1. don’t jet lag yourself

sleeping late on weekends to catch up on work, it’s like jet lag.

  1. put on your own oxygen self

if you’re taking care of someone elderly, child, if you don’t take care of yourself first, you can’t help others well for a long period of time. it may seem selfish to eat well, exercise and sleep well but you need to take care of yourself.

  1. reflect – constantly make progress by reflecting on what works/doesn’t

think back and get feedback on the system.

scientific method steps:

  1. observe what’s going on
  2. guess why things are happening the way they are
  3. test your hypothesis
  4. measure your outcomes

write down your observations on a daily basis. write down did you work on your highlights, what tactics did you try, what was effective, what’s a moment your greatful for.

your days will never work out exactly how you planned. that’s why asking yourself what you’re grateful for is so important. it constantly pushes you to think about forward progress.

perfection is a distraction in progress. don’t strive for perfection.
It’s not about doing more… making time doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to do more with that extra time. It can lead you down a path of identifying what you really want to spend your time on and perhaps even pursue other passions full time. It could be a side hobby that you’re starting to make time for that you couldn’t do before, because of this opportunity, it may turn out that this is what you want to spend your time.

Other Resources

  • recommended books
  • other summaries