Make Time Summary

We all know we have limited time on earth yet we tend to spend our time on unnecessary stuff whether it could be scrolling on social media or watching Netflix, now to make the most out of, the time you have, the Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky author of Make Time has shared the valuable core ideas on how everyone can manage their time. It’s an eye-opening book where you will get to learn about “TIME”.

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Contents

The fact is, there is no need to read every single time management book because every single book will tell you these three things,

Important task: These could be those task which doesn’t need your attention but are important, again, you don’t have to do them right away.

For example,

You have to go to the supermarket because you have a list of items which you have to buy for your home, this is important because you need those items but it’s not very urgent, so you can do it after some time.

Urgent Task: These are those tasks that require your attention right away.

For example,

You need to finish the project which your boss has given, you have a meeting that is very important for your business, or something else that is needed to do right away.

Nor Urgent or Important Task: These are those tasks that are not important or urgent but you like doing them.

For example,

You want to watch movies, and TV shows, go to parties, spend time with your friends, use social media, and many more. You don’t have to do all these things but you like doing them because it makes you happy.

Back to the book,

Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky authors of Make Time have shared the same things but they have explained it in different ways, for example, in the instant of Important tasks they have used the highlighted tasks.

The core idea of the MAKE TIME book is the same, do the important tasks first, and the rest can wait. Now authors have also shared some of the actions which you should take to manage your time, so let me share with you those actions.

Fake the Sunset

When we see a bright light, our brains think, “It’s morning. Time to wake up!” This is an ancient and automatic system. For Urk, the system worked great: He fell asleep when it got dark and woke up when the sun rose. The natural cycle of the day helped regulate his sleep and energy.

But for modern humans, this poses a problem. Between our screens and our lightbulbs, we’re simulating daylight right up until we climb into bed. It’s as though we’re telling our brains, “It’s the day, it’s the day, it’s the day, it’s the day—WHOA, IT’S NIGHT, GO TO BED.” No wonder we have trouble sleeping.

We’re not the first to point out this problem. For years, people have been saying you should avoid looking at your phone or laptop in bed. That’s good advice, but it’s not enough. Here, is how to fake the sunset.

Starting when you eat dinner or a few hours before your ideal bedtime, turn down the lights in your home. Switch off bright overhead lights. Instead, use a dim table or side lamps. For bonus points, light candles at the dinner table.
Turn on your phone, computer, or TV’s “night mode.” These features shift screen colors from blue to red and orange. Instead of looking at a bright sky, it’s like sitting around a campfire.
When you go to bed, kick all devices out of the room.
If sunlight or streetlight is still sneaking into your bedroom, try a simple sleep mask over your eyes. Yes, you will feel and look a little silly, but they work.

How to Make Time Work

The first step is choosing a single highlight to prioritize in your day. Next, you’ll employ specific tactics to stay laser-focused on that highlight—we’ll offer a menu of tricks to beat distraction in an always-connected world. Throughout the day, you’ll build energy so you can stay in control of your time and attention. Finally, you’ll reflect on the day with a few simple notes.

Let’s zoom in for a closer look at those four steps.

Start Each Day by Choosing a Focal Point

The first step in Make Time is deciding what you want to make time for. Every day, you’ll choose a single activity to prioritize and protect in your calendar. It might be an important goal at work, For Example,

You might choose something at home, like cooking dinner or planting your garden.
Your Highlight might be something you don’t necessarily have to do but want to do, like playing with your kids or reading a book.
Your Highlight can contain multiple steps; for example, finishing that presentation might include writing the closing remarks, completing the slides, and doing a practice run-through.

Of course, your Highlight isn’t the only thing you’ll do each day. But it will be your priority.

Asking yourself “What’s going to be the highlight of my day?” ensures that you spend time on the things that matter to you and don’t lose the entire day reacting to other people’s priorities. When you choose a Highlight, you put yourself in a positive, proactive frame of mind.

Choose something that is important…

Beat Distraction to Make Time for Your Highlight

Distractions like email, social media, and breaking news are everywhere, and they’re not going away. You can’t go live in a cave, throw away your gadgets, and swear off technology entirely. But you can redesign the way you use technology to stop the reaction cycle.

First, ask yourself,

Every time you watch Reals or Shorts, ask yourself, is this adding value or not? ask every single time you open YouTube, Instagram, or even Twitter. When you do this every time for 30 days, you will realize that using social media for a time pass is not important, it’s wasting time.

I know, reading this and applying is kind of hard but one way or another, you will have to step up for yourself because no one will do for you.

Use the Body to Recharge the Brain

To achieve focus and make time for what matters, your brain needs energy, and that energy comes from taking care of your body.

That’s why the third component of Make Time is to charge your battery with exercise, food, sleep, quiet, and face-to-face time. It’s not as hard as it might sound.

You will have to exercise every day, eat healthy food, go for walk, and spend time with your loved ones, that’s what your mind needs, it doesn’t get its energy from movies, TV shows, games, or even YouTube.

Give what your body and brain need, don’t give unnecessary clutter.

Adjust and Improve Your System

The day is over, you did everything you had or didn’t, and now it’s time to analyze.

Finally, before going to bed, you’ll take a few notes. It’s super simple: You’ll decide which tactics you want to continue and which ones you want to refine or drop. And you’ll think back on your energy level, whether you made time for your Highlight, and what brought you joy in the day.

Do this every day and you will see, where you need improvement and where you doing great.

The Make Time Tactics

You don’t necessarily have to try something new every day. If what you’re doing is working, keep it up! But if it isn’t or if you think it could work better still, each day is a chance to experiment. Your version of the Make Time system will be totally personalized, and because you built it yourself, you’ll trust it, and it will fit into your existing lifestyle.

Try different tactics and see what works and what doesn’t.

For example,

If you want to wake up at 5:00 then you will have to go to bed at least 10:00 PM otherwise, the next day, you will feel tired because you didn’t get enough sleep.

For some reason, if you don’t wake up the next day then see the reason behind it and analyze and try for a second time the next day with different tactics.

Invent a Deadline

Nothing’s better for focus than a deadline. When someone else is waiting expectantly for results, it’s a lot easier to get into Laser mode.

The trouble is that deadlines are usually for things we dread (like doing taxes), not for things we want to do (like practicing the ukulele). But this is an easy problem to solve. You can invent a deadline.

You, too, can create a deadline that will help you make time for something you want to do. Register for a 5K run. Invite your friends over for a homemade pasta dinner before you’ve learned how to make it. Sign up to exhibit at an art show before you’ve painted the pictures. Or you can simply tell a friend what your Highlight is today and ask them to hold you accountable for getting it done

Tell yourself, I will have a good body in the year, and do whatever it takes to reach there, it’s not hard.

You Are More Than a Brain

Imagine you’ve got a battery inside you. All your energy is stored in the battery, and just like the battery in your phone or laptop, it can be charged all the way up to 100 percent or can drain all the way down to zero.

When your battery is empty, you’re totally exhausted—you feel wrung out and maybe even depressed. This is when you’re most likely to get distracted by Infinity Pools such as Instagram and email. Then you feel worse because you’re tired and you’re annoyed at yourself for wasting time. That’s 0 percent. It sucks.

Now imagine how it feels when your battery is full. You’ve got a spring in your step. You feel well-rested, your mind is sharp, and your body feels alert and alive. You’re ready to take on any project—not only ready but excited. Can you visualize the feeling? Pretty nice, right? That’s 100 percent.

The defaults of today’s world assume that the brain is the one driving the bus, but that’s not really how it works. When you don’t take care of your body, your brain can’t do its job. If you’ve ever felt sluggish and uninspired after a big lunch or invigorated and clearheaded after exercising, you know what we mean. If you want energy for your brain, you need to take care of your body.

A simple trick is you already know, exercise, don’t use social media if you don’t need it, spend time with your loved ones, and lastly, spend time with yourself.

Make Time Review

Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky have explained the value of time which will help you a lot if you spend your time reading the Make Time book. It’s a life-changing book because if you know how time works then you will also know, where and how you spend time…