Notes of the book: Make time by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky

  • Book notes
    • Make Time
      • Highlight Tactics
          1. Write it down
          1. Groundhog it (When not sure on what is the highlight, do yesterday's)
          1. Stack rank your life
          1. Batch the little stuff
          1. The might do list
          1. The burner list
          1. Run a Personal Sprint
          1. Schedule your highlight
          1. Block your calendar
          1. Bulldoze your calendar
          1. Flake it till you make it
          1. Just say no
          1. Design your day
          1. Become a morning person
          1. nighttime is the highlight time
          1. Quit when you are done
      • Laser Tactics
          1. Try a distraction free phone
            1. Delete Social Media apps
            1. Delete other infinity pools
            1. Delete Email and remove the account
            1. Remove the browser
          1. Logout : Don't check the remember me on this device box
          1. Nix Notifications
          1. Clear your homescreen
          1. Wear a wristwatch
          1. Leave devices behind
          1. Skip the morning check in (Free mornings)
          1. Block distraction kryptonite (Eg: Weakness for hackernews)
          1. Ignore the news! (Try getting news for a week plans)
          1. Put your toys away
          1. Fly without Wifi
          1. Put a timer on the internet
          1. Cancel the internet!! (Similar to what I did for internetless programming)
          1. Watch out for time craters (Wikipedia browsing sessions)
          1. Trade fake wins for real wins (Your highlight is the real win)
          1. Turn distractions into tools (Identify why you want a certain tool )
          1. Become a fair weather fan
          1. Deal with Email at the end of the day
          1. Schedule email time (For me it's whatsapp group messages time: )
          1. Empty your inbox once a week
          1. Pretend messages are letters. (No urgency to immediately reply)
          1. Be slow to respond (Again, similar to what appa says. People respond only because you responded immediately)
          1. Reset Expectations (Like shyam. You know you can't except an immediate response)
          1. Set up send only email
          1. Vacation off the grid
          1. Lock yourself out (locking oneself out of certain apps)
          1. Dont watch the NEWS!
          1. Put TV in the corner. (TV should be very hard to be accessed. Design the living room that way)
          1. Ditch TV for a projector (So it's tougher and takes time to set up and increases friction. Make the projector also hard to access)
          1. Go a la carta instead of all you can eat (Choose and watch only what you wanna watch)
          1. If you love something, set it free (Movies for me)
          1. Find flow
          1. Invent a deadline
          1. Explode your highlight (Divide highlights into smaller tasks)
          1. Play a laser sound track (My cue as the table lamp for focus mode.)
          1. Set a visible timer
          1. Avoid the lure of fancy tools (Eg: Buy a pen and write, instead of researching on best pens to buy and wasting time on that)
          1. Start on paper (When struggling for focus, use paper instead of laptop)
          1. Make a random questions list. (Don't act on the urges but write them down as questions)
          1. Notice one breath (Better practice pranayama)
          1. Be bored
          1. Be stuck (Not using phone as a getaway when stuck in a line or Ubahn or Train)
          1. Take a day off
          1. Go all in
      • Energize
          1. Keep it moving
          1. Eat real food
          1. Optimize caffeine
          1. Go off the grid
          1. Make it personal
          1. Sleep in a Cave
      • Energize Tactics
          1. Exercise everyday
          1. Pound the pavement (Make it a practice to walk)
          1. Inconvenience yourself
          • Basic idea is to incorporate some strain wherever possible
            1. Cook dinner
            1. Take the stairs
            1. Use a suitcase without wheels ()
          1. Squeeze in a super short workout
          1. Eat like a hunter gatherer
          1. Central park your food. (Salad in the center of the plate and others on the side)
          1. Stay hungry (Intermittent fasting and being ok with)
          1. Snack like a toddler (When hungry eat healthy snacks?? hmm)
          1. Go on the Dark chocolate plan (Basically less sugar)
        • Wake up without coffee. Drink the first cup between 930-1030. last cut 1330-1430
          1. Wake up before you caffeinate
          1. Caffeinate before you crash
          1. Take a caffeine nap (Drink coffee when you get tired and immediately sleep for 15 mins after that.)
          1. Maintain altitude with Green tea. (Using this as a substitute for coffee)
          1. Turbo your highlight (Use the caffeine to turbo boost your hightlight)
          1. Learn your last call (Remember the last cup of coffee. Coffee's half life is apparently 4-5 hours)
          1. Disconnect Sugar
          1. Get woodsy
          1. Trick yourself into Meditating
          1. Leave your headphone at home (Your brain needs sometime not to process stuff. Don't fill bored times with songs or news or podcasts)
          1. Take real breaks (Don't check infinity pools during breaks. Instead prefer to go outside or take a walk, or stare outside)
          1. Spend time with your tribe
            1. Spend time with family and friends
            1. Think of one of those energy giving people
            1. Go out of the way to have a real conversaion with them
            1. Note you energy level after that
          1. Eat without screens (THE MOST DIFFICULT ONE)
          1. Make your bedroom a bed room (Keep an alarm clock and nothing else in the bedroom. Kindle is ok)
          1. Fake the sunset
            1. Turn down the lights after dinner
            1. Turn on the devices night mode
            1. Kick all devices out of the room.
            1. Try darkening the room
          1. Sneak a nap
          1. Don't jet lag yourself. (Dont have sleep debt. It'll ruin your head. What harshi experienced)
          1. put on your own oxygen mask first
      • Reflect
        • Observe
        • Guess
        • Experiment
        • Measure

A lot of these are things which I already do, and some are definitely worth picking up

My key takeaways:

  1. Write it down
  2. Run a Personal Sprint
  3. Block your calendar
  4. Design your day
  5. nighttime is the highlight time
  6. Wear a wristwatch
  7. Skip the morning check in (Free mornings)
  8. Block distraction kryptonite (Eg: Weakness for hackernews)
  9. Ignore the news! (Try getting news for a week
  10. Cancel the internet!! (Similar to what I did for internetless programming)
  11. Pretend messages are letters. (No urgency to immediately reply)
  12. Dont watch the NEWS!
  13. Put TV in the corner.
  14. If you love something, set it free (Movies for me) : More like no movies during weekdays
  15. Invent a deadline
  16. Play a laser sound track (My cue as the table lamp for focus mode.)
  17. Exercise everyday (Huh. If only I would do it)
  18. Stay hungry (Controlling the food portion)
  19. Make your bedroom a bed room (Keep an alarm clock and nothing else in the bedroom. Kindle is ok)

Book notes: Make time