Review "Make Time"

About the Authors

Jake Knapp is an American designer, UX expert, and entrepreneur. He began his career in design consulting. He later became a senior director at Google, where he worked to make Gmail as attractive as possible to encourage users to return to the website. Knapp believes that our time is as scarce as the ground beneath our feet. He argues that we must constantly confront the feeling of not having enough time and still having to do everything we want.

John Zeratskey is a renowned American designer, author, and innovation expert. He works at Google as a senior designer, developing user interfaces and products for the company. It was there that he met Jake, and they formed a joint venture based on the concept of "Design Sprints."

Both authors strive to use their time purposefully and structure their days consciously. The book "Make Time" was born from their shared passion.

What is the book about?

Make Time is a guide to productivity and less stress – at least that's how the book's title can be loosely translated. The exact title is: How to focus on what matters every day. These two phrases aptly describe the book's focus.

Jake and John don't dwell on theoretical ideas and concepts. They provide a guide with concrete tips and recommendations. They package their approach in a framework whose core is the highlight of the day. It's all about making time for it, maintaining high-energy levels, and achieving the necessary focus.

The authors don't want their numerous tips and ideas to be applied blindly. The topics of reflection, learning from failure, and letting things slide from time to time round out the book. The authors' differences are discussed directly in the book, allowing readers to decide which approach suits them best, for example, one is a morning the other an evening person. The way they structure their day is significantly different, and both are available to the reader.

What's so great about it?

Jake and John resonated with me from the very first pages. In the introduction, the two hold up a mirror to the reader, reflecting their experiences and showing what it means to constantly conform to and obey the default settings of technology and the expectations that surround us.

I've tried what I consider to be radical approaches to creating more time and had remarkable experiences. I'd particularly like to highlight three aspects that have helped me:

• Cancelling my streaming subscriptions to break away from the standard evening routine of "watching TV series." Instead, I do yoga, read, or go to bed earlier, which gives me significantly more energy the next day. And I snack less as a result ✌️.
• The distraction-free phone has dramatically changed my usage behaviour. My usage time has dropped to just a few minutes per day. The reflex to pick up my phone at the slightest sign of boredom is diminishing (e.g., no more doom-scrolling on the toilet 🙈).
• Consciously planning the highlight of the day creates space every day for important, enjoyable, or sometimes even necessary activities. With the help of reflection in my bullet journal, I understand more precisely what's holding me back from the highlight, how I can better focus on it, and what drains my energy without getting caught in the productivity hamster wheel.

What's annoying about it?

For some of the tips, I would have liked to know what attempts the authors made, why they didn't work initially, and what changes they made thanks to their reflection. Another point that generally bothers me about books of this kind is the caveman comparison. While this aspect has a central impact and may therefore be correct, it is often used as an argument for various things, such as flickering screens, nutrition, or social behaviour. I need to calm down on this topic and switch my caveman reflex from fight or flight to "I don't care."

The best quote

The book uses quotes as an introduction to each chapter. I find one of these quotes so incredibly beautiful and important that I'd like to mention it here alongside the author's quote:

We do not remember days, we remember moments – Cesare Pavese

I like the author's quote about attention. It addresses the aspect of mindfulness. This perspective permeates the entire book and, in my opinion, makes it so worth reading:

Even if you don't completely control your own schedule, you absolutetly can control your attention.

What did I learn?

I was able to take a lot away from this funny illustrated, and witty book. I apply many of the tips to my everyday life, which helps me free up a lot of time. Furthermore, I've enriched my evening closing with a reflection on the day's highlight, creating even greater transparency about what works for me. By adjusting my phone settings and cancelling streaming services, I was able to achieve my annual goal: reading daily.

As a fun party fact, I now know that coffee isn't a stimulant, but blocks the receptors for tiredness. And I was shocked to read about the 2016 Apple study that iPhone users unlock their phone an average of 80 times a day (this was one of the reasons I made sure I had a distraction-free phone—it borders on addictive behaviour).

Why everyone who wants more time should read the book

Jake and John have succeeded in addressing the topic of time optimization, excluding the productivity aspect, in a captivating way. This guide, which contains practical tips and additional explanations, makes implementation easy wherever the description appeals to the reader, at least for me, even with the radical approaches. It felt good and right to try it out.

Overall, this book is highly recommended. I'm so convinced by the content that I'll be discussing my experiences with Maurice in a future episode of my podcast "Server Side Stories". I'm looking forward to it—until then, write to me about how you adjust your day to have more time.