Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day by Jake Knapp & John Zeratsky

This review is written and narrated by Leigh Martinuzzi 

In a world that is increasingly demanding and fighting for our time and attention, we find ourselves stretched thin. Cramming our calendars with tasks and to-do lists, working long hours, being distracted by social media and the likes, and spending far too much time on insignificant matters and less time on what is truly important. In this book, Make Time, that authors offer a simple and effective system to free us from distraction and this constant and perhaps unnecessary state of busyness. 

The system they share is a tool used to guide us towards focusing our energy and attention on what is important in our life. They help us to decide on what is important to us individually and offer strategies to assist us to constantly refine our system and ourselves moving forward.

The process looks like this: Highlight, Laser, Energise and Reflect. Coming from a humble position that authors both agree that it’s not a one size fits all formula but rather an offering of strategies and practical tools that we can draw upon to improve our time effectiveness.

It is super simple to read! Very easy to follow their ideas and understand the key concepts shared. The practical “Time Hacks” is also useful however nothing too ground-breaking. The layout and quirky design of the book make it easy to and enjoyable to flick through and take away what you wish to trial. And while there is some reference to science and other related research it is more about the authors sharing what has worked for them in their personal and professional lives as they’ve tried to remove the clutter to enable more time to focus on that which has a purpose.

The chapter on Highlight has the intention to help us discover what is important. This is not a chapter on finding our purpose in life although there are shades of that. To highlight is to understand what needs to be your primary focus and then making that the priority of the day. If it’s a longer-term project or goal that you are working on than this highlight should govern your schedule and only that which is beneficial to its successful completion should interrupt it.

What I like about this theory on finding our Highlight is that usually in the process we will weed out the other rubbish that has infiltrated our schedules. Making it a priority is also a remarkable way to ensure its completion as you’ve removed other tasks and distractions that often take preference. The science here is that when we do what is most important, we not only feel better but we become more effective with our time and more productive in completing less important and less urgent tasks.

The remainder of the book flows from there. Once you know what is important the goal is to make time for it so you can focus on its completion. Enter Laser – the process of setting up your environment for success by removing distractions and the unnecessary. To stay focused and disciplined in taking action one must remain energised to ensure sustainability. This is about eating, exercising and sleeping in efforts to maintain health. Not rocket science but again some neat hacks presented in these chapters.

The final part of the chain is constant and never-ending improvement (CANI) – thank you Tony Robbins. The authors are pretty clear that to effectively make time in your life for what is important we must keep trialling and experimenting with new processes and strategies to continually refine what works for us individually. Life changes as do our priorities so one can only expect that our routines and practices will also evolve. At the end of the day, if we can focus on being a little bit better than we were yesterday then we are always going to be in front.

If this book sounds of interest you can purchase Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day here.

Please leave your thoughts, comments & questions below.

Peace, passion and purpose…

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Creative NonFiction: “true stories well told.” 

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