Make Time

The Book in 3 Sentences

• Complete your daily highlight which is one task you’ll get done no matter what that will make you the most proud (doesn’t have to be work related)
• Be intentional with how you use your phone, most of our time wasted comes from these whirlpools that we pick up and use reflexively.
• Energy management = Productivity Management

My Impressions

Solid read, I already knew most of what the authors went over in the book but picked up a couple of tips and tricks that are game changing. Make Time is more of a resource you look back to whenever you want to gain an edge in your sleep, energy, focus, etc.

Make Time Summary

• “Every day, I realized, I was reacting: to my calendar, to incoming email, to the infinite stream of new stuff on the Internet.”
• “Being more productive didn’t mean I was doing the most important work; it only meant I was reacting to other people’s priorities faster.”
• “I stopped reflexively reaching for my iPhone at the slightest hint of boredom.”

Highlight

• Research shows that the way you experience your days is not determined primarily by what happens to you. In fact, you create your own reality by choosing what you pay attention to
• Try to block out your time into 30 minute increments.

Laser

• There is a switching cost for constantly changing tasks.
• Log out of social sites, add friction.
• On device free nights Chris falls asleep 1.5 hours earlier, and sleeps more deeply.
• Put your toys away, you fire up your laptop and you have 10 tabs open screaming for your attention.
• Use your app intentionally:
• Start by identifying why you're using a particular app.
• Next, think about how much time you want to spend on it.
• How are you going to use this app to achieve your goal.
• “If you check email less often, research suggests that you’ll be less stressed and just as on top of things.”
• Create artificial deadlines.
• [[David Allen]] -  “Shifting your focus to something that your mind perceives as a doable, completable task will create a real increase in positive energy, direction, and motivation.”

Energy

• 1. Keep it moving.
• 20 minutes everyday.
• 2. Eat Real Food
• 3. Optimize Caffeine
• Wake up without caffeine.
• Have the first cup between 9:30 - 10:30
• Last cup between 1:30 and 2:30
• When cortisol is high, caffeine doesn’t do much for you.
• The tricky thing about caffeine is that if you wait to drink it until you get tired, it’s too late: The adenosine has already hooked up with your brain.
• Caffeine Nap: drink some caffeine, then immediately take a fifteen-minute nap.The caffeine takes a while to be absorbed into your bloodstream and reach the brain. During your light sleep, the brain clears out the adenosine. This has been proven to be most effective in multiple studies.
• 4. Go Off the Grid
• A 2008 University of Michigan study compared the cognitive performance of people who had just taken a walk in the city with that of people who had just taken a walk in a park. The nature walkers did 20 percent better.
• Meditate.
• 5. Interact with people
• 6. Sleep in a cave

Reflect

• 1. Observe
• 2. Guess
• 3. Experiment
• 4. Measure