Make time
Remarkable
Light hearted
Honest

Make time how to focus on what matters every day

Jake Knapp2022
Do you ever wonder where your day went? Or daydream about activities you'll get to "someday"? Knapp and Zeratsky share their tactics for a four-step daily framework that you can use to systematically re-design your days. Highlight, Laser, Energize, Reflect. You may not be able to add more hours to your day-- but you can learn to make your life your own, day by day. -- adapted from jacket
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Reviews

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Jule@julesandherbooks
4 stars
Oct 22, 2023

Auch wenn ich das Buch innerhalb von 2.5 Tagen verschlungen habe, gebe ich "nur" 4 Sterne, weil das Buch nicht wirklich neue Ideen oder Aspekte über Zeitmanagement diskutiert. Was in dem Buch behandelt wird, hat man irgendwo in irgendeiner Ausführung schon einmal gelesen oder gehört. Nichtsdestotrotz schätze ich den Ton und das Konzept des Buches und die Herangehensweise an solch bekannte Themen - eine: "alles kann nichts muss", "trial and error", "morgen ist ein neuer Tag" - Vibe ist sehr angenehm und bringt mich dazu das Buch eher als Manual immer dann in die Hand zu nehmen, wenn ich das Gefühl habe etwas Hilfestellung oder Inspiration zu benötigen. Das Kapitel über Social Media und Apps ist am meisten hängen geblieben. Dass zwei Ex Youtube/Google/Silicon Valley-Techs mir erklären wie diese Technik ausgerichtet ist und dass meine Willenskraft allein möglicherweise nicht ausreicht, nicht unkontrolliert an meinem Handy zu kleben, war seltsam beruhigend. Die dazugehörigen Tipps habe ich teilweise bereits umgesetzt und habe innerhalb dieser 2.5 Tage eine Form der Erleichterung von Social Media erlebt.

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matej yangwao@yangwao
3 stars
Aug 22, 2023

** spoiler alert ** Bummer. Pretty basic book, good for someone who would like introduce bit system do their daily structure and mitigate chaos. I would call this bool "How to structure your productive day." Probably takeaway is joyful highlights of your day 👀 ≥Coffee doesn’t actually boost your energy level, the caffeine in it just prevents energy dip caused by sleepiness induced by adenosine molecules. Caffeine is so powerful and you need to be more intentional about drinking it. ≥Remove gadgets from your bedroom to keep it as a sanctuary for sleep. ≥Coffee expert, Ryan Brown, recommends that to increase productivity, one should drink the first cup between 9.30–10.30 a.m. and the last cup between 1.30–2.30 p.m. ≥You just need to make small shifts to gain more control over your life. ≥At the end of the day, you need to reflect on the things that you’ve managed to achieve and evaluate them. Reflection is a scientific method that is pretty simple and it consists of four steps: observe what is going on, predict/guess why it is happening that way, prove your hypothesis right or wrong, and track the results.

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Sarah Schumacher@smschumacher
4 stars
Jun 25, 2023

Quick read, lots of practical tips. It’s essentially the one big thing approach (“highlight”) + removing distractions (“laser”) + analyzing (“reflect”) what worked/didn’t work at the end of the day. Rinse and repeat. The fourth component: recommendations to keep your energy up, basic health stuff. That seemed a bit out of place in this type of book, but they aren’t wrong. I was definitely getting Austin Kleon vibes with the hand drawn elements, so it’s more fun than a bullet list of do’s and don’ts. If you’re the type to constantly experiment with what works for you (bullet journalers...) and like reading about the experiments of others, you’ll enjoy this book.

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Anwar@zianwar
3 stars
Apr 28, 2023

I didn't personally find anything new/innovative in this book, the ideas felt fairly obvious and predictable to me.

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Julien Sobczak@julien-sobczak
4 stars
Apr 3, 2023

Time Management in a time-deprived world. "Make Time" is like a cookbook. "You wouldn't try all the recipes at once," say the authors, "and you don't need to do all the tactics at once, either." It's a book to find what best works for YOU based on a list of more than 80 tactics to choose from. The authors spent years at Google as product designers, helping to build services like Gmail, YouTube, and Google Hangouts (= helping to steal our attention). Their reflection on this experience makes this book particularly valuable as they decided to use their unique perspective to design the most invaluable product: how we spend our time. The authors declare "Make Time" is not about productivity but all great productivity books focus on the same goal as this book: create more time in your day for the things you care about. I found the book pleasant, and engaging, especially if you are tired of how ineffective you are at work and are ready to make some practical changes in your habits. It's clearly not a definitive book on the subject. Other books like "Four Thousand Weeks" are more inspiring but less practical but it's a great choice as a first reading on the subject.

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Nick Gracilla@ngracilla
5 stars
Jan 16, 2023

This is a delightful break from the usual stern, preachy, end of the world voice that usually accompanies books about digital addiction, productivity, and process improvement. Moreover, it’s written by members of the Google team who created two of the worst time sinks of them all — YouTube and Google Mail. They went on to formalize the Design Sprint methodology of product development and exploration. Here, find ready to implement tactics, assessment methods, and focus strategies delivered in a fun and humorous voice. No one size fits all: learn approaches to fit your own situation. Many of the graphs and illustrations are on point and LOL inspiring. Highly recommended.

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Lee Herman@macbikegeek
4 stars
Jan 2, 2023

An interesting approach to focusing your attention on what you care about. The core idea is picking a Highlight for every day. The book provides a framework for why this works and over 80 specific approaches to keeping what you do and where you focus on what you want as opposed to what sucks you in. Along the way, the tips aim towards a healthier, more balanced life. While many of the tips may be familiar to readers of other books on improving focus, the Highlight framework is a little different take. And the authors wrote the book in an informal, conversational style that's fun to read. They are also very cognizant that not every tip will work for everyone, and not doctrinaire about your following every detail exactly as written. They suggest picking specific individual tips to work on, only a couple at once, and trying them and modifying them as needed or moving on if they don't work for you. If you decide you want to implement their tips, you'll need to buy the book so you can keep referring to it as you work on implementing various tips of your choosing. It's very much about making small changes and seeing what they do and building to big change from lots of little changes over time.

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Fadi@homs_dream
4 stars
Aug 22, 2022

أحبّ الكتب التي تكون على نمط "المانيفيستو" الشخصي. هذا أحدهم، وقعتُ عليه بالصدفة وشدني العنوان -وإن كان تجارياً- لكن بعد الفصل الأول شعرتُ أني أمام كتاب سأستفيد منه؛ وقد استفدت حقاً. معضلة الوقت التي نعاني منها والتشتت وكثرة الملهيات لن يكون لها حلّ سحري، لا بقراءة هذا الكتاب ولا بغيره. لكن باتباع بعض القوانين والإرشادات الواردة في الكتاب يمكنك تحسين نوعية حياتك أو تقليل نسبة الضياع ولو بدرجة واحدة. == لن أطيل في المقدمة، سأدخل في صُلب الموضوع مباشرة. يقول مؤلفوه إن الكتاب هدفه مساعدتك في في تخفيف سرعتك وسط حالة العجلة المجنونة التي تعيشها، وكيف نصنع وقتاً للأشياء المهمة فقط، والابتعاد عن حالة التشتت والإلهاء، والاستمتاع باللحظة الحالية أكثر. لا يدور الكتاب حول الإنتاجية، ولا يدور حول كيفية إنتاج المزيد، أو إنهاء المهام بشكل أسرع، إنّه إطار صُمم ليساعدك فعلياً على إيجاد مزيد من الوقت خلال يومك للأشياء التي تهتم بها حقاً. == فصول الكتاب تدور حول 4 أفكار رئيسة: 1- الهدف 2- التركيز التام 3- التفكر 4- تجديد الطاقة وتحت كل فكرة هناك عدد من الإرشادات المباشرة للتطبيق الفوري. == سأذكر أكثر مما لفتني من كل فكرة، فمثلاً في فقرة [ الهدف] فإنّ الهدف الأمثل هو أن تحدد هدفاً واحداً فقط لكل يوم، ويدور يومك كله حول إنجاز هذا الهدف، قد يكون الهدف شيئاً بسيطاً لكن بمجرد الالتزام به سيرتفع لديك الإحساس بالإنجاز. فقرة [ التركيز التام ] كانت مخصصة لعلاج الإدمان السلوكي لوسائل التواصل الاجتماعي والإشعارات اللانهائية ورسائل البريد الإلكتروني التي لا تتوقف ( هذا أجمل فصول الكتاب ويمكنك قراءته فقط وستشعر بالفائدة). == احترس من فجوات الوقت: هذا الفصل من أنفع فصول الكتاب وأكثرها مفاجأة لي، فمن خلال التتبع وجدتُ كلام المؤلفين صادماً ومرعباً وكيف أنّ أعمارنا تتسلل من بين يدينا دون أن نشعر. == الخلاصة: الكتاب جميل جداً، ومفيد وعملي وبسيط ولا يحتاج منك إلا إلى قليل من الهمّة والإرادة.

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Kuba Milcarz@kubamilcarz
4 stars
Aug 17, 2022

Concise, to the point, without unnecessary shit around. A list of valuable 87 tactics.

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brendan sudol@bren
4 stars
Aug 12, 2022

'Make Time is a framework for choosing what you want to focus on, building the energy to do it, and breaking the default cycle so that you can start being more intentional about the way you live your life.' '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... 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.' '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.' 'We do not remember days, we remember moments.'

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Levi Nelson@levinelson
4 stars
Aug 12, 2022

Nothing here is that earth-shattering. But ya know, sometimes you need a well-written and organized book to remind you of some common sense techniques. Worth the price just for the motivation it gave me!

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Paventhan@paven
4 stars
Jul 7, 2023
+3
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Julien Programmer@julien-programmer
4 stars
Jun 12, 2025
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Gerbert-Jan@gjrosmalen
5 stars
Jul 23, 2024
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Christian Bager Bach Houmann@cbbh
2 stars
Jul 20, 2024
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Kevin Wammer@cliophate
5 stars
Jul 18, 2024
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Ren@walking_sheets
4 stars
Jul 14, 2024
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LC@lower_colon
2 stars
Jul 5, 2024
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Arm E@broccolinisoup
3 stars
Jul 4, 2024
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Niels Andersen@nielsandersen
4 stars
Apr 30, 2024
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Lucas Morales Sousa@lucaslsf
2 stars
Apr 5, 2024
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Pierre@pst
4 stars
Apr 4, 2024
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Anton@tonyv
2 stars
Feb 12, 2024
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Andreas Spiegler@andreasspiegler
3 stars
Dec 25, 2023