Asra Yousuf

Book by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky.

To some time is an illusion, to some it is relative, and to some it is ephemeral- but the reality is that we all have 24 hours a day. What we do with it is solely a personal choice. It can sometimes feel that we don’t have control over our time. There is so much to do, yet only so much time. Knapp and Zeratsky talk about getting trapped in the cycle of “busy bandwagons” (i.e. emails, calendars, and to-do lists) that makes us feel busy but not productive, and sinking in infinity pools of never-ending addictive content on social platforms. So how can we take back control of our time, and leverage it to cater to things that are important and enriching? In this no fluff and no frills book, Knapp and Zeratsky lay down a four-step guide on “how to focus on things that matter every day”.

“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—we’ll offer a menu of tricks to beat distraction in an always-connected world. 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.”

🌟 Highlight: Start each day by choosing a focal point

Design your day by picking up a highlight. Highlights are generally something we think about in retrospective- the highlight of a trip, the highlight of your time in college. But what if you were to decide what you want your highlight of the day to be and work accordingly to make it a reality?! So how do we go about it?

How to pick a highlight?

• Make a to-do list and pick one item from it that is either urgent, provides satisfaction, or is a source of joy. Eg. If you have a deadline coming up, make the urgent task your highlight. If you are seeking joy, then spending some time on your hobby can be the highlight for your day
• Your highlight should ideally take 60-90 mins to complete.
• If the highlight is a multi-day effort, break it down into small batches.
• Prioritize your to-do list- Have a might-do list and a must-do list to make it easy to pick a highlight.
• If you have multiple small things to compete, batch them together to make a highlight.

How to make your highlight work?

• ✍️ Write down your highlight
• 🗓 Schedule your highlight and block your calendar for it
• 🚫 Say no to everything else that comes in the way of working on your highlight
• 🔁 Repeat the next day, if you fail at completing your highlight. Repeating helps create habits, build momentum and gives you a second chance at success.
• ⏰ Figure out the time of the day when you are most productive, if you are a morning or night person, and work on your highlight accordingly.

🎯 Laser: Beat distraction to make time for your highlight

Planning is pointless unless you execute it. It starts with being intentional about your time and plans. This phase involves putting your head down and focusing on completing your highlight for the day. Small steps that can go a long way are:

• 🔇 Mute notifications when working
• 📵 Curate a distraction free phone. Delete apps that are not urgent or important. Log out of social media apps to create friction of using them. Clear your phone Home Screen.
• ⏱ Wear a watch to check the time instead of checking your phone
• 🗞 Ignore the News. Keep yourself updated by checking what happened in the world, once a week.
• ✉️ Schedule email time. Don’t deal with it first thing in the morning.
• 💬 Be slow to respond to message, unless urgent.
• 🌄 Don’t check your email and phone first thing in the morning.
• 📺 Put the television in the corner of the room. Watch television occasionally to treat yourself.
• 🌊 Find a flow state of work- it could be through your favorite sound track, working in a closed room, or racing against a deadline.
• 🏝When stuck in a rut, allow yourself to be bored. Take a day off or meditate to get back in the zone.

🏃‍♀️ Energize: Use the body to recharge the brain

Taking out time to energize might seem counter-productive, especially when you are struggling to get things done. However, taking care of your body and building healthy habits is a long term investment that pays off every single day. To maintain focus and avoid distractions, you need to recharge yourself constantly. Some of the habits to build into your daily routine are:

• 🏋️‍♀️ Move in some way or another- be it walking, running, lifting, stretching. Go for short workouts to maintain consistency. Take the stairs when you can.
• ☕️ Optimize caffeine- Have caffeine just before you are about to crash.
• 🏖 Go off the grid- Take vacations to recharge
• 🥗 Eat more whole foods. Whole Foods take longer to digest, unlike processed foods like sugar, pasta etc. which are quick to digest, cause spikes in your blood sugar level and lead to energy crashes. Eat without screens. Avoid sugar.
• 😴 Sleep in a cave- eliminate distractions in your bedroom by keeping all devices away.
• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👧 Spend time with your tribe- spend more time with people who exude positive vibes and energize you.
• 🧘‍♀️ Meditate- Take a breather.

🤔 Reflect: Adjust and improve your system

What works for someone else might not work for you. We are all wired differently. To make the process work requires you to reflect on what is working for you and what isn’t. Approach this by trying out various suggestions as listed above- observe your day, guess the why behind your actions and outcomes, experiment with techniques to achieve the desire outcomes and finally measure the results to gauge success. Journaling is an effective way of keeping track of the experiments and their results, and helps you recognize patterns in your behavior and habits. Reflecting, executing multiple cycles of experimentations, and pivoting with each iteration, can help you design a fulfilling day where you make most of your time.

Adopting the suggestions in “Make Time” is surely not a one-time effort but requires you to attempt different things each day until certain tactics begin to click and work for you. The act of framing your highlight can be a struggle some days and keeping your distractions at bay can prove to be a long, arduous journey. Habits to energize yourself will take months to build and you will have to consciously remind yourself to pause and reflect as you go about working towards curating better days. But keep at it, and things will eventually fall in place.