MAKE TIME

                                                                                 Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky

What’s in the book for you?

We often complain that we don’t have enough time. Our basic tendency is to blame the modern world, while ignoring the fact that we have a hand in it as well.

Make Time will tell you how to make time out of the time you already have.  The book will provide you with a clear idea of how and where you are losing your time and will help you get personalized practical methods to solve it.

Busyness and distractions will take away your time

Even though it’s impossible to not have a busy life, busyness is self-imposed to some extent. So start by understanding the reasons behind your busyness and distractions and then design a strategy to stop yourself from being unnecessarily busy.

Two phenomena are at work behind our lack of time, the Busy Bandwagon and the rise of Infinity Pools. The modern day mentality of incorporating maximum work into every minute of life, results in jam-packed calendars and never ending workloads. When  frustrated by the Busy Bandwagon, we plunge into different infinity pools like Facebook, YouTube, Netflix etc. and end up with pointless busy work the whole day. So the question is how to fight this duo of time wasting super villains.

 Productivity leaves you busier

In a world which demands more productivity, you will be replaced with another task just as soon as you complete one. Thus more productivity will make you even busier with never ending tasks. Moreover, when you prioritize other’s interests over yours, you deprioritize yourself. Frustration over this wastage of time and energy for others’ interests and failure in fulfilling your interests, you will end up wallowing in Infinity Pools.

Why can’t you say no to distractions?

It’s not easy when these Infinity Pools are well designed by expert techies to attract your need to engage  and overpower your willpower.  It’s the basic tendency of humans to get attracted to stories, gossip etc. So, your will power alone cannot resist these expertly designed media platforms and your conditioned mind. Therefore, you need to develop some strategies and tactics to aid your will power.

Change the default settings of your behavior

Professional demands and digital conditioning in today’s world has resulted in your involuntary reaction to the Busy Bandwagon and Infinity Pools. Your unmindful reactivity is the source of power for these Busy Bandwagon and Infinity Pools. So change the default settings of your mind from reactive to proactive to take back power over your own time, away from these time spoiling villains.

Build a barrier between yourself and your time spoilers

To build a barrier between yourself and your time spoilers, you will need some powerful tactics. Tactics may vary according to different personalities. A clear cut strategy will guide you in employing these tactics. This strategy has four steps; highlight, focus, energize and reflect.

Choose a highlight activity/ project each day

Long term goals may help you organize your life and short term goals may help you progress in your life. Set up a highlight activity each day that can be fulfilled within 60 to 90 minutes so that fulfilling it will give you a sense of gratification at the end of the day.

Highlight activities can be important, meaningful or joyful. Start the day by asking yourself what you want to be the highlight of your day and decide on your highlight according to your priority.

You can find time for your highlight activity by calculating the time needed for your highlight activity, blocking off a regular span of time, creating a detailed schedule of your day, shifting around commitments or reclaiming time either at the beginning or end of your day.

Stay focused on your highlights

Stay focused by using these  tactics to avoid distractions. Delete the apps on your phone that are time wasters and not useful. Log out from social media accounts or install software or website blocking programs to limit its usage. Avoid googling frequently on random topics. Avoid keeping track of news on an hourly basis but allot specific time for it.

Energize your mind and body

Your mind and body is interconnected. So, if you want an energized body you need an energized mind. Enough exercise, healthy diet, good social connections and proper sleep will help you energize your mind and body.

Try out the tactics and reflect on its results

Try out each of the provided tactics every day and find out which one works best for you. Keep track of your day to day activities and any positive developments. These proactive strategies will help you design your time to do what you actually wish to. These were the tactics which actually helped the authors (who were former techies), to find time for their own interests.

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