Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day

by Jake Knapp

Make Time is not about productivity. It’s not about getting more done, finishing your to-dos faster, or outsourcing your life. Instead, it’s a framework designed to help you actually create more time in your day for the things you care about, whether that’s spending time with your family, learning a language, starting a side business, volunteering, writing a novel, or mastering Mario Kart.

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.

The first thing we learned was that something magic happens when you start the day with one high-priority goal.

Another lesson from our design sprints was that we got more done when we banned devices. Since we set the rules, we were able to prohibit laptops and smartphones, and the difference was phenomenal.

Reflect: Adjust and Improve Your System Finally, before going to bed, you’ll take a few notes. It’s super simple: You’ll decide which tactics you want to continue and which ones you want to refine or drop.2 And you’ll think back on your energy level, whether you made time for your Highlight, and what brought you joy in the day.

Make writing down your Highlight a simple daily ritual. You can do it at any time, but the evening (before bed) and the morning work best for most people. JZ likes to think about tomorrow’s Highlight as he’s winding down in the evening. Jake chooses his Highlight in the morning, sometime between eating breakfast and starting work.

Draw a circle around number one. If you want to make progress on your number one priority, you’ll need to make it your focus whenever possible. Drawing the circle reinforces this prioritization—there’s something symbolic about putting your decision in ink. 6. Use this list to help you choose Highlights. Keep this list around to remind yourself of your one highest priority—and to break ties between two activities when you’re not sure how to spend your effort.

The key thing here is that you’re using your phone intentionally—it’s not using you. And when you’re done, you set the default back to “off.”