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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Jake Knapp
Read between
October 7 - October 7, 2019
I can gather all the news I need on the weather report. —PAUL SIMON, “THE ONLY LIVING BOY IN NEW YORK”
We’ve got some breaking news of our own: You don’t need to follow the daily news. True breaking news will find you, and the rest isn’t urgent or just doesn’t matter.
Reacting to what’s in front of you is always easier than doing what you intend.
Make these two choices at the beginning of your flight, fasten your safety belt, and enjoy Laser mode at 35,000 feet.8
Watch Out for Time Craters
Jake posts a tweet. (90 seconds) Over the next two hours, Jake returns to Twitter four times to see how his tweet is doing. Each time, he skims the newsfeed. Twice he reads an article somebody shared. (26 minutes) Jake’s tweet gets a few retweets, which feels good, so he begins mentally composing his next tweet. (Two minutes here, three minutes there, and so on) Jake posts another tweet, and the cycle begins all over again. A tiny tweet can easily smash a thirty-minute crater in your day, and that’s without switching costs.
The most corrosive piece of technology that I’ve ever seen is called television—but then, again, television, at its best, is magnificent. —STEVE JOBS
The closed door is your way of telling the world and yourself that you mean business. —STEPHEN KING, ON WRITING
If your Highlight requires focused work, do yourself a favor and shut the door.
Time is invisible. But it doesn’t have to be. We’d like to introduce you to the Time Timer.
Breathe in through your nose. Notice the air filling up your chest. Breathe out through your mouth. Notice your body softening.
just sit there. You’re bored? Lucky you!
when you’re stuck, you know exactly what you want to do—your brain just isn’t sure how to proceed.
These things are easy, but they cut into the time you’ve made for your Highlight. Instead, just be stuck. Don’t give up. Stare at the blank screen, or switch to paper, or walk around, but keep your focus on the project at hand.
Eventually, you will get unstuck, and then you’ll be glad you didn’t give up.
We believe wholeheartedness is fundamental to everything this book is about: presence, attention, and making time for what matters.
He was advising a friend who was burned out at work to leave and focus on his passion. We aren’t advising you to quit your job, but we are reminding you that it’s important to be proactive and seek out moments when you can be passionate about your efforts. If you choose exciting ways to spend your time, being wholehearted isn’t so hard.
Choosing a Highlight and getting into Laser mode are the core of Make Time. But the secret sauce is Energize.
But these days, it’s easy to feel that the brain is the only part that matters.
The defaults of today’s world assume that the brain is the one driving the bus, but that’s not really how it works. When you don’t take care of your body, your brain can’t do its job.
If you want energy for your brain, you need to take care of your body.
Eventually, we realized that 99 percent of what you need to know about increasing your energy is right there in human history. All you need to do is travel back in time to check it out.
What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while. —GRETCHEN RUBIN
the 7 Minute Workout combines twelve simple, fast, scientifically proven exercises into a routine that lasts only, yep, seven minutes (thirty-second bursts with ten seconds of rest in between).
As many push-ups as possible in one set, then rest one minute As many squats as possible in one set, then rest one minute As many lifts (pull-ups, curls, whatever) as possible in one set, then rest one minute
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. When you wake up, the receptors are clear and the caffeine has just shown up. You’re fresh, recharged, and ready to go.
Meditation is just a breather for your brain.
But constant thinking means your brain never gets rest. When you meditate, instead of passively going along with the thoughts, you stay quiet and notice the thoughts, and that slows them down and gives your brain a break.
Meditation is also exercise for your brain.
try to take breaks without screens: Gaze out the window (it’s good for your eyes), go for a walk (it’s good for your mind and body), grab a snack (it’s good for your energy if you’re hungry), or talk to someone (it’s usually good for your mood unless you talk to a jerk).
Spend Time with Your Tribe
Napping makes you smarter.
You don’t even have to fall asleep. Just lying down and resting for ten to twenty minutes can be a great way to recharge.
Eventually, a funny thing happened. The more I made time for writing, the more I wanted to write. Finally, I decided to try doing it as a full-time job.
This major shift in my priorities didn’t happen overnight. It was like a snowball rolling downhill, growing with every revolution. It took seven years from starting to make time
Highlight: Schedule Your Highlight (#8) A simple way to be proactive, give form to your day, and break the reaction cycle. Laser: Block Distraction Kryptonite (#24) Free yourself from one Infinity Pool, and see how your attention changes.
Energize: Pound the Pavement (#62) A few minutes of walking each day provides a boost for the body and quiet for the mind.
Reflect every evening for three days Don’t worry about committing to a lifetime of evening journaling (we’re not there yet, either). Just try the three tactics above and, for three days straight, take notes in the evening. See what you learn and take it from there.
Our 1,700+ test readers, who helped us clarify and de-boring-ify the beginning of Make Time,
Thank you to the 1,700 readers who signed up to review an early version of this book and gave us excellent input. We hope we didn’t miss anyone or misspell any names, but if we did, just know we appreciate you all the same:
