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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
This was one of the most practical, helpful business books I've read. But it's not just for "business"—It can help you organize your life to make time for the things you enjoy or new projects you want to start. The lessons are not earth-shattering, but they're presented in a smart, relatable, doable way. I'm a productivity nerd, but this book argues by trying to maximize our productivity, we just create more for us to do, which is what I have found. Instead, it takes some lessons from Cal Newport's "Deep Work" on how to work harder and smarter. "Make Time" shows you how to choose a "highlight" for each day, something you want to get done, whether in work or your personal life, and then how to minimize the distractions all around you to be able to work on that highlight. I'm eager to put these lessons into action. This book has some similarities to Gretchen Rubin's "Happier" podcast and "The Happiness Project" book in that the writers show you the little things you can do every day to improve your life. And the writers are friends with Rubin, and if you know about her framework "The Four Tendencies," at least one of the writers is a questioner, like me, so I related a lot to that.
Serendipitously, I picked up this book because it was on sale, and I am so glad I did. I recently started a new job, and much of the feedback from colleagues centred around the need for me to develop a better work-life balance. They told me that I worked too hard, was always online, and needed to slow down so that I don’t burn myself out.
The premise of this book is not groundbreaking, something the authors agree. It's not a lesson on how to be more productive, as they point out early on. It is, however, a great way to understand:
a) the forces that keep you stagnant even when you think you're so busy and
b) how to make time for the things you want to do.
As I enter a new year, I have hopes to develop better habits. I think the lessons in this book will help me make a start.
This year my goal is to get through all the 99p books I bought for kindle and never read. This is one I’ve had kicking around for years now and it was not worth the few hours it took to read.
The idea is not objectionable: don’t try to be more productive but instead spend your time doing things you care about. Fundamentally the book boils down to picking one thing as your thing to do for your day and then more on how to make sure you do this thing you care about. Including how to avoid distractions and derailments (essentially avoid social media and get off your phone) as well as deeply questionable advice around exercise and nutrition. Not a fan.
The idea is not objectionable: don’t try to be more productive but instead spend your time doing things you care about. Fundamentally the book boils down to picking one thing as your thing to do for your day and then more on how to make sure you do this thing you care about. Including how to avoid distractions and derailments (essentially avoid social media and get off your phone) as well as deeply questionable advice around exercise and nutrition. Not a fan.
Adding to my favorites shelf because this book has had a profound impact on my life in just the short time it took to listen to it. I ended up buying the e-book so I would have the text available to look back on easily, but I loved listening to the authors read their work.
As fate had it, I had just started utilizing one of Microsoft Outlook's tools which blocks off time for focus on my work calendar. I have, then, a block of time each work day uninterrupted by meetings. Until listening to this book, though, I was not getting the most out of this block of time, often filling it with answering e-mail, doing small tasks, or, honestly, getting distracted. The idea of having a highlight each day supercharged these focus blocks, giving them real purpose.
I immediately started using the "design your day" tactic to lay out each day in detail, lessening the number of times I read and dealt with e-mails and allowing myself to focus on my priorities, including preparing for calls, following up on asks, and researching not only for specific projects but also for knowledge building. I removed infinity pool apps and even e-mail access from my phone so that I was not tempted by them anymore. I turned my to do list into a burner list, loving the idea of the kitchen sink so much that now I keep a "my kitchen sink" and "their kitchen sink" list so that I don't lose track of projects no matter whose court they are in. (You'll have to read the book--or ask me--to find out what that is about.)
All in all, after one week of trying some of the techniques, I felt more productive, sane, and happy than I have in my work life in a long while. I am better prepared for meetings, have time for learning, and am still able to be appropriately responsive to requests.
What is truly great about this book is that:
1) It gives a framework (Highlight, Laser, Energy, Reflect) that is easy to understand and implement.
2) It provides techniques to pick and choose from, recognizing that people are all different and things are never one size fits all. (For instance, there are techniques for morning people vs. night people.) You can try what you like and ignore the rest. Some may be only used for a brief time, some may already be part of your habits. All are encouraged to be intentionally reflected upon, allowing you to keep only what works and throw out what doesn't.
3) It gives you permission to choose, including choosing not to get sucked in by addictive distractions and other people's priorities.
As fate had it, I had just started utilizing one of Microsoft Outlook's tools which blocks off time for focus on my work calendar. I have, then, a block of time each work day uninterrupted by meetings. Until listening to this book, though, I was not getting the most out of this block of time, often filling it with answering e-mail, doing small tasks, or, honestly, getting distracted. The idea of having a highlight each day supercharged these focus blocks, giving them real purpose.
I immediately started using the "design your day" tactic to lay out each day in detail, lessening the number of times I read and dealt with e-mails and allowing myself to focus on my priorities, including preparing for calls, following up on asks, and researching not only for specific projects but also for knowledge building. I removed infinity pool apps and even e-mail access from my phone so that I was not tempted by them anymore. I turned my to do list into a burner list, loving the idea of the kitchen sink so much that now I keep a "my kitchen sink" and "their kitchen sink" list so that I don't lose track of projects no matter whose court they are in. (You'll have to read the book--or ask me--to find out what that is about.)
All in all, after one week of trying some of the techniques, I felt more productive, sane, and happy than I have in my work life in a long while. I am better prepared for meetings, have time for learning, and am still able to be appropriately responsive to requests.
What is truly great about this book is that:
1) It gives a framework (Highlight, Laser, Energy, Reflect) that is easy to understand and implement.
2) It provides techniques to pick and choose from, recognizing that people are all different and things are never one size fits all. (For instance, there are techniques for morning people vs. night people.) You can try what you like and ignore the rest. Some may be only used for a brief time, some may already be part of your habits. All are encouraged to be intentionally reflected upon, allowing you to keep only what works and throw out what doesn't.
3) It gives you permission to choose, including choosing not to get sucked in by addictive distractions and other people's priorities.
informative
fast-paced
I picked this book up as a "productivity" book to help me get some tips on how to focus on the things I want to focus on. A bulk of the book is tips and exercises that should help one make time for the things that are important. However, the side effect is that most of the exercises will also just make you a better person. Turns out all this "make time" stuff isn't just for things on your to-do list. There are so many great concepts, ideas, cartoons, etc. in this book. I earmarked all the stuff I want to try first. Quick, fun, easy read with over 80 tips to make time.
This book was... okay.
It's a lot of advice in the form of "tips" (take caffeine naps! drink more water! don't check e-mails more than once per day!), which I find to be pretty surface-level reading. It's also clearly written by a couple of dudes from Silicon Valley who can afford to organize their time and their work as if no one else is concerned. For those of us working on teams-- and with family commitments that demand more of us-- I'm not sure much of this book will ring true.\
There are better scheduling-advice books out there; this one seems a bit out of touch with the real world. (One of the authors confesses to having quit his day job to take up sailing full-time, for what that tells you.)
Two stars because the audio, read by the co-authors may be a more efficient read than the print book, which takes pains to delineate one author's voice from the other using visual cues.
It's a lot of advice in the form of "tips" (take caffeine naps! drink more water! don't check e-mails more than once per day!), which I find to be pretty surface-level reading. It's also clearly written by a couple of dudes from Silicon Valley who can afford to organize their time and their work as if no one else is concerned. For those of us working on teams-- and with family commitments that demand more of us-- I'm not sure much of this book will ring true.\
There are better scheduling-advice books out there; this one seems a bit out of touch with the real world. (One of the authors confesses to having quit his day job to take up sailing full-time, for what that tells you.)
Two stars because the audio, read by the co-authors may be a more efficient read than the print book, which takes pains to delineate one author's voice from the other using visual cues.
“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.”