J.R.: [00:00:00] Hello everyone, and welcome back to One Thousand Gurus, where we share stories and lessons from people of all walks of life. My name is J.R. Yonocruz. So today's episode is actually a book episode, so a book highlight episode.

So for those of you who don't know, I read about two books a month, and over the course of the last several years, actually closer to more than 10 years now, I've accumulated some of my favorite books. And once I started this podcast, I knew that at one point I wanted to start a series where I share my book summaries and notes into these sort of smaller and digestible audio format book summaries and highlights.

So the first book highlights that I shared were my personal finance one. It was a combination of three. The second one was The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, and this will be the third one.

And it's always hard to go through and figure out my favorite books. I think I wanted to do a book on productivity and effectiveness [00:01:00] and getting things done. And this book has always been at the top of my list for that field, that area, which is Make Time by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky. So I'm pretty excited to share this with you.

And like always, I'll share an overview description PDF in the link below, as well as the link to my book summary, of course, for this book. Highly recommend you check it out, read my summary, check out the actual book. But I'm pretty excited to get into this one because a lot of my own strategies and philosophies about productivity have come from this book. So it was very pivotal for me.

Oh, and last note, I'll also be linking this presentation if you are audio only. If you're on YouTube, you'll see it, but for the audio only, I'll also link this Gamma presentation for you to check out and follow along.

So without further ado, let's get into it.

So today we're diving into a book that tackles one of the biggest challenges of modern life: How do we find time for what actually matters when we're constantly busy and endlessly distracted? The book is Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day [00:02:00] by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky.

So these guys created Google Ventures' famous design sprint process, and they've worked on products like Gmail and YouTube. But this book isn't about productivity hacks or squeezing more tasks into your day. It's about something fundamentally different. It's about escaping the busy bandwagon, stepping off the hamster wheel, and designing your days around what you actually want to focus on.

I picked up this book on a personal recommendation from my coworker, Chris, and I'm so glad that I did. It gave me a completely new framework for thinking about my time and 

attention.

The challenge. Let me start by asking you a question. Do you ever feel like you're constantly busy, but at the end of the day, you're not sure what you actually accomplished? Or maybe you feel like you're always reacting to emails, notifications, to other people's priorities instead of proactively choosing how to spend your time.

If so, you're not alone. According to Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky, there are two major forces competing for your time and attention in the modern world.

The busy bandwagon. [00:03:00] So the first is what we call the busy bandwagon. This is the mindset that says if you want to meet the demands of the modern workplace and function in modern society, you must fill every minute with productivity. Everyone else is busy, so you don't wanna fall behind. You don't wanna be the one who has to catch up.

Sound familiar?

Infinity pools. So the second force is what they call infinity pools. These are apps and other sources that are endlessly replenishing content. Social media feeds, news sites, streaming platforms, email inboxes, they never run out. There's always more to consume. And together, these two forces create a default mode of constant busyness and endless distraction.

But here's what Jake and John ask: Is constant busyness really mandatory? Is endless distraction really inevitable? Or are we all just stuck on autopilot? And more importantly, what if there was a way to step off the hamster wheel and start taking control of your time and attention?

That's what this book is all about.

Here's the key insight that changed everything for me. Even if you can't control your schedule, you can control your [00:04:00] attention. Make time isn't about saving time. It's about making time for the things that actually matter. So it's not about productivity, it's not about checking off more to-dos or optimizing every minute, it's about intentionality.

Before Jake and John wrote this book, they spent years running design sprints at Google Ventures. These were five-day work weeks dedicated to solving one specific problem, and then they noticed four critical lessons from these sprints.

So lesson one, something magical happens when you start your day with one high-priority goal. Drawing your attention to one big focal point changed everything. Instead of scattering energy across dozens of tasks, they focused on one thing.

Lesson two, you get more done when you ban devices. When they removed phones and laptops from the room during focused work, productivity skyrocketed.

It removed the defaults and switched to focus. Lesson number three, the importance of energy for focused work and clear thinking. They observed how things like a healthy lunch, a quick walk, frequent breaks, and a slightly shorter workday helped maintain peak energy, resulting in [00:05:00] better and more effective work.

Lesson four, the experiments taught them the power of experiments. Experimenting allowed them to improve the process. Seeing the results of their changes firsthand gave them deep confidence that they could keep getting better.

So they took these lessons and distilled them into a four-step framework that you can use every single day. Number one, highlight, two, laser, three, energize, four, reflect. That's it. 

Four steps repeated daily. Let me break down each one.

Highlights. What is a highlight? 

Your highlight is one thing you want to make sure happens today. It's not a to-do list. It's not everything you need to get done. It's the single most important or most satisfying thing you want to focus on. Jake and John say that every day you should have a highlight, something bigger than a to-do task, but smaller than a big, lofty goal.

And here's the important part. Your highlight doesn't have to be something you need to do. It can be something you want to do.

How do you choose your highlight? They give you three criteria. Number one, urgency. What is the most pressing thing you have to do today? Number two, satisfaction. Which highlight will bring you the most satisfaction at the end of the day?[00:06:00] 

Number three, joy. When I reflect on today, what will bring me the most joy? Some days urgency wins. Other days you choose based on what will feel most satisfying or joyful.

Intentionality. So here's a line from the book that really stuck with me. "You only waste time if you're not intentional about how you use it." Think about that. Time isn't wasted if you choose how to spend it. Even if you spend an hour reading a novel or playing with your kids or going for a walk, if you choose it, it wasn't wasted.

Jake and John offer several tactics 

for choosing your highlight. Write it down on a sticky note, groundhog it, repeat yesterday's highlight if it was meaningful, stack rank your life, so list out your big priorities and choose the number one, batch the little stuff, so combine small tasks into one highlight, or use a burner list, two columns, front burner, top priority, back burner, second priority.

A good rule of thumb is to choose a highlight that takes 60 to 90 minutes, and it's okay if you change your highlight during the day if something more important or meaningful comes up.

Laser. Creating time for your highlight. [00:07:00] Okay, so you've chosen your highlight. Now you need to actually make time for it.

Jake and John offer tactics like schedule your highlight on your calendar, block your calendar to protect your time, bulldoze your calendar, so cancel meetings that aren't essential. Just say no to requests that don't align with your priorities. Design your day with a structured plan.

Here's something that really resonated with me. A structured day creates freedom. Because you're not constantly deciding what to do next, you're freed up to focus on how to do it. You're focused on the moment. But making time isn't enough if you're constantly distracted.

So the second part of laser is about redesigning your relationship with technology. You can't swear off technology in the modern world, But you can redesign the way you use it to stop the reaction cycle. So here's some of their tactics.

Try a distraction-free phone. Remove social media apps, games, and infinity pools. Log out of apps so there's more friction to get back in. Nix the notifications, so just turn them all off. Clear your home screen. Make it so boring you're not tempted to open your phone. Wear a wristwatch so you don't [00:08:00] check your phone just to see the time.

Leave devices behind when you don't need them.

So remember infinity pools, those apps and sources of endlessly replenishing content. Here's how to stay out of them. Skip the morning check-in. Don't start your day by diving into email or social media. Block distraction kryptonite, so identify your biggest time drains and block them. Ignore the news.

Most of it isn't actionable or important. Put your toys away. Physically remove distractions from your workplace. Put a timer on the internet to limit how long you can browse. One tactic that I love, instead of reacting to a trigger or prompt, you can use your favorite apps practically and intentionally.

So slow down your inbox. Email is one of the biggest time sinks, and here's how to slow it down. You can deal with it at the end of the day, not the first thing in the morning. You can schedule email time and then batch it into specific windows. You can empty your inbox once a week, but not every day. Be slow to respond because you don't owe anyone an instant reply. Reset expectations. Let people know you check your email once a [00:09:00] day.

Making TV a sometimes treat. And for entertainment, don't watch the news. It's mostly noise. Put your TV in the corner and make it less central to your living space. Go à la carte instead of all-you-can-eat.

So choose individual shows instead of subscribing to everything. Finding flow. Finally, Jake and John talk about tactics to help you get into a flow state. So you can try shutting the door so you create a focused environment. Invent a deadline because urgency helps focus. Play a laser soundtrack, so music without lyrics to help concentration.

I like to listen to classical music or sometimes classical piano jazz or coffee shop jazz or sometimes lo-fi. Set an invisible timer. They recommend Time Timer. Start on paper, so avoid the temptation of digital distractions.

Staying in the zone, and how to stay in flow. Notice one breath, a quick mindfulness reset. Be bored. Let your mind wander sometimes. Be stuck sitting on a problem, which can lead to [00:10:00] breakthroughs. Take a day off. Rest is productive. Or go all in, commit wholeheartedly.

And here's a powerful quote they share, "The antidote to exhaustion is not necessarily rest. The antidote to exhaustion is wholeheartedness."

So wholeheartedness is complete commitment. It's holding nothing back. It's letting go of caution and allowing yourself to care deeply about your work, relationship, or project. It's throwing yourself into the moment with enthusiasm and sincerity.

Energize, charge your battery. So why does this matter? So why energy matters. Here's something critical. To get the energy you need for a focused, high-performing brain, you gotta take care of your body.

Jake and John break energize into six principles. Number one, keep it moving. Number two, eat real food. Number three, optimize caffeine. Number four, go off the grid. Number five, make it personal. And number six, sleep in a cave. So we'll walk through each one.

Principle one, keep it moving. Exercise, but not in the way you think. Here's a quote that they love [00:11:00] from Gretchen Rubin, "What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while." So the takeaway is don't strive for perfection. The key is developing a daily habit. Even if you can't do a full workout, just go out for 10 minutes or take a walk.

Go small and go every day, or at least as close to every day as possible. Focus on daily doable exercise. And here's the thing about walking. It's practically a wonder drug. It helps you lose weight, avoid heart disease, reduce the risk of cancer, lower blood pressure, strengthen bones, and improve your mood through endorphins.

Personally, for the last two years, I've been doing a minimum of 10,000 daily average steps, and it's been great. It really is a game changer for your mood, for the regularity, for going outside, breathing fresh air. I go walk around at a park. But I highly recommend it, especially when you have those long days where you're just sitting often.

Walking is probably the closest thing you can do with the lowest amount of effort, and it's just nice. You can listen to a podcast or an audiobook like I do. They also recommend choosing [00:12:00] inconvenience as a way to find opportunities for exercise outside of the gym. So, for example, take the stairs, park further away, walk instead of drive, et cetera.

You just have to be willing to reset your default from inconvenient to energizing. For me personally, I like to think of it as when I actively and intentionally decide to, let's say, park further in a parking lot, I frame it as I get to use my legs today and I walk joyfully and with gratitude because, some people don't have the opportunity or the ability to walk.

And so I see it as a way to not only get steps, so it's gamified with my Fitbit, but also because it's healthy for me.

So one tactic that they share is the three-by-three workout technique. So three times a week, do the following three steps. As many push-ups as possible, rest one minute. As many squats as possible, rest one minute. As many lifts as possible, curls, pull-ups, whatever, rest one minute. That's it, simple and effective.

Eat real food. Principle number two, eat like a hunter-gatherer, real whole foods. They also talk about fasting to a point. It makes your [00:13:00] mind clear and your brain sharp, which is also good for staying focused on your priorities. And they recommend snacking like a toddler, simple, healthy snacks like fruit, nuts, or veggies.

Principle number three, optimize caffeine. Caffeine doesn't technically give you an energy boost. It just blocks you from having an energy dip caused by sleepiness. Here's how to optimize it. Studies show it's best to drink two to three cups between 9 and 10:30 AM, with your last cup between 1:30 and 2:30 PM.

Don't wait until you're groggy. Anticipate and caffeinate 30 minutes before you expect your energy to dip, usually right after lunch. For me, I always feel my energy dip between 2 and 4 PM. It's always on time, especially when I have a big lunch.

Try a caffeine nap. Now, this blew my mind. So what you wanna do is you drink caffeine, then immediately take a fifteen-minute nap. Obviously, time this for when you're sleepy, and then you take the nap, right? Don't try to force yourself to do it. But the nap clears out the adenosine, if I'm pronouncing that [00:14:00] correctly, and you'll wake up just as the caffeine kicks in. It's kind of like a double whammy. And one more tip, disconnect sugar from your caffeine. Black coffee or tea without added sugar works best.

Principle number four, go off the grid. Take breaks, real breaks. Get woodsy. Even brief exposure to nature lowers stress, heart rate, and blood pressure. So again, if you combine that with your daily walking, if you go to a local park or something, it's always good to be in nature.

Trick yourself into meditating. So meditation is rest for your brain and exercise for your brain. Leave your headphones at home. Give your brain some quiet. I think this is something I need to do more when I go on my walks, sometimes just walk without any music or noise or audiobooks.

Principle number five, make it personal. So humans evolve to thrive in tight-knit communities, and even introverts need social connection. I think we all know this. Spend your time with your tribe, people who admire and inspire you, who make you laugh and let you be yourself. Here's a simple one: eat without screens. Make [00:15:00] meals a time for connection, not distraction.

Sleep in a cave. Principle number six: make your bedroom a bedroom, not an office and not an entertainment center. So fake a sunset, dim your lights in the evening to signal bedtime. Sneak a nap if you need it. Don't jet lag yourself. Keep a consistent sleep schedule. I think this is the most important thing about sleep and getting good sleep, is if you can keep a constant schedule, your sleep quality will improve drastically, and I've seen that in my own life. The more consistent I go to sleep and wake up, the better my sleep is.

And they recommend put on your own oxygen mask first, so take care of yourself so you can show up for others. So that's why sleep is so important.

Reflect, adjust, and improve: the power of reflection. The fourth and final step is reflect.

This is where you fine-tune your system. It's the experiments mindset. So here's the process. Observe what's going on, guess why things are happening the way they are experiment to test your hypothesis, and measure the results and decide whether you were right.

Reflection is what [00:16:00] turns make time from a one-time strategy into a sustainable system. You can try tactics. You can see what works. You adjust. You improve. That's how you build a life designed around what matters to you. All right, so now we've made it to key takeaways.

So let me summarize the core ideas. So takeaway number one, the four-step framework. Highlight, choose your priority. Laser, make time and beat distraction. Three, energize, charge your battery. Four, reflect, adjust, and improve.

Takeaway number two, three criteria for choosing your highlight.

Urgency, what's the most pressing? Satisfaction, what will feel the most satisfying? Joy, what will bring the most joy?

Takeaway number three, you only waste time if you're not intentional. Time spent on things you choose isn't wasted, even if it's rest or play.

Takeaway number four, a structured day creates freedom. When you plan your day, you're not constantly deciding what to do next. You're free to focus on how to do it.

Takeaway number five, redesign your relationship with technology. You can't eliminate tech, but you can eliminate infinity [00:17:00] pools and distractions.

Takeaway number six, exercise beats heroic workouts. So what you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while

Takeaway number seven, optimize caffeine strategically. Don't wait until you're tired. Caffeinate before the dip. Takeaway number eight, wholeheartedness is the antidote to exhaustion.

Complete commitment and going all in energizes you. Takeaway number nine, make it personal. Spend time with people who inspire you and make you feel alive. Takeaway number ten, reflect and experiment. This isn't a one-size-fits-all system. Try tactics, measure results, and adjust.

So that's it. That's what I'm taking away from Make Time by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky. I really love the book, and I'm glad my coworker recommended it. What I appreciate most is that even though it's about productivity, it really actually focuses on how to have a more focused life in general. It gives you a holistic view on how to improve your life across energy, health, relationships, career, everything. And in my opinion, I think productivity, if it's not focused holistically on all aspects of your life, it doesn't really mean anything because it's [00:18:00] like you can climb up the ladder really well, but if you're not climbing up the right ladder or ladders and you're not taking care of all of them, then it doesn't really matter how fast or how well you climb.

The format is a bit unusual. There are eighty-seven different tactics spread across four steps, but when you step back and see them organized into the framework, it all makes sense. And here's the beautiful part. You don't have to do all eighty-seven tactics. You can pick the ones that work for you, you experiment, and you adjust. Because the goal isn't perfection, it's intention.

So if you're feeling overwhelmed by busyness and you're tired of being distracted, if you want to take back control of your time and attention, read this book. Honestly, I feel like that applies to everyone. We're all trying to figure it out, right? Try the framework. Start with one highlight tomorrow.

You can find my full book summary with all of my notes and highlights at marloyonocruz.com. I've got detailed notes on all the tactics and principles we covered today.

And so finally, I want to say thank you guys. Thank you guys for listening to One Thousand Gurus as always. If this resonated with you, share it with someone who needs to hear it.

I really [00:19:00] appreciate it. This probably will be just on YouTube and on the audio version, so please be sure to like, follow, subscribe, and leave us five stars on whatever platform you're listening to this on. And final reminder to, as always, be kind to other people, especially yourself. Always be kind to yourself.

And remember that you can always learn something from someone if you take the time to listen. So thank you guys for being here.