Jake Knapp - Make Time

This is how people talk nowadays:

And this is how our calendars look:

All day, our phones never stop:

And by evening, were almost too tired for Netflix:

Do you ever look back and wonder What did I really do today? Do you ever daydream about projects and activities youll get to somedaybut someday never comes?

This is a book about slowing down the crazy rush. Its about making time for things that matter. We believe its possible to feel less busy, be less distracted, and enjoy the present moment more. Maybe that sounds a little hippy-dippy, but were serious.

Make Time is not about productivity. Its not about getting more done, finishing your to-dos faster, or outsourcing your life. Instead, its a framework designed to help you actually create more time in your day for the things you care about, whether thats spending time with your family, learning a language, starting a side business, volunteering, writing a novel, or mastering Mario Kart. Whatever you want time for, we think Make Time can help you get it. Moment by moment and day by day, you can make your life your own.

We want to start by talking about why life is so busy and chaotic these days. And why, if you feel constantly stressed and distracted, its probably not your fault.

In the twenty-first century, two very powerful forces compete for every minute of your time. The first is what we call the Busy Bandwagon. The Busy Bandwagon is our culture of constant busynessthe overflowing inboxes, stuffed calendars, and endless to-do lists. According to the Busy Bandwagon mindset, if you want to meet the demands of the modern workplace and function in modern society, you must fill every minute with productivity. After all, everyone else is busy. If you slow down, youll fall behind and never catch up.

The second force competing for your time is what we call the Infinity Pools. Infinity Pools are apps and other sources of endlessly replenishing content. If you can pull to refresh, its an Infinity Pool. If it streams, its an Infinity Pool. This always-available, always-new entertainment is your reward for the exhaustion of constant busyness.

But is constant busyness really mandatory? Is endless distraction really a reward? Or are we all just stuck on autopilot?

Both forcesthe Busy Bandwagon and the Infinity Poolsare powerful because theyve become our defaults. In technology lingo, default means the way something works when you first start using it. Its a preselected option, and if you dont do something to change it, that default is what you get. For example, if you buy a new phone, by default you get email and Web browser apps on the homescreen. By default, you get a notification for every new message. The phone has a default wallpaper image and a default ring tone. All these options have been preselected by Apple or Google or whoever made your phone; you can change the settings if you want to, but it takes work, so many defaults just stick.

There are defaults in nearly every part of our lives. Its not just our devices; our workplaces and our culture have built-in defaults that make busy and distracted the normal, typical state of affairs. These standard settings are everywhere. Nobody ever looked at an empty calendar and said, The best way to spend this time is to cram it full of random meetings! Nobody ever said, The most important thing today is everybody elses whims! Of course not. That would be crazy. But because of defaults, its exactly what we do. In the office, every meeting defaults to thirty or sixty minutes even if the business at hand actually requires only a quick chat. By default other people choose what goes on our calendars, and by default were expected to be okay with back-to-back-to-back meetings. The rest of our work defaults to email and messaging systems, and by default we check our inboxes constantly and reply-all immediately.