I recently read a non-fiction book – Make Time; that left a big impact on me. Usually I am a fiction loving girl. While I do read a lot of non-fiction too, they are mostly too work-like to leave an emotional impact on me.
But this book was different.
This book was different in a couple of ways.
Firstly, while reading this book, I felt the concepts resonate with me. Maybe this is because most of the non-fiction books talk about some specific practice with is supposed to change my life. I could never get on board with such an assumption. But the authors of Make Time (Jake and JZ) reiterate the point that everyone is different and what may work for one person might not work for someone else. I agree with that so much. Rather, any advice that is helpful for me at this particular stage of life may not help me some other time. There are no universal productivity pills.
Secondly, I started following some tactics taught in the book and while some did not work; I found some that worked wonderfully.
The whole experience was like eating at a buffet. I could check out all the dishes being served and then try out the ones I find appealing. I may not like some dishes I do end up trying, but there will still be something that suits my palate.
The book describes the following flowchart kind of thing the authors have thought up.
I am not going to explain the entire diagram. You can read the book or even check out their blog to learn about that.
In this post I am going to talk about the sections I loved the most.
The book mentions something they call ‘Highlight’. They basically say that we should set up some highlight for the day. The highlight can be anything from finishing your presentation to playing with your kid or trying a new recipe.
Basically, there are no rules in what the highlight can be. It’s just something you look forward to. I liked this concept because I realized that when I have something to look forward to; I wake up with more energy, even if it’s getting to eat a new snack.
Looking forward to something is always a great feeling. We are more mindful of the day that way. But we also need to remember that there will be days when what we were expecting as the highlight of the day may not happen the way we were hoping. And we need to be OK with that too. Because there are no guarantees in life.
You may have planned to spend the day trekking, but instead you end up slipping in the shower and twisting your ankle. That would become the new highlight of the day.
And this brings me to the ‘Reflect’ part of the book. I loved how the authors accept the fact that plans do not always materialize. They have mentioned a dedicated section to reflect and then make new plans. Because honestly, planning and reflecting are super fun.
‘Laser’ section helps us learn tactics to prevent distractions and stay focused. I like how the never ending notifications and feeds are compared to the Infinity Pools. While reading this section, I did delete a bunch of apps from my phone. What can I say, this book did get me motivated to take action.
The best section however was ‘Energize’. I feel like every productivity book/video/article should take energy into consideration. I mean, I agree that waking up at 5AM will change my life, but I simply do not feel energetic at that time. My husband on the other hand can wake up at 5AM and directly start running on the treadmill. Everyones energy levels change throughout the day and we need to work accordingly.
The book does give some insight into increasing our energy, and I found most of the tactics to be very practical.
Overall, this book is pretty great. You can think of it like a cookbook and go through the contents page before jumping over to the recipe you really want to try. And if you end up hating the dish, then simply move on to the next recipe.