Make Time
Make Time, by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky, is a slim productivity book by two former Google and YouTube designers who helped invent the Design Sprint method. Knapp and Zeratsky argue that traditional productivity systems are obsessed with squeezing more tasks into each day, and that the real problem is not that we lack time but that our attention is being aggressively colonized by endless feeds, work calendars, and the Busy Bandwagon. They propose a simple four step daily framework: Highlight one thing you want to make time for; Laser focus to defend that highlight from distraction; Energize through small habits like sleep, movement, and food; and Reflect on what worked. The book is organized as eighty seven small tactics, drawn partly from their own experimentation, with practical interventions like banishing Twitter from your phone, creating a distraction free Wi Fi router, and skipping the news. The result is a friendly, sustainable counter program to the speed obsession of modern work.
What you might want to know about Make Time
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Two former Google designers offer a lightweight daily system: pick a single Highlight, defend its time, recharge your brain, and reflect. The book is built as a buffet of small tactics rather than one big regime.
Make Time was written by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky and published in 2018. Both authors previously worked at Google and Google Ventures, where Knapp invented the design sprint methodology.
Both books address attention and focus. Make Time is more practical and tactical, focused on day-to-day choices like a Highlight, Laser-mode, energy management, and reflection. Cal Newport's Deep Work is more philosophical.
Make Time is 1593 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Make Time takes most readers 24 to 35 hours to finish.
Make Time is a standalone novel by an unknown author, not part of a series.
Make Time is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
