John Zeratsky, co-author of 'Make Time,' shares his insights on time management and productivity, born from his experience in tech and feelings of life's blur. He introduces a simple 4-step framework and emphasizes selecting a daily 'highlight' to prioritize what truly matters. John discusses overcoming distractions from 'infinity pools' and the significance of energy management. He also explores how intentional living can enhance daily experiences, advocating for flexibility in prioritizing tasks to enrich our lives with memorable moments.
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question_answer ANECDOTE
Lost Time at Google
John Zeratsky felt his time slipping away while working at Google, despite external successes.
Days blurred together due to a focus on small, inconsequential tasks, leaving him with no lasting memories.
insights INSIGHT
Mundane Moments
Childhood memories are vivid because we focused on simple moments.
As adults, days blend together as we perform similar tasks daily, leading to fewer memorable experiences.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Daily Highlight
Choose a daily highlight, one activity you prioritize and protect.
Build your day around this highlight to ensure you make time for what matters.
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No information available about this specific title by Winifred Gallagher.
Sprint
How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days
John Zeratsky
Jake Knapp
Braden Kowitz
This book introduces the Design Sprint, a five-day process developed by Jake Knapp at Google and refined with John Zeratsky and Braden Kowitz at Google Ventures. The method helps teams answer critical business questions by moving from idea to prototype to decision within a short period. It is applicable to teams of any size, from small startups to Fortune 100 companies, and covers various sectors such as healthcare, finance, and e-commerce. The book provides a step-by-step framework for rapid innovation, including team structuring, customer-centric mapping, and rapid prototyping and testing[1][2][3].
Getting Things Done
David Allen
Getting Things Done (GTD) is a personal productivity system developed by David Allen. The book provides a detailed methodology for managing tasks, projects, and information, emphasizing the importance of capturing all tasks and ideas, clarifying their meaning, organizing them into actionable lists, reviewing the system regularly, and engaging in the tasks. The GTD method is designed to reduce stress and increase productivity by externalizing tasks and using a trusted system to manage them. The book is divided into three parts, covering the overview of the system, its implementation, and the deeper benefits of integrating GTD into one's work and life[2][3][5].
Make Time
How to Focus on What Matters Every Day
Jake Knapp
John Zeratsky
In 'Make Time', Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky offer a framework to help individuals manage their time more effectively. The book introduces the concept of the 'Busy Bandwagon' and 'Infinity Pools' (endless digital content) that consume our time. It proposes a four-step daily process: Highlight (identify the most important task), Laser (focus on that task), Energize (maintain energy levels), and Reflect (evaluate and improve the process). The authors provide over 80 actionable tips to help readers implement these steps and make meaningful time for what truly matters[2][3][4].
This is a re-broadcast. The episode originally ran in October 2018.
Do your days seem like a continuous blur of busyness, and yet you don’t seem to get much done, nor remember much about how you spent your time?
As a former employee of Google, my guest today worked on the very apps and technology that can often suck away our time. Today, he’s dedicated to figuring out how to push back against these forces to help people take control of their time and attention.
His name is John Zeratsky and he’s the co-author of the book Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day. Today on the show, John shares how the experience of feeling like he was missing months of his life led him to spending years experimenting with his habits and routines, looking for the best ways to to optimize energy, focus, and time. He then shares the simple 4-step daily framework that developed from this research and walks us through that system. John talks about choosing one “highlight” each day to ensure your most important work gets done and that your life is full of memorable moments. He also shares how to reduce the time you spend wading in what he calls “infinity pools,” why energy management is just as important as time management, and how reflection is essential in figuring out if what you’re doing is working.
Lots of valuable direction in this show for how to get your life on track and find more hours and meaning in the day.
The Art of Manliness 
