Making time for what matters | Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky (Authors of Make Time, Character VC)

Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky are bestselling authors of the books Sprint and Make Time. They have helped more than 300 teams design new products and bring them to market, including those at YouTube, Gusto, One Medical Group, and Slack. Jake and JZ are co-founders of the venture capital firm Character, where they support startups with capital and sprints. Previously, they were operating partners at Google Ventures and, before that, design leaders at Google, where JZ worked on Google Ads and YouTube and Jake helped build Gmail and co-founded Google Meet. In our conversation, we discuss:
• “Busy bandwagon” and “infinity pools”
• Creating one “highlight” each day
• Their four-part framework for productivity
• How to use the calendar to design your day
• How creating friction can help you avoid distractions
• Tips on creating a distraction-free phone
• Strategies for managing email and distractions
• The importance of reflecting on the day and making time for meaningful work
• Design sprints

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Where to find Jake Knapp:

Where to find John Zeratsky:

Where to find Lenny:

In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) About Jake and John
(04:10) Recording the audiobook for Make Time
(06:06) What people often get wrong when trying to become more productive
(11:24) The busy bandwagon and infinity pools
(15:22) Real talk: Jake and John’s productivity levels
(20:10) The four-part framework for getting more done: Highlight, Laser, Energize, Reflect
(25:15) Step 1: Highlight
(28:08) Designing your day with a calendar
(30:52) The Groundhog Day mentality
(35:10) Tactical advice for implementing the highlight method
(39:30) An example of a failed highlight
(48:08) Step 2: Laser
(51:12) Creating intentional friction to avoid distractions
(57:28) Curating a distraction-free phone
(01:07:58) Resetting expectations and slowing your inbox
(01:14:51) Systems over willpower
(01:18:14) Managing email distractions
(01:18:49) Step 3: Energize
(01:22:05) Step 4: Reflect
(01:26:30) Introduction to Sprint

Referenced:

Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

[michelleleong]

Amazing episode! The "highlight" takeaway is the highlight of my day!

[АртемТкачев-эи]

Great podcast! Thank you!!! What was your highlight of the day - one of the best questions I have ever heard!

[shan]

Thanks for exposing some of these ideas. I do wish they were more rigorously examined. Also, I believe some contradictory things were said. Regardless, wanting to be "more productive" is tricky, as I believe it can start to become perfectionism and manifest into procrastination.

[mariavasilenko]

Loved this conversation and very down-to-earth and easy to follow advice! I too felt like most of the productivity books were written without parents of young kids in mind until I came across Laura Vanderkam’s books ! 😅
Also a note on the Future app- I love it, although was pretty skeptical about an idea of online personal trainer at the beginning )) I was pleasantly surprised to learn Lenny invested in it!

[quickcinemarecap]

00:01 Focusing on one great moment of peak attention in a day
02:00 Surround yourself with extraordinary peers to level up your career.
06:09 Make Time is a powerful productivity book
08:02 Experimenting with structured Sprints for personal productivity
12:00 The busy bandwagon drives stress and our perception of others' busyness.
13:59 Understanding the impact of busyness and infinity pools on productivity
17:50 Creating space for project moments shapes your days and energy.
19:33 Find one or two things to be more productive every day
22:55 To energize, have the right amount of energy for tasks and pay attention
28:16 Use your calendar to design your day and reclaim control of your time.
30:03 Using the calendar as a proactive tool
33:26 Tracking and visualizing time on the calendar
35:05 Choosing meaningful daily highlights leads to satisfaction and joy.
38:25 Identify your peak energy times and prioritize tasks accordingly.
40:12 Preparing for a podcast recording with focused blocks
43:40 Prioritizing what matters most
45:15 Prioritizing non-work aspects in life
48:41 Creating barriers to distraction
50:26 Logging out and using two-factor authentication can help reduce distractions and increase focus.
53:45 Realizing the distraction of phone usage and taking action
55:16 Removing distractions brings relief and discomfort
58:28 Identify and eliminate attention-sucking apps and devices
1:00:06 Keeping the phone away from the bedroom and charging it downstairs.
1:03:14 Limiting time on apps to avoid addiction
1:04:54 Let go of constant need for being on top of news and entertainment.
1:08:20 Setting email response expectations
1:10:12 Manage internal expectations and slow down email response
1:13:39 Resisting distractions for focus
1:15:21 Relying on willpower alone is not enough to resist distractions and be productive.
1:18:47 Make time for what matters by creating barriers to distraction and boosting your energy.
1:20:37 Prioritizing sleep and exercise for energy
1:24:09 Experiment with small changes to improve productivity and focus
1:25:50 Main communication in Notion for slowing down and more time for what matters
1:29:24 Sprint methodology is valuable for startups to quickly prove product-market fit and learn from experiments.
1:31:09 Character VC runs a sequence of Sprints, especially beneficial for AI startups.

[djpardis]

Great conversation!

Btw, I'm wondering which camera John uses. It's great quality video!

[teleshyam]

Really nice video! i was wondering if i could help you edit your videos and make them more engaging as well as create short content out of them.

[marieglandus]

For the audio book, AI could have done the job for you no ? 😅