Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsTake control of your day
Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2018
TL;DR: Make Time has helped both my wife and I take much greater control over our days, helping us focus more on what fulfills and less on just marking days off of a calendar.
There's a real line between being a productive person, and being a productivity person. Someone who focuses on so many "hacks" or ways to get more out of every second, that efficiency in and of itself becomes to goal to the expense of everything else. That may be useful in a manufacturing job, but in our daily lives, there is surely more.
This is where Make Time really shines. Far from being a mad dash to some invisible finish line, Make Time provides simple, easy to read tools that can be used to refocus on what truly makes you happy. The book is written as a bit of a toolbox, meant to allow you to take pieces that work for you, and leave the ones that don't. Using that approach has massively improved my lifestyle.
As an example, after reading a few chapters in Make Time, I started having a morning ritual with my wife of making a hot cup of herbal tea, nuts, and cheese. Meanwhile, we would rearrange our chairs in our front room to face the sun and talk about what our highlights would be for the day as we watched the sunrise over the mountains, wrapped up in warm blankets. After that, I would perform a quick 7-minute exercise, ready to hit the day with a plan and energy to do it. I would frequently take a mental break in the middle of the workday, even giving myself opportunities to nap in my building's cell phone booths (with a visible 15-minute timer for passersby) to recharge my batteries and finish the workday hard. Then, on the ride home, I would meditate, newly recharging my brain and allowing myself to move on from work and to be truly present at home. Probably most importantly, I turned off almost all notifications on my phone. I noticed that when I was home, I was way more proactive spending time with my wife, getting things done around the house, and engaging in meaningful and fulfilling hobbies.
My story isn't all that unique, but it has all amounted to huge changes in my quality of life. All of the things I mentioned above are simple changes that were integrated over time, I'm positive that if you pick up this book and try out its experiments, you too will find something in there that will help you become more present, more fulfilled, and more able to enjoy everyday life.
