Make Time: Reclaiming Your Focus
Stop losing your day to endless apps and busywork. Learn how to redesign your daily defaults and focus on the one highlight that actually matters.
Best quote from Make Time: Reclaiming Your Focus
If you don't choose where your time goes, someone else already has. It’s about moving away from those defaults and actually designing a day that belongs to you.
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An audio lesson about the book Make Time, covering its key ideas and takeaways.
Frequently Asked Questions
A Highlight is a single activity that you prioritize as the focal point of your day, lasting approximately sixty to ninety minutes. Unlike a long to-do list, you pick only one Highlight to ensure you have the time and energy to actually accomplish it. You can choose your Highlight based on three criteria: urgency (something that must be done), satisfaction (something that will make you feel accomplished), or joy (something that simply makes you happy).
Infinity Pools are apps and services with bottomless content that refresh instantly, such as social media feeds, news sites, and email. These are meticulously engineered by tech companies to exploit human brain wiring and keep users in a state of "continuous partial attention." Because these pools are designed to win the competition for your time, relying on willpower alone is often ineffective; instead, you must create physical barriers to distraction to reclaim your focus.
To enter "Laser mode" and protect your attention, the script suggests removing "Infinity Pool" apps like social media, games, news, and even email or web browsers from your phone. If deleting them feels too extreme, you can create friction by logging out of these services every time you use them, which stops mindless checking. Additionally, avoiding the "morning check-in"—the habit of looking at your phone immediately upon waking—helps protect your "golden moment" of mental clarity.
Energize is the practice of maintaining your physical "internal battery" to ensure you have the mental energy to focus. This involves simple lifestyle adjustments rather than intense regimes, such as getting twenty minutes of daily movement, walking, or "forest bathing" in nature. It also includes being strategic with caffeine—such as waiting until after your morning cortisol peak to drink coffee—and keeping phones out of the bedroom to ensure better sleep quality.
The framework is not about achieving perfect discipline but about treating your life like a laboratory. Through the "Reflect" step, you track your results each evening to see which tactics worked and which didn't. By noticing patterns—like how certain foods affect your energy or what time of day you focus best—you can customize the system to fit your specific body and schedule. The goal is to iterate and pivot based on your own data rather than following a rigid, one-size-fits-all productivity plan.
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"BeFreed turned my commute into learning time. 20-min podcasts are perfect for finishing books I never had time for."
"BeFreed replaced my podcast queue. Imagine Spotify for books — that’s it. 🙌"
"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."
"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."
"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"
From Columbia University alumni built in San Francisco
"Instead of endless scrolling, I just hit play on BeFreed. It saves me so much time."
"I never knew where to start with nonfiction—BeFreed’s book lists turned into podcasts gave me a clear path."
"Perfect balance between learning and entertainment. Finished ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ on my commute this week."
"Crazy how much I learned while walking the dog. BeFreed = small habits → big gains."
"Reading used to feel like a chore. Now it’s just part of my lifestyle."
"Feels effortless compared to reading. I’ve finished 6 books this month already."
"BeFreed turned my guilty doomscrolling into something that feels productive and inspiring."
"BeFreed turned my commute into learning time. 20-min podcasts are perfect for finishing books I never had time for."
"BeFreed replaced my podcast queue. Imagine Spotify for books — that’s it. 🙌"
"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."
"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."
"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"
"Instead of endless scrolling, I just hit play on BeFreed. It saves me so much time."
"I never knew where to start with nonfiction—BeFreed’s book lists turned into podcasts gave me a clear path."
"Perfect balance between learning and entertainment. Finished ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ on my commute this week."
"Crazy how much I learned while walking the dog. BeFreed = small habits → big gains."
"Reading used to feel like a chore. Now it’s just part of my lifestyle."
"Feels effortless compared to reading. I’ve finished 6 books this month already."
"BeFreed turned my guilty doomscrolling into something that feels productive and inspiring."
"BeFreed turned my commute into learning time. 20-min podcasts are perfect for finishing books I never had time for."
"BeFreed replaced my podcast queue. Imagine Spotify for books — that’s it. 🙌"
"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."
"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."
"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"
"Instead of endless scrolling, I just hit play on BeFreed. It saves me so much time."
"I never knew where to start with nonfiction—BeFreed’s book lists turned into podcasts gave me a clear path."
"Perfect balance between learning and entertainment. Finished ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ on my commute this week."
"Crazy how much I learned while walking the dog. BeFreed = small habits → big gains."
"Reading used to feel like a chore. Now it’s just part of my lifestyle."
"Feels effortless compared to reading. I’ve finished 6 books this month already."
"BeFreed turned my guilty doomscrolling into something that feels productive and inspiring."
"BeFreed turned my commute into learning time. 20-min podcasts are perfect for finishing books I never had time for."
"BeFreed replaced my podcast queue. Imagine Spotify for books — that’s it. 🙌"
"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."
"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."
"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"
