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Time Dorks

Join 20,000 curious humans who receive our bi-weekly newsletter filled with tips, experiments, stories all about making time for the projects and people that matter most. // Written by Connor Swenson, with occasional interludes from Make Time Creators Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky.

Featured Post

A break from all the content

Hello Time Dorks! Connor here. I just got back from Barcelona where I was recording a live podcast for the Three Points Podcast by People Playbook. The conversation was around “High Performance”, and we talked about the power of doing less, taking time to recharge, and the magic of one thing at a time. I’ll share the link when it’s ready. I’m hosting a free workshop next week on Wednesday, October 23rd exploring distraction and how to adjust your devices and apps so you can find Laser mode. 👉...

Hey there! It’s been awhile since our last edition of Time Dorks. If you're new to the world of Make Time, you might like to join a free workshop I'm hosting with Ros this Wednesday at 12pm ET where we'll explore the Highlight method and how to bring more focus into your days. 👉 Click here to join us. (See when it’s happening in your timezone by clicking here). So what's new? I took off for a month in August to enjoy a long summer holiday + paternity leave with my family in the U.S. and...

Hey there! This newsletter will be a short one—and the last one—until I’m back from vacation visiting family in Minnesota. For me, I’ve always cherished leisurely summer days where I can become completely immersed in a good book. There's something unique about the unhurried pace of reading a book, as opposed to scrolling my favorite Infinity Pool feed, that helps ease me into a relaxed summer state of mind. So in the theme of summer reading, I asked Jake & JZ to share some recent favorites,...

Hey there, I recently polled my LinkedIn connections to ask how they felt about chat apps (Teams, Slack, etc.) at work. Here’s what I heard back: The majority of respondents weren't too stoked about how much time they're spending on chat apps, but that didn't surprise me. It's become the new default communication medium for so many teams and organizations. But the real challenge isn't necessarily how much time you spend on Slack, it's how often it breaks our focus when we're trying to work on...

Hey there, Nearly 100 people completed our little survey about the Make Time Academy. It’s exciting to see so much enthusiasm and we’ve enjoyed reading through all the responses. Thanks to all of you who took the time. Here’s a few things I learned: 1) You want to make time for your personal projects. Whether that’s writing, gardening, or learning a new language, many of you are looking to invest more energy into personal projects, creative activities, and hobbies. 2) You want to make time...

Hey everyone, Before we dive into this week’s tactic, I wanted to ask you a question: Are you happy with how you’re making time for what matters in your life? I know from my own experience that it's tough to to bridge the gap between intention and action. We set goals, make plans, and then…life gets in the way. 😅 One of the reasons I'm so passionate about Make Time is because It has helped me to slow down, get clarity, and start making progress on what matters most. Not someday in the future....

Hey friends, We went quiet in May because...I had a baby! Well, my wife Claire had the baby but I became a father to a sweet baby girl, Kaia, on May 8th. As a self-proclaimed Time Dork, I've never experienced a time warp so peculiar as the first few weeks of parenthood. Each day cut up into 2-3 hour increments, with a consistent flow of activities from feeding, to changing diapers, to putting the baby back to sleep. You blink, and the sun is setting. And while the days flicker by like a...

Hey there, I'm a total geek for the latest tech tool or gadget. These days, not a week goes by where I don't hear about an exciting new tool (powered by AI) that promises to transform my workflow. I have no doubt some amazing innovation is happening right now. Yet it's worth remembering that fancy tools are mostly a distraction. So before you sign up for the latest and greatest tool that promises to fix all of your problems, let's discuss a different approach that can save your sanity....

Hey there, We talk a lot about distractions here and why it's important to put barriers between you and Infinity Pool apps like email, social media, and the news. At the same time, these technologies do have value. They can help us stay informed, connected, and entertained, which are all important utilities. So today, let's explore how you can turn those distractions into tools. Something to Try With apps like Instagram, Twitter, email, and all the other Infinity Pools out there, we need to...

Hey Time Dorks, Thanks for all your responses to my request for feedback last week. Based on what we heard, we're going to experiment with a bi-weekly cadence for a little while. In today's edition, we're going to talk about one of my favorite topics: sleep. As a soon-to-be new parent (t-minus ~ 5 weeks!), I know my days of a perfectly optimized sleep schedule are limited. But like all tactics we recommend with Make Time, perfection is not the goal (it's really just another distraction.) So...