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 for friends and family. It was clear reading many of your responses that investing time and energy into relationships is important, but can be tough to do amidst the responsibilities of modern life.

3) You want to make time for important work that gets pushed aside. Lots of you mentioned wanting to start a side hustle, grow a startup, or invest more time into the important stuff at at work, rather than spend your days answering endless emails or stuck in back-to-back meetings.

This is just a brief summary of some of the themes I took away.

Ultimately, I think we all have something that we know deserves more time and attention. And it can feel difficult when the Busy Bandwagon and Infinity Pools leave us feeling like we don’t have time.

But whether that something is a professional goal or a personal one, I know Make Time can help you rethink the defaults of constant busyness and distraction so you can focus on what matters every day.

And I think our new course will be the best place to put our system into practice. 🤓

Additionally, there were some commonly asked questions I wanted to answer, so scroll down for those.

Now let’s jump into this week’s tactic.

Something to Try

I used to be a chronic morning email checker.

The first thing I'd do after silencing my alarm was reach for my phone, squinting at the bright screen to see what "urgent" messages had come in overnight.

It felt productive, like I was getting a head start on the day. But in reality, I was setting myself up for distraction and stress before I'd even had my first cup of coffee.

While many of us default to checking our email or getting caught up in Slack first thing in the morning, I love the mornings when I practice our tactic called "Skip the Morning Check-In" (#23).

The idea is simple but powerful: resist the urge to check your email, messaging apps, social media, or news first thing in the morning.

Here's why it works: When you wake up, you've had a nice long break from the Busy Bandwagon and Infinity Pools. Your mind is fresh, rested, and free from distractions. It's a golden moment of calm and clarity.

But as soon as you fire up that screen, you start a tug-of-war between the present moment and everything out there on the Internet. Suddenly, you're thinking about work emails, stressing over news headlines, or getting sucked into social media drama.

By skipping the morning check-in, you preserve that feeling of rested calm. It's easier to get into Laser mode and focus on your Highlight for the day.

I’ve found it’s helpful to set myself up for success the night before by closing all my browser tabs (#26), logging out of Gmail, LinkedIn, and X (#18), and powering down my phone.

When I wake up, I brush my teeth, drink some water, do a super short meditation, then make my coffee and dive straight into my Highlight without any digital distractions.

The key is to postpone that first check-in as long as you can. Maybe it's until 9 a.m., or 10 a.m., or even after lunch. Trust me, those emails and notifications will still be there when you're ready to face them.

Give it a try this week. See how long you can go without checking in, and notice how it affects your mood and focus. You might be surprised at how much calmer your mornings become.

Tech & Tools

I haven’t tried it myself yet, but I’m intrigued by the new Daylight computer (plus their website design is 🤩). Billed as a computer designed for “deep focus and wellbeing”, it has a very neat paper-like display that is designed to be easy on the eyes and works great outside (hence the name!).

Make Time Academy FAQs

Q: I’ve already read Make Time. How is the course different from the book?

The book gives you the tools and tactics. With the Make Time Academy, we’ll walk you through a personalized process of adopting those tools and tactics.

You’ll create a healthy, sustainable habit of using the Highlight method and the rest of the Make Time framework to focus on what matters every single day. Not a one-time boost, but real changes to your daily routine. Changes that stick.

Q: Can I take the course at my own pace?

The Make Time Academy is designed as a live, synchronous learning journey so that students can benefit from the accountability and support that comes from a time-bound course.

However, most of the learning in the course will happen on your own time. It will be in your daily practice of making time for a Highlight, testing out tactics, and reflecting on what works. All live sessions will be recorded for asynchronous viewing so don't stress if you can't attend one of the live sessions, you can always catch up after!

Q: What is the time commitment for the course?

Like any course, you’ll get out what you put in. We’re designing the course so it's as effective as possible, but ultimately, a lot of the work will happen outside the course sessions when you're doing your Highlight and experimenting with different tactics.

Here's a rough overview of how much time you can expect to spend each week:

🎧 30-minutes per week listening to the main content modules via pre-recorded audio lessons in your own time (on a walk, while commuting, etc.).

👩🏽‍💻 75-minutes per week attending the live Zoom sessions. Attendance is optional and all calls will be recorded, but joining live is recommended as this is where we'll do exercises, activities, and answer questions in real-time.

🎯 60-90 minutes per day of dedicated time for your Highlight. This is where you'll put into practice the core concepts of Make Time! Don't worry if this seems like a lot of time, you will learn that perfection is not required and you'll find a sustainable rhythm that works for your life.

We’re also planning some fun surprises and bonus sessions—but we can’t tell you what they are, or they won’t be surprises. 🤣

The Make Time Academy isn’t launching until the fall, so there’s still plenty of time to contribute your thoughts and questions. We really appreciate your help in making the course as useful and fun as possible!

— Connor

P.S. What do you think about these "New Status Symbols"?