Have you ever felt that you do so many things in a day that you actually don’t get much done? Then you become frustrated at yourself for not accomplishing more? This is an all too common feeling among many people. Time is the most valuable resource in our lives. Once we lose it, we can never get it back. It is therefore important to trial different techniques that work for you to maximise your productive time and allow you to spend more time on the things that you love.

In their book “Make Time”, Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky share 88 useful tips to create more time in your day and feel more fulfilled by the end of the day. In this blog, I summarise the 9 top points which resonated with me the most and reinvented my daily routine.

1. Adopt a “Highlight” of the day system

The authors rightly point out that we always have endless to-do lists, which we rarely complete. This understandably makes us feel deflated and unproductive. So instead they suggest having a primary “highlight of the day” - a work or personal task that takes 60 - 90 minutes. Once completed, you know you have achieved your main goal of the day and you can feel great about it. The other tasks are only secondary and they don’t have to be done all at once.

I personally struggle with the only one highlight system, so instead I subdivide my day into three areas: work, personal development and family, and have one highlight for each of them.

2. Schedule time for your highlight

Once you decided on your highlight of the day, make sure to schedule time for your highlight in your diary. This time is sacred and you shouldn’t compromise for any other activities or interruptions. I would recommend figuring out when you work best and dedicating this time to your daily highlight. Remember that all people are unique and work efficiently at different parts of the day. For example, there is no point forcing yourself to work early in the morning if you are not a morning person and vice versa.

3. Skip the morning media check-in

The new habit of our modern world is to check our emails and social media as soon as we wake up. And why wouldn’t we!? We want to stay up-to-date with all of the recent news and never miss an email. However, by checking our phone, we already overload our brain with unnecessary information and extra tasks to add to our to-do lists. Why not instead get up and do your highlight first thing in the morning and then check your media inbox. This would provide us with uninterrupted quality time for the most important tasks.

4. Ignore the daily news

This advice probably saved me the most time. I used to check news all the time and, let’s be honest, the news is rarely positive. There is rarely anything particularly urgent that you need to know. Instead the authors recommend subscribing to a weekly newsletter or a magazine to stay up-to-date with the most relevant news.

5. Delete social media apps from your phone

The authors describe all social media as “infinity pools”, which provide an endless content of information. Decide whether you really need social media on your phone and for what purpose. I would recommend deleting the apps completely or scheduling social media breaks into your work routine.

6. Clear your inbox

We receive so many irrelevant emails which we put into the trash straight away. Every time you open an email, on average you waste 5 minutes to get back into the work flow of the original task (read “Multitasking is a grade killer”). Firstly, I would dedicate a daily time when you check and go through your emails. Secondly, create folders for emails you want to keep. Thirdly, unsubscribe from the mailing lists you don’t want to read. Finally, clear your inbox on a weekly basis. This has transformed my relationship with email and it hardly takes any time to go over it.

7. Set a timer and fake deadlines

Parkinson’s Law states that “work expands as to fill the time available for its completion”. If your tasks takes only 1 hour but your deadline is in 2 weeks, I can assure you that you will take a whole 2 weeks to complete the task. Therefore, a good trick is to give yourself fake and more urgent deadlines. The authors of the book also created an app “Make Time” to complement their book, which provides a free timer. The urgency of the task will save you time for other projects during your day.

8. Have daily breaks to reenergise

It is important to learn when we have our energy dips and how to combat them throughout the day. There is a lot of scientific research on this topic, but the most common ways to reenergise yourself are: walking in nature, exercising, drinking coffee or tea and meditation. This is personal, so decide what works best for you, schedule breaks into your daily routine and ensure you do them. It is necessary to look after and give ourselves a break, which in the long run is going to make us more productive and save us time.

9. Reflect at the end of each day

We always think that there is a generic magic daily routine that we can apply to ourselves. However, we are all different and, therefore, our daily routines are individual. It is important to understand what works best for you. The authors recommend dedicating some time to reflect on each day and to analyse what worked and what hasn’t. You can used this free template provided on the Make Time website. Remember to treat each day as an empty canvas and treat your daily routine as a painting.