Making time for what matters | Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky (authors of Sprint and Make Time, co-founders of Character Capital)

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Lenny Rachitsky

Technology, Business, Entrepreneurship

5 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 11 February 2024

⏱️ 96 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky are the authors of best-selling books Sprint and Make Time. They have helped more than 300 teams design new products and bring them to market, including those at YouTube, Gusto, One Medical Group, and Slack. Jake and John are co-founders of the venture capital firm Character, where they support startups with capital and sprints. Previously, they were operating partners at Google Ventures and, before that, design leaders at Google, where John worked on Google Ads and YouTube and Jake helped build Gmail and co-founded Google Meet. In our conversation, we discuss:

• “Busy bandwagon” and “infinity pools”

• Creating one “highlight” each day

• Their four-part framework for productivity

• How to use the calendar to design your day

• How creating friction can help you avoid distractions

• Tips on creating a distraction-free phone

• Strategies for managing email and distractions

• The importance of reflecting on the day and making time for meaningful work

• Design sprints

—

Brought to you by:

• Sidebar—Accelerate your career by surrounding yourself with extraordinary peers

• Whimsical—The iterative product workspace

• WorkOS—The modern API for auth and user identity

—

Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/making-time-for-what-matters-jake-knapp-and-john-zeratsky-authors-of-sprint-and-make-time-co-fou/

—

Where to find Jake Knapp:

• X: https://twitter.com/jakek

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jake-knapp/

• Website: https://jakeknapp.com/

—

Where to find John Zeratsky:

• X: https://twitter.com/jazer

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnzeratsky/

• Website: https://johnzeratsky.com/

—

Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

—

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) About Jake and John

(04:10) Recording the audiobook for Make Time

(06:06) What people often get wrong when trying to become more productive

(11:24) The busy bandwagon and infinity pools

(15:22) Real talk: Jake and John’s productivity levels

(20:10) The four-part framework for getting more done: Highlight, Laser, Energize, Reflect

(25:15) Step 1: Highlight

(28:08) Designing your day with a calendar

(30:52) The Groundhog Day mentality

(35:10) Tactical advice for implementing the highlight method

(39:30) An example of a failed highlight

(48:08) Step 2: Laser

(51:12) Creating intentional friction to avoid distractions

(57:28) Curating a distraction-free phone

(01:07:58) Resetting expectations and slowing your inbox

(01:14:51) Systems over willpower

(01:18:14) Managing email distractions

(01:18:49) Step 3: Energize

(01:22:05) Step 4: Reflect

(01:26:30) Introduction to Sprint

—

Referenced:

• Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day: https://www.amazon.com/Make-Time-Focus-Matters-Every/dp/0525572422

• Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days: https://www.amazon.com/Sprint-audiobook/dp/B019R2DQIY

• Make Time blog: https://maketime.blog/

• Make Time blog on X: https://twitter.com/maketimeblog

• Character: https://www.character.vc/

• Google Ventures: https://www.gv.com/

• Character Labs: https://www.character.vc/labs

• Strategies for becoming less distracted and improving focus | Nir Eyal (author of Indistractable and Hooked): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/strategies-for-becoming-less-distracted-and-improving-focus-nir-eyal-author-of-indistractable-and/

• Groundhog Day on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/Groundhog-Day-Bill-Murray/dp/B000SP1SH6

• Reclaim.ai: https://reclaim.ai/

• Feed Blocker for LinkedIn: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/feed-blocker-for-linkedin/eikaafmldiioljlilngpogcepiedpenf

• The Lord of the Rings: https://www.amazon.com/Lord-Rings-J-R-R-Tolkien/dp/0544003411

• MagSafe charger: https://www.amazon.com/Apple-MHXH3AM-A-MagSafe-Charger/dp/B08L5NP6NG/

• Nanit app: https://www.nanit.com/pages/nanit-app

• Arianna Huffington’s Phone Bed Charging Station: https://www.amazon.com/Arianna-Huffingtons-Charging-Station-Walnut/dp/B0799ZG1LY

• Cell Phone Lock Box with Timer: https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Android-Self-Discipline-Achieve-Addiction/dp/B0CG8V4YG3?th=1

• The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich: https://www.amazon.com/4-Hour-Workweek-Escape-Live-Anywhere/dp/0307465357

• The Economist: https://www.economist.com/

• Odysseus: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Odysseus

• Mailman: https://www.mailmanhq.com/

• Future: https://www.future.co/

• Notion: https://www.notion.so/

• Miro: https://miro.com/

—

Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].

—

Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	It's not about time management. It's really just about look at any given day. We're lucky if we can have one great moment where we have our peak attention and we use it well and it's not going to happen every day but if we have some intention around it
0:16.0	it can happen more often than not the notion what the highlight is imagine it's the end of the day
0:21.0	if someone asks you what was the highlight of your day what would you
0:24.0	say that's the anchor of everything that's the core that's the foundation things can
0:28.2	sometimes be a mess outside of that and you still feel really good about your days
0:31.8	you still feel really good about the way you're spending your energy.
0:34.7	Today I've got two guests, Jake Knapp and John Zaratski.
0:41.1	Jake and John are authors of two incredible books, Sprint and Make Time. With Sprint,
0:47.2	they've helped more than 300 teams design new products and bring them to market, including
0:51.2	teams at YouTube, Slack, Gustav,
0:53.4	Gusto, and one medical. Previously, John and Jake worked at Google Ventures,
0:56.9	and before that at Google, where John was a leader on Google Ads and
1:00.4	YouTube, and Jake helped build Gmail and co-founded Google Meet. Today they run a venture
1:05.4	capital firm called Character and they actually just opened up applications for their
1:09.8	accelerator program called Character Labs which you can learn more about at
1:13.4	Character. BC slash Labs. In our conversation, we focus on their more recent book, Make Time,
1:20.2	which a guest of this podcast Ben Williams recommended in the lightning round and I
1:24.6	absolutely loved and wanted to make sure more people learned about it and the advice
1:28.5	within it especially product leaders and founders who are constantly looking for ways to be more productive.
1:34.4	I want to get you right to the meat of the conversation, so let me just say that we get into a ton,
1:38.7	a very practical pieces of advice for how you can be more productive in your day and if you listen to this
1:44.3	episode I guarantee you'll find at least three things that you'll want to start
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Lenny Rachitsky, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Lenny Rachitsky and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.