Page 128 - Harvard Business Review, Sep/Oct 2018

I HAVE A BIG
WHAT I’M WATCHING… WHERE I’M GOING…

I find time for interesting TED talks and SHELF OF BOOKS, I hang around a bunch of industry
the Sunday morning talk shows: Meet the conferences, but I really enjoy the ones
Press, This Week, Face the where you can buttonhole people on topics
on CNN. I want to know AND I GIVE THEM
Nation, Fareed Zakaria like artificial intelligence and transforming
the health care system. Stanford runs
what’s happening. great events on AI. I’m also training for a
I’m also quite taken AS GIFTS. half-marathon, so I go for a run every other
with the drama series day. Sometimes I listen to music you might
Designated Survivor. call “tropical electric/eclectic” on Spotify;
It’s a way to relax. otherwise it’s NPR.

For less-cultish, more- should pick only three things to and have very little control “COME UP WITH
commonsense advice, you can accomplish a day. over your schedule? And what
turn to two other recent releases: This brings me to perhaps about issues outside the office, AN HONEST
Make Time, by Jake Knapp and the most quietly radical of this such as the gender imbalance ANSWER TO
John Zeratsky of Google Ventures, selection of new books on time. in who shoulders the burden of
and Hyperfocus, by Chris Bailey, Laura Vanderkam’s Off the Clock household chores and caregiving? THIS QUESTION:
who not only studies productivity bears the subtitle Feel Less Time management is not THROUGHOUT
but conducts experiments on Busy While Getting More Done. I just a problem that individuals
himself (for example, limiting initially thought this would be need to address; it’s one that THE DAY, HOW
his iPhone use to 60 minutes a an instructional guide or a better must be taken seriously by our FREQUENTLY DO
day or binge-watching 296 TED version of Pick Three, and it does partners, employers, and policy
talks in a week). Like Cirillo, emphasize the importance of makers. Some companies have YOU CHOOSE
these authors recommend tracking everything you do. But it already taken positive steps. WHAT TO
writing down exactly what you also goes beyond work activities An experiment at the Gap, for
do, day in and day out, but their and contends with the messier, example, eliminated “on calls” FOCUS ON?”
arguments are less stiff. Make more philosophical aspects of and gave employees two weeks’ Chris Bailey, Hyperfocus:
Time is practical and engaging, time management: What will notice of their schedules. The
offering tips on everything from we remember doing, and what stores that participated saw How to Be More Productive
designing your day to the benefits will we regret not doing? How a 5% rise in labor productivity and in a World of Distraction
of cutting out cable news and can we be disciplined but also yielded $2.9 million in increased
eschewing plane Wi-Fi in favor of kind to ourselves when things go revenue during the study’s
time away from work. Especially awry? The book also stresses the duration. But such initiatives
useful for me was the guidance importance of acknowledging are still the exception.
on e-mail. It turns out that being difficult times and lingering over The sheer volume of time
slow to respond is a terrific way beautiful moments, even if it management advice out there
to take control of your time. means we don’t “feel” productive. represents a subtle rallying cry,
(Sorry, colleagues.) Vanderkam made me hopeful pushing us to overcome the
Hyperfocus begins, in what but also a bit skeptical. If we discomfort of saying “no” to
might be the most telling take back our time—focusing on some things, despite any feared
commentary about our collective productivity but also allowing repercussions. If enough of us
inability to focus, with a chapter time for goofing off—won’t we push back, maybe together we can
on how to read it without being butt up against serious social establish a new normal that will
distracted. Full of circle diagrams norms? If you’re expected to be make us a whole lot happier.
and 2x2s, it instructs us on how on e-mail into the night for work, For me, these books have
to pay attention to only one what will the consequences be mostly served to reinforce Mary GRETCHEN GAVETT is an
meaningful thing at a time, and if you aren’t? What if you work Oliver’s timeless wisdom: “You associate editor at
why—echoing Zuckerberg—we in a retail or service industry do not have to be good.” Harvard Business Review.

Make Time: How to Focus Hyperfocus: How to Be Off the Clock: Feel
on What Matters Every Day More Productive in a World Less Busy While Getting
Jake Knapp and John of Distraction More Done
Zeratsky Chris Bailey Laura Vanderkam
Currency, 2018 Viking, 2018 Portfolio, 2018

SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2018 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW 151