The Make Time Newsletter
Written by Connor Swenson, with occasional interludes from Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky.
The warm-up
Hey Time Dorks! Welcome to the July edition. Before we dive in, a couple of quick updates. On the work front: I've been trying something new over the last month: making YouTube videos. It's been a lot of fun — and honestly, pretty humbling. Turns out talking to a camera is a very different skill than talking to a room full of people. I'm trying to enjoy being a beginner again. Any advice is welcome. On the home front: We're about eight weeks away from welcoming our second baby, so life...
He'd read all the books
Hey Time Dorks! When I first met Kyle, he told me something I've heard from a lot of people over the past year. He'd read all the books. Make Time, Four Thousand Weeks, and plenty of others. He'd experimented with meditation, productivity systems, and various routines to help him feel more focused and in control. But he kept running into the same problem. He'd discover a new idea, feel inspired, and start putting it into practice. Then life would get busy. His motivation would fade. And...
How do I do this for 30 years?
Hey folks, When Rachel and I first spoke, she was three months into a senior director role. She’d just hired five people, she cared about doing right by them, and she could already see where her pace was heading. She wasn't in crisis, but work was crowding out the life she wanted outside it. Plans with friends got cancelled. The book club and the exercise class kept getting pushed to next week. One question she asked stayed with me: "How do I do this for 30 years, feel good about it, and not...
My favorite way to hit reset
Hey Time Dorks, Welcome to the October edition of the newsletter. I’m leading a Monthly Review session inside my coaching program later this afternoon to reflect on September. If you want to gather some insights from the past month to carry forward into the next, I wrote about how I structure my monthly review earlier this year. You can find it here → Monthly reviews: A simple practice for clarity All right, onto this month’s idea. A Perspective “The mind is the king of the senses, and the...
Something new this fall
Hey Time Dorks! Connor here with something new I wanted to share. On October 26, we’re starting a new group of The Inner Operating System together. I created this program for ambitious, self-aware professionals who are doing well on paper, but underneath the surface feel stressed, scattered, reactive, or stretched thin. The goal is to feel steadier, more focused, and more in control of your days, without giving up your ambition or waiting for life to get less busy. If that sounds like you,...
The September Reset
Hey Time Dorks! Welcome to the September edition of the Make Time newsletter. I've always felt like September is a mini-January. As summer winds down, schools start back, and work picks up speed, a lot of us start thinking about new goals, intentions, and plans for the fall. There's something energizing about getting back into a rhythm after the summer. But one of the traps I've fallen into many times is jumping straight back onto the Busy Bandwagon. Before I know it, my calendar is full, my...
Working together, alone
Hey there, A couple of small updates: this newsletter is going monthly and we're simplifying the name to The Make Time Newsletter. I'll always consider us all Time Dorks at heart. 🤓 Also, the next application window for The Inner Operating System opens today, June 25th. It's my program for driven professionals who feel stressed, scattered, and stretched thin, and are ready to feel more focused, present, and in control. More on that at the end. Now, onto something I've been meaning to write...
One thing at a time
Hey Time Dorks, I just got back from a 10-day wilderness survival trip on a desert island in Panama. We spent the first five days learning bushcraft from two seasoned instructors — fishing, building shelter, fashioning tools from natural materials, making fire. Then came the survival phase: three days where we had to put our new skills to the test. Despite catching almost no fish, sleeping on beds fashioned from slats made of bamboo, and enduring some pesky sandflies, we made it to the finish...
Why your beliefs might be holding you back
Hey Time Dorks, Connor here. I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Nir Eyal — investor, bestselling author of Indistractable and Hooked, and someone whose work has genuinely influenced how I think about focus, attention, and distraction. Nir's new book is called Beyond Belief, and the question at the heart of it is one I hear from Time Dorks constantly: "I know what I'm supposed to do. So why don't I do it?" Whether it’s getting fit, writing your novel, or limiting the time you...
Monthly reviews: A simple practice for clarity
Hey Time Dorks, Connor here. Back in December, we hosted a free workshop on annual reviews. If you missed it, I've put the recording back up. It's not too late to reflect on 2025 and gain clarity for 2026! I first got into the habit of reflection through practicing the fourth step of the Make Time framework, "Reflect." The Make Time Framework Taking daily notes helped me understand which tactics were working and which weren't, so I could fine-tune my approach along the way. We like to say you...
Written by Connor Swenson, with occasional interludes from Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky.