The latest book by Daniel Pink, When—The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, was released in January 2018 and became an instant best seller. Pink is one of the most successful authors of non-fiction books. His past bestsellers include:
Free Agent Nation—This book is about the gig economy, self-employed people and how the economy—even the meaning of work—are being redefined.
To Sell is Human—The premise is that most of us are in sales now. If you don’t like being in sales, how do you feel about helping people?
Drive—The book I refer people to more often than any other source. Drive is about what motivates people. An essential book for anyone managing people.
When To, Not How To
There are thousands of books on ‘how to’ do something. There are very few on ‘when to’ do something. This is a ‘when to’ book. The premise is that there are better times and worse times to do various things. The timeframes in the book range from each day, to the life of a project to our lifetimes.
There is a surprising amount of research in this area being done and Pink draws on this research to support the various lessons of each chapter. And each chapter is followed by practical tips which the author terms ‘Time Hacks.’ These practical ideas make this a book that might change your life.
The Day
The book starts with the circadian rhythm our bodies follow every day. We aren’t all the same but we all have troughs and peaks. For 80 percent of us, the trough comes mid-afternoon. That’s why more mistakes are made in the afternoon. It’s not a good time for surgery or traffic court. But by determining what our chronotype is, we can plan our activities accordingly. And when we can’t choose when to do things, there are strategies for mitigating the worst time of day for us.
Some of the strategies include restorative breaks, naps, and eating (away from our desk). Surprisingly, lunch is the most important meal of the day, not breakfast. Forget everything we’ve been told in this regard.
Beginnings
The second section of the book deals with beginnings and the long-term effects of getting off to a bad start. For example, graduating from college in a recession doesn’t just make finding that first job tough; it can have a lasting and negative career impact. Again, there are suggestions for how to mitigate the damage. These suggestions fall into the categories of starting right, starting again and starting together. This part of the book also deals with temporal landmarks, such as birthdays, anniversaries and New Year’s. That’s why most diets start January 2nd; it’s time for a fresh start.
Midpoints
Midpoints refer to the md-point of a project (often a team project over weeks or months) and mid-points of life. You’re probably thinking mid-life crisis right now, but it turns out one of the happiest groups of people are those in their mid-50s.
Mid-points turn out to be powerful in terms of helping us energize, encode, edit and elevate us. Pink talks of life being a three-act drama and how, when one enters the third third, it helps focus the mind on what is important to achieve before the end.
Synching
The last part of the book deals with getting groups to synch up, so the group performs better. While entertaining, I found this part of the book to be the least compelling. Maybe it’s just me, but I often find that the end of a book is the weakest; as if the author just needs to fill in the space. Actually, the book is better than that but not as good as the earlier chapters.
Thinking in Tense
The author makes some interesting observations at the end of the book:
- I used to believe in ignoring the waves of the day. Now I believe in surfing them.
- I used to believe that lunch breaks, naps and taking walks were niceties. Now I believe they’re necessities.
- I used to believe that the best way to overcome a bad start was to shake it off and move on. Now I believe the better approach is to start again or start together.
- I used to believe that midpoints didn’t matter—mostly because I was oblivious to their very existence. Now I believe that midpoints illustrate something fundamental about how people behave and how the world works.
- I used to believe in the value of happy endings. Now I believe that the power of endings rests not in their unmitigated sunniness but in their poignancy and meaning
- I used to believe that synchronizing with others was merely a mechanical process. Now I believe that it requires a sense of belonging, rewards a sense of purpose and reveals a part of our nature.
- I used to believe that timing was everything. Now I believe that everything is timing.
Conclusion
I do a lot of reading and when I read a good book that might be of interest to readers of this blog, I recommend it. In some cases, the book might be a pleasant read. In many cases, the book might provide an insight, advice or technique that a business owner or advisor might use to improve their business or themselves.
This book probably has the potential to improve peoples’ lives, simply because it will help almost anyone use their time—the ultimate scarce resource—more wisely or more productively.
I know people are busy and reading a 220-page book is probably a six-to-eight hour commitment. So if you would like more details on this book, but don’t want to read the whole book, I’d be happy to send you my ten pages of notes I took. Just hit Reply and say you’d like my notes from When. I’ll send them right over.
No comments yet.