The Importance of Leadership

Daniel Pink: When

Daniel Pink has been listed by Thinkers50 as one of the top business thinkers in the world. His works include New York Times bestsellers, A Whole New Mind*, Drive*, To Sell is Human* and his new book, When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing*.

Key Points

• Naps boost productivity, but they should be no more than around 20 minutes long.
• Regular nappers get more benefit from naps than occasional nappers.
• We don’t treat breaks with enough seriousness.

We do better on certain types of tasks at certain times of day.

• Peak – Do heavy analytical work in the morning.
• Trough – Do easier administrative work in the early afternoon.
• Recovery – Do work that requires insight in the late afternoon and evening.

Ways to make the most of project midpoints when motivating teams:

• Recognize midpoints.
• Use midpoints to fire up your team.
• Let you team know they are slightly behind when they hit the midpoint.

Resources Mentioned

• Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us* by Daniel Pink
• When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing* by Daniel Pink

Book Notes

Download my highlights from When in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes

• The Surprising Truth About Influencing Others, with Daniel Pink (episode 84)
• The Way to Make New Behaviors Stick, with Marshall Goldsmith (episode 196)
• The Best Way to Make New Habits Reality, with Kendra Kinnison (episode 217)
• How to Make Deep Work Happen, with Cal Newport (episode 233)

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