Daniel Pink's "When": Clever Synthesis of Science to Tell a Story

Daniel Pink’s strength in is books is taking interesting studies and framing them with context to make those individual studies have greater meaning through the connections with other work. It may come across as more self-help than social science, but sometimes self-help is needed. In this case, it is at least grounded in science.

In “When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing,” Pink looks at the nature of time in three sections. In the first, he looks at the day, and how we can be self-aware of our own natural patterns to make the most of our days, and order them that will optimize our work and decisions. Importantly, this will vary across individuals, so there is no one-size-fits-all answer.

In the second section, he pulls back and explores beginnings, middles, and ends separately – their importance and again how to maximize each step in a project if it is going to last a day or even how to make the most out of your whole life. For many reasons, both my age and where I’m at in a project at work, the section on middles spoke to me. Neither are at the beginning, but I know the finish line is out there. I’m still growing, but already writing my legacy. I think I’m at the point where he identifies a “uh-oh effect” where I can recenter and make progress anew.
Finally, there is a section on the importance of syncing up with people around you, if you’re in a chorale group or transporting food in India – being part of a larger whole gives purpose and meaning to your actions and is good for you to boot!

What makes it self-helpy is that after each chapter is an unnumbered section with worksheets and advice on how to apply the lessons just covered. I’m not going to go through each one and follow it, but  I did have a couple of takeaways about the importance of building and maintaining my network that I might follow through with.

When is a quick read – just over 200 pages with several charts and sections broken up so you can fly through it in an evening, so there is pretty good bang for your time investment.