4 Creative Tips To Unplug and Recharge Your Brain by Daniel Pink
Pause like a pro, and you might become one.
Our mind is like an emotional basement.
Now and then, we clean the basement and look at old pictures scattered in the boxes.
… and don’t remind me of how bad we feel when we remember an embarrassing situation.
Sometimes in the struggle of life, we read a lot of “how-tos” articles to get better, but we forget the “when.”
A person can improve if he knows the science of the perfect timing at his fingertips.
Daniel Pink is the author of the book “When” written in 2018.
I had no desire to read this book. Ultimately, I went to the book shop to buy “The art of selling is human,” suggested by Boateng Sekyere.
As I couldn’t find it, I took “When” with myself.
But let me tell you, this book was worth the effort. I’ve read many “how- to” books but never a “when-to” book.
This book is exceptional, with chunks of hidden patterns from our daily lives to historical experiences.
So below are 4 tips I learned from the book.
Let’s get started.
1. Unfolding Our Biological Clock
Daniel pink, in the book, explains:
“All living beings, regardless of animals, humans, plants, all have a biological clock.”
So what are these clocks?
Daniel explains that these clocks help with our functioning, also known as Circadian Rhythms.
These clocks come in different variations embedded in every one of us—our built-in clocks open and close regularly.
Our day is divided into the following time zones:
- Morning: when we’re the most energetic
- Afternoon: when we’re lazy
- Evening: when we’re happy again
- Night: when we’re relaxed
Research conducted by behavioral scientists, (mentioned in the book “When”) indicates that human beings have “Twin Peaks” in their day. Something like this:
“People are happy in the morning. Sad in the midday. And our good mood plummets again in early evening.”
Whether your day starts at 6 am or 7 am, the biological clock works the same for everyone.
How to apply?
When we work for someone, we often encounter mistakes.
Like:
- An employee feels wacky around the employer
- You feel completely anonymous with your partner’s routine
- Even your dog differs from your lifestyle
It sometimes frustrates me too.
Nobody can ever change their routine for you. We all have a biological clock inside of us.
“If you’re standing alongside 3 people, one of you four probably has a different kind of organism with a different kind of clock.”
So how should we deal with people?
The answer: morning or early evening.
Divide your most important tasks of the day, whether a meeting or a mortgage deal into these “top peak” hours.
In the afternoon, as Daniel suggests, a light, refreshing supper can even things to balance a mood.
2. The Owl: Thomas Edison
We all have our chronotype: a unique imprint of Circadian Rhythms that controls our routines.
In easy words by Rosenberg’s reserach:
- Late chronotypes: wake long after sunrise
- Early chronotypes: rise early
- Third birds: 65% of us are mid-way late and early chronotypes.
- Night owl: sleeping extremely late
Most teenagers sleep late at night.
When they turn into adults, they become late chronotypes. After turning towards the maturity bell curve, they turn into early chronotypes.
Practice bends the routine.
Thomas Edison was a late chronotype.
He spent his night in silence, trying to discover light when the whole town was almost asleep and ready to wake up.
According to the research: Owls are more creative and extroverted than early chronotypes. 35
How to apply?
Daniel Pink writes:
“Night owls are like left-handers in a right-handed world”
Humans experience a day in three stages:
Peak → Trough → ReboundBut night owls are different:
Recovery → Trough → PeakI am a night owl, and I can feel I am the most active at night. It helps with numerous factors:
- I sleep knowing I worked hard
- I finish my work at the last moment
- As I have a different clock, I am easy to spot loopholes
If you’re a night owl, embrace it.
I know routine is important. But the most important is to use the right time to do the right things.
Time usually flattens the curve in the early thirties when you become a late chronotype.
So, if you’re an owl, make your time useful.
3. In the Name of the Naps
Which one of the following do you go for?
- Coffee after waking up?
- Coffee before waking up?
… and if you just thought I had gone mad, you’re right, I have.
Daniel quotes an Elliot experiment 59:
“When it’s the midday and you feel low, you take nap and then take a sip of coffee.
But doing the opposite works well, as produced by the epeirment”
The solution, as Pink writes:
“A coffee takes 25 minutes to enter your bloodtsream. So ingest your coffee and take a 15–25 minutes nap. When you’ll wake up, you’ll be fresh. Hence you can save up much time with this trick.”
Daniel calls the nap and cappuccino= Nappuccino.
How to apply?
We all feel the microburst of activity upon wakening up.
Here’s what most people do when waking up:
- Prepare breakfast.
When you sip down the coffee, you instantly wash away the microburst activity you fetched from sleep.
Think this way:
Your sleep gives you energy. So instead of sipping coffee just after waking up, put the energy to perfect use.
Here’s what you can do to use the energy:
- Hit the gym
- Clean your house
- Plan for the day
- Read a book
Note: Please don’t waste your morning hours on social media. You can make time for social media in late midday.
4. The Fresh Start Effect
Dai, Milkman, and Riss named a phenomenon “The fresh start.”
It means starting your goals and resolutions with a clean slate.
In other words, these fresh starts allowed people to create new mental accounts. Most of the “diet” and “gym” searches hiked:
- On new year’s eve
- At the start of a new week
- On the federal holiday
Means:
We people have a soft spot for holidays.
When we have a long weekend or a holiday, our mind instantly reminds us of setting (new) goals.
Holiday concepts come from new year’s eve when we set new goals. However, Daniel Pink writes:
“A person can also plan 86 times in a year. This means you have 86 new clean slates, to begin with.”
How to apply?
As per the book, many business owners use this approach to drive enthusiasts into employees.
In this way:
Most marketers celebrate the launch of their first product, someone’s birthday, a good achievement to drive enthusiasm in people.
We can also follow the same approach. Here are the 86 days pulled from the book by Daniel Pink:
- First day of the month (12)
- Mondays (52)
- The first day after season break (4)
- Independence Day (1)
- Important religious holiday (1)
- Your birthday (1)
- The first day of a job, school, semester (4)
- The day after graduation and vacation (3)
- Your partner’s, pet, job, parents’ birthday/anniversary (7)
- The day you finish this article (1)
Total= 86
Before you make any goals, follow the Premortem pattern by Daniel Pink.
“Assuming it’s eighteen months from now, your project is a complete disaster. What could go wrong?”
Then use the answers to prevent setbacks when planning.
Final Thoughts:
A sense of urgency drives most people.
Also known as the “Uh-oh effect.”
We hop to our feet when we realize the time is running out and we’re late. So, the best way to do a variety of hard work is to give yourself less time.
Turn the “Uh-oh” to “Yayy” in a few days!
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