How can those employees optimize
their days for peak performance?
dP: The first step is simply to be aware.
But after that, try working the
margins. Even if you can’t control the big
things, you might still be able to shape
the little things. If you’re a lark or third
bird and happen to have a free hour in the
morning, don’t fritter it away on email.
Spend those 60 minutes doing your most
important work. Try managing up, too.
Gently tell your boss about when you
work best but put it in terms of what’s
good for the organization. (“I get the
most done on the big project you
assigned me during the mornings, so
maybe I should attend fewer meetings
before noon.”) Finally, take advantage of
those times when you do have control
over your schedule. On weekends or
holidays, craft a schedule that maximizes
the synchrony effect. For example, if
you’re a lark and you’re writing a novel,
get up early, write until 1pm and save
your grocery shopping and dry-cleaning
pickup for the afternoon.
drink water when you
wake up to re-hydrate
and re-energize.
daniel Pink’s tips for a Better Morning
WHEn is filled to the brim with tips for hacking your time, improving your
decision-making and advice for being all-around more productive. Figuring out
what works best for you starts with figuring out what kind of person you are:
morning lark, night owl or third bird. Most of us have a pretty good idea of
what chronotype we are, but to make sure, you can head to
danpink.com/McTQ. once you’ve got it, you can use it to plan your day to your
advantage.
Even for morning larks, getting up and out of bed every morning can be a
difficult task—especially when the comfort of your mattress is too sweet to
part with. Here are a few tips from Pink’s WHEN to help every bird like their
mornings a bit better:
l drink a glass of water when you wake up. After a full night’s sleep, we tend
P: Can you explain the James Dean
effect and how spas can use
endings to their advantage when
aiming for customer satisfaction?
dP: The James Dean Effect is an idea that
emerged from research about how people
remember lives. Researchers asked people
to evaluate James Dean’s life. He came out
of obscurity, became a huge movie star in
his early 20s, only to die tragically just shy
of his 25th birthday. Then they asked
people to imagine Dean had lived 30 years
longer continuing to work as an actor—
not descending into homelessness or
addiction, but never achieving his
previous levels of stardom. Amazingly,
to wake up dehydrated. chug a glas s of water first thing to recharge your
system, rehydrate and help you wake up.
l Wait a bit before you pour a cup of coffee. our bodies start making cortisol
as soon as we wake up, so we don’t need the caffeine just yet. Wait about
an hour to 90 minutes once your cortisol production has peaked so the
coffee can actually do its job.
l soak up the morning sun. The sun emits light that covers a wide range of
the spectrum, which signals your brain to stop producing sleep hormones
and start producing alert hormones.
l schedule talk-therapy appointments for morning. Research shows that
you’re more likely to absorb advice in the morning. So, if you schedule
therapy session—or really any meeting where you should be taking
constructive advice—in the morning, you’ll be more focused and absorb the
information more deeply.
June 2018
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