Daniel H. Pink | Biological Clock: Why What You Do is Just as Important as When You Do It

Published: May 21, 2018, 3 a.m.

b'

In Episode 45 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Daniel Pink, the highly acclaimed author of numerous,\\xa0best-selling books including his latest,\\xa0When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing.

Timing is everything, so it\\u2019s kind of surprising that most of us don\\u2019t give it any serious consideration. We think about\\xa0what\\xa0things we want to do. We think about\\xa0who\\xa0we want to do these things with.\\xa0When\\xa0we want to do something is generally our final consideration \\u2014 if we consider it at all.

Take college students, for example. They must take classes in art, math, history, science, and a host of other fields. Each year, just before the semester begins, students flock to their computers and plot out the class schedules that will govern their lives for the next five months. Their top considerations are when their friends are taking classes, how they can avoid getting up early, and how they can ensure their classes are all on the same day so that they get a few extra days off.

This is a bit of a problem.

As Daniel Pink notes in his latest book\\xa0When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, there is a biological reality to our daily rhythms. This means that, at certain times, we are better at problem solving. At others, we perform better when it comes to creative endeavors. It may seem counterintuitive, but we each have a biological clock that has a material impact on our lives. Put simply, the time that we choose to do something alters our performance, influences our wellbeing, and shapes our overall experience. So if we are making decisions about when to do things on an impulse or according to whatever happens to be convenient, in many ways, we are setting ourselves up for failure.

However, there is a solution to this problem. It\\u2019s known as \\u201cchronobiology,\\u201d and it allows us to make fact-based decisions about when we should do things. By using chronobiology \\u2014 by following the natural patterns found in our biology \\u2014 we can help ensure that we are at our peak performance when we attempt any given task.

But how can we tell what our natural cycle is? How do we know if we are making good\\xa0when-based decisions? In this episode, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Pink about the science of perfect timing and why\\xa0when\\xa0we do something is just as important as\\xa0what\\xa0we do and how well we do it.

Producer & Host:\\xa0Demetri Kofinas

Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou

Join the conversation on\\xa0Facebook,\\xa0Instagram, and\\xa0Twitter\\xa0at @hiddenforcespod

'