The 7 Books And 43 Key Concepts That Will Help You Develop a Good Personal Operating System In The Knowledge Economy [PART 4]
Over the past 2 years, I have read the 7 best books for developing an effective personal operating system — twice.
I have distilled them down to the 43 key insights that will upgrade your life.
Save yourself time and just implement these key concepts.
Book #4: When (summary)
When we do things is just as important as what we do.
Most people think timing is an art, but it’s really a science.
This book unlocks the scientific secrets to good timing to help you flourish at work, at school, and at home.
Here are 3 lessons about timing that’ll help you structure your life in better ways:
1) Our emotions run through the same cycle every single day.
2) Knowing how you “tick” will help you do your best at work.
3) Taking a break or an afternoon nap is not counterproductive, if anything, it helps you save time.
Key Concept (21): There’s an emotional pattern each of us follows on any given day.
Every day includes “a peak, a trough, and a rebound” (a U-shaped pattern).
“Positive mood rises in the morning, dips in the afternoon, and rises again in the evening.”
Happiness, warmth toward others, enjoyment, and emotional balance all follow this U-shaped pattern.
Key Concept (22): Figure out your chronotype to produce your best work.
How you feel at certain times during the day is called your chronotype, and there are three major ones, says Pink:
1) The lark. People who love to get up early and have all their emotional highs and lows a few hours earlier than most people.
2) The owl. If you don’t like getting up early and can really get to work around 9 PM, that’s you.
3) The third bird. The majority of people, who are neither late, nor early, and just follow the standard pattern.
65% of people go into the last category, meaning they should do analytical, logic-based work in the mornings, when they’re most alert.
The more creative tasks, where it’s helpful if your mind wanders, should be reserved for the late afternoon.
Larks should do the same earlier, while owls might want to do cognitive work late at night.
Whichever type you are, doing boring admin stuff in the afternoon trough is always a good idea.
P.S. The best tool I have found to identify my chronotype and align my tasks to my natural energy states is an app called RISE. You can try it for free 👉 HERE
Key Concept (23): Regular breaks, rest, and recovery help you save time, not lose it.
Research on the usage of Desktime, a desktop productivity software company, revealed that for every 52 minutes of work, a person needs 17 minutes of break time for maximum productivity.
Studies have also shown that taking a short nap can result in about three hours of increased information retaining capacity and improved focus.
Additionally, a “nappuchino” — a quick cup of coffee before a 20-minute nap — can give a better boost to focus and productivity.
It takes about 20 minutes for caffeine to enter the bloodstream.
Therefore, just as we wake up from the nap, the coffee keeps us awake and geared up for work (I personally recommend this as the exception, not the norm, as I try to avoid caffeine in the afternoons…but I’m all for short naps!).
Snag a copy of the book 📖👇
