A Summary and Review of When by Daniel Pink

My Take on When

Photo by Jeanne Rouillard on Unsplash

When by Daniel Pink is a fascinating read about the science of perfect timing. Before reading this book, I hadn’t thought much about how significant the role timing plays in my own life. Timing is easy to overlook, but crucial to outcomes that impact our livelihood.

The book is broken down into 3 parts:

1. the day
2. beginnings, endings, and in between
3. synching and thinking

Throughout the book, the cyclical nature of many aspects of our lives are discussed. Our moods and emotional balance are impacted by the time of day. Across continents and time zones, it was found that positive mood rises in the morning, dips in the afternoon, and rises again in the evening. Our emotional balance generally also rises in the morning, dips in the afternoon, and rises in the evening. While these two examples are internal states, they have an external impact on our lives.

We all have daily high points and low points. Our energy and cognitive abilities aren’t static over the course of a day. At certain times of the day, we’re smarter, faster, dimmer, slower, more creative, or less creative than we are at other times. These daily fluctuations are extreme. The performance difference between our high point and low point…