Daniel Pink’s, When

During this class, we read a book by Daniel Pink “To Sell is human”. This book was a great resource to change the common conception of sales and brought a fresh perspective to what effective sales should look like. This year, Pink came out with a new book to help improve productivity and time management. The book is titled When. Through two years of research, Pink found that people have a pattern of motivation throughout the day that effects the way they do work. In this book, he lays out the dynamics of when it is appropriate to conduct different kinds. Here is the gist of what time of day is good for different kinds of work.

1. Moring

In the morning most people are at their best. Pink writes that this is the best time of day for analytical work that requires a lot of focus. In fact, statistics show that people do much better taking tests during the day then they do at night or the afternoon. Do all your analytical work during this time of day.

2. Afternoon

This is the part of the day where most people are at their worst. You are normally the most lethargic and least motivated during the afternoon. The best kind of work to get done in the afternoon is administrative work, or busy work. This kind of work requires the least amount of concentration and is most easily tackled this time of day.

3. Evening

During the evening, Pink writes, people began to regain some of their motivation and energy but their concentration usually still wavers. This is the time of day to get all your creative work done. During creative projects, it is good for your brain to get distracted to an extent because it allows for new ideas to leak into the equations and helps one keep a fresh perspective on whatever they are working on.

I would highly recommend reading When. It is full of practical application for this concept and will help you realign your thinking to be a more effective sales person or just person in general.