WEBVTT - Your Favourite Tip: Dan Pink - Plan your day according to your chronotype

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<v Speaker 1>The dreaded three thirty itis, that big dip in the

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<v Speaker 1>afternoon when you just can't seem to focus, the words

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<v Speaker 1>on your screen start to blur, your eyelids start to

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<v Speaker 1>feel heavy, and anything more than scrolling through social media

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<v Speaker 1>feels impossible. You know it all too well, don't you,

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<v Speaker 1>Unless you don't. What if three thirty is your most

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<v Speaker 1>productive time of the day. Do you scratch your head

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<v Speaker 1>when you hear about people who get up at the

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<v Speaker 1>crack of dawn and get a head start on the

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<v Speaker 1>day's work. Or maybe you find yourself buzzing at nine

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<v Speaker 1>pm when everyone else is getting ready for bed. This

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<v Speaker 1>is why it's so important to understand your chronotype. Everyone

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<v Speaker 1>has peaks and valleys in their energy levels at different

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<v Speaker 1>times of day, but for the most part, we all

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<v Speaker 1>work on a pretty similar schedule. But we don't have to,

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<v Speaker 1>especially now that so many of us work from home.

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<v Speaker 1>So how should you rearrange your schedule according to your cronotype.

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<v Speaker 1>My name is doctor Amantha Imber. I'm an organizational psychologist

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<v Speaker 1>and the founder of behavioral science consultancy invent Him, and

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<v Speaker 1>this is how I work a show about how to

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<v Speaker 1>help you do your best work. Welcome to your Favorite

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<v Speaker 1>Tips across ten bite size episodes. I'll be sharing tips

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<v Speaker 1>from some of the world's best thinkers that you, the listeners,

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<v Speaker 1>have found the most useful. We're covering everything from creating

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<v Speaker 1>better to do lists to setting more effective boundaries around

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<v Speaker 1>your time, and you'll be hearing from people like best

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<v Speaker 1>selling author Sally Hepworth, Corona Cast host and journalist Norman Swan,

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<v Speaker 1>and Google's executive productivity advisor Laura may Martin. Today's favorite

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<v Speaker 1>tip comes from Christy, and she writes, one of my

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<v Speaker 1>favorite tips is to plan my day in line with

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<v Speaker 1>my circadian rhythm. I've scheduled focus time each morning and

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<v Speaker 1>leave the afternoon free for meetings. I suggested this technique

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<v Speaker 1>to my broader team and we changed our weekly team

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<v Speaker 1>meeting from nine am to two pm. This has made

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<v Speaker 1>a big difference to us because previously our team members

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<v Speaker 1>would always view the morning of this day each week

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<v Speaker 1>as a write off after having the hour long meeting

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<v Speaker 1>and then having a coffee together afterwards. Now we all

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<v Speaker 1>have the morning back to focus on our work and

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<v Speaker 1>instead use the time in the afternoon when we're going

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<v Speaker 1>through a slump to have the team meeting I love

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<v Speaker 1>that tip, Christy, and I think that the first guest

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<v Speaker 1>who spoke about this was Dan Pink back in twenty nineteen.

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<v Speaker 1>So here is Dan talking about how he proactively structures

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<v Speaker 1>his work day based on what he learnt when he

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<v Speaker 1>was writing his best selling book When, the Scientific Secrets

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<v Speaker 1>of Perfect Timing.

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<v Speaker 2>One of the ideas and when has to do with

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<v Speaker 2>the pattern of our performance and our attention and our

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<v Speaker 2>mood over the course of a day, and how we

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<v Speaker 2>go through this day typically in three stages, a peak,

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<v Speaker 2>a trough, and a recovery. Most of us go in

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<v Speaker 2>that order. Night outs go in a very different order.

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<v Speaker 2>And I realize in looking at some of this research

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<v Speaker 2>that I should be doing my heads down analytic work

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<v Speaker 2>writing first thing in the morning, and definitely in the morning.

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<v Speaker 2>And I change my schedule around there so that on

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<v Speaker 2>writing days, I will set myself a word count, however

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<v Speaker 2>many words, you know, not a lot, seven hundred words, say,

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<v Speaker 2>and I would come into my office. I don't come

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<v Speaker 2>in exceptionally early. I come in at half past eight,

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<v Speaker 2>and I'll say, okay, today I got to write at

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<v Speaker 2>seven hundred words. And I won't bring my phone into

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<v Speaker 2>the office with me I will not open up my email,

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<v Speaker 2>will not do anything until I hit those seven hundred words,

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<v Speaker 2>and then I'm free to do other things and that.

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<v Speaker 2>And so the idea that this peak period, this idea

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<v Speaker 2>that the research showing that I had this three or

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<v Speaker 2>four hour peak of vigilance and ability not to be distracted,

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<v Speaker 2>that I shouldn't furtit it that a way answering email

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<v Speaker 2>or going on Twitter or any of that nonsense. I

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<v Speaker 2>really stuck to that and use that kind of schedule

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<v Speaker 2>to actually write this particular book. And this is the first.

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<v Speaker 2>Out of the six, five of them were late, only

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<v Speaker 2>one was on time, and this was the one on time.

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<v Speaker 1>How do you use the other two sections of your day?

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<v Speaker 2>I use the early to mid afternoon typically for answering

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<v Speaker 2>email and putting. I'm a big I have a lot

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<v Speaker 2>of files, paper files, and like filing stuff away and oh,

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<v Speaker 2>I need to scan this thing and put it into drop,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, that kind of stuff that doesn't require heavy load.

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<v Speaker 2>And then during their cover period, which is basically like

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<v Speaker 2>the mid to late afternoon and early evening, I generally

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<v Speaker 2>do interviews. So interviews like this one are also even

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<v Speaker 2>interviews when I am asking questions, So that period of

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<v Speaker 2>the day. So the peak again for most of us

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<v Speaker 2>early in the day, that's when we're most vigilant. We

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<v Speaker 2>should be doing our heads down work the trough early

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<v Speaker 2>to mid afternoon, that is a really bad time of day.

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<v Speaker 2>Our mental performance, cognitive skills are way down, and so

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<v Speaker 2>I do my administrative stuff then and then when I

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<v Speaker 2>come out of the trough, you know, around whenever three o'clock,

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<v Speaker 2>three thirty four o'clock in the afternoon, I tend to

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<v Speaker 2>do interviews like this or things that require not necessarily

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<v Speaker 2>be lockdown and vigilant, but just to be open to possibility,

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<v Speaker 2>open to ideas, a little bit more mentally loose.

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<v Speaker 1>If you are keen to assess your prototype after listening

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<v Speaker 1>to this clip, I've put a link to a scientifically

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<v Speaker 1>validated assessment in the show notes. I personally love this tip,

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<v Speaker 1>and I have spent the last few years working in

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<v Speaker 1>a very similar way to Christy, where I always do

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<v Speaker 1>my deep work in the morning and schedule almost all

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<v Speaker 1>my meetings for the afternoon. As a listener of how

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<v Speaker 1>I work, you've hopefully picked up a few tips on

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<v Speaker 1>this show to help you work better, But do you

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<v Speaker 1>want more? And maybe in a book form, because let's

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<v Speaker 1>face it, books are the most awesome thing on the planet. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>now you can. In my new book, time Wise, I

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<v Speaker 1>uncover a wealth of proven strategies that anyone can use

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<v Speaker 1>to improve their productivity, work, and lifestyle. Time Wise brings

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<v Speaker 1>together all of the gems that I've learned from conversations

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<v Speaker 1>with the world's greatest thinkers, including Adam Grant, Dan Pink,

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<v Speaker 1>me Readman, and Turia Pitt and many many others. Time

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<v Speaker 1>Wise is launching on July five, but you can preorder

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<v Speaker 1>it now from Amantha dot com. And if you pre

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<v Speaker 1>order time Wise, I have a couple of bonuses for you. First,

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<v Speaker 1>you'll receive an ebook that details my top twenty favorite

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<v Speaker 1>cooking ideas, and more. You will also get a complimentary

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<v Speaker 1>spot in a webinar that I'm running on June twenty nine,

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<v Speaker 1>where I will be sharing the tactics from time Wise

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<v Speaker 1>that I use most often, and also some bonus ones

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<v Speaker 1>that are not in the book that I use and love.

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<v Speaker 1>Hop onto Amantha dot com to pre order now. How

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<v Speaker 1>I Work is produced by Inventium with production support from

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<v Speaker 1>dead Set Studios, and thank you to Matt Nimba who

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<v Speaker 1>does the audio mix for every episode and makes everything

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<v Speaker 1>sound so much better than it would have otherwise. See

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<v Speaker 1>you next time.