Daniel Pink and Harnessing the Power of When

Connect with Daniel Pink

Twitter: @danielpink | Website: www.danpink.com | Book: When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing

Links & Show Notes

Daniel Pink Intro (00:46)

..* Drive (01:19) - Autonomy, Mastery, & Purpose
Prime your brain (2:50)

..* “Timing isn’t the main thing, it’s the only thing.” - Miles Davis (3:50) Biological clocks in every cell of our body
Time of day & standardized testing - Denmark study (5:21)
School start time for high schoolers (6:21)

..* Chronobiology / Chronotypes

..* American Academy of Pediatrics Report (don’t start school before 8:30)

..* Teen depression, teen obesity, lower test scores, more car accidents

..* Adults saying ‘don’t be lazy’ - remember how detrimental that can be from our discussion with Glenn Whitman!

..* We don’t take timing seriously (8:43)
Phases of the day based on chronotype (9:53)

..* 15% are larks

..* 20% are owls

..* The rest of us are ‘third birds’

..* Pattern of the day (Twitter, Daniel Kahneman)

..* Peak → Trough → Recovery
“Our cognitive abilities don’t stay the same throughout the day.” (11:20)

..* Peak: Analytic work - most vigilant at this time

..* Trough: increase in medical errors, decrease in handwashing in hospitals, more car accidents: Administrative work - not a lot of brainpower

..* Recovery: High mood but less vigilant - time for Creative Work
Scheduling (14:45) - Not just a logistical issue, it’s a pedagogical issue and a strategic issue

..* Only criterion we use is availability (rooms & people) when we schedule anything - we should give more weight to the ‘when’

..* Time of day alone represents about 20% of variance in how someone performs on the job (15:50)

..* We’re intentional about the ‘what’ - the curriculum, the ‘who’ - who’s in the room, the ‘how’ - the pedagogy, but the ‘when’ takes a back seat, which is a big mistake.

..* Study of 2 million students in LAUSD - student performance in math in the morning vs. math in the afternoon

..* Corporate earnings calls - NYU study (19:07) - even led to temporary stock mispricing

..* Communicate important messages earlier in the day
Taking breaks (22:02)

..* Breaks are undervalued

..* Something is better than nothing - even if 1 to 2 minutes, better than nothing; breaks should be social, even for introverts; moving is better than stationary; outside is better than inside; fully detached is better than semi-detached

..* We look at recess as a concession - recess is part of what we need to learn!

..* Denmark - 20 to 30 min break before those standardized tests, scores went back up
Temporal Landmarks (24:48) - trigger an interesting form of mental accounting

..* Try using fresh start dates or temporal landmarks for when you want students to try something new
Suggestions for School: (27:20)

..* More breaks for teachers and students alike, analytical classes (literacy & numeracy) in the morning, move art / music to later in the day, pay more attention to how well things are working and adjust accordingly - test and reiterate

..* Increase our chances of being successful; not guarantees
Premortems - Gary Klein (30:53)

..* Make mistakes in your head and come up with solutions before you make those mistakes, e.g. ask students: AP test is in 6 months, you get a 1, what went wrong?
Group Synchronization (34:46) Oxford research on prosocial effects of synchronous play with children (boosts our mood, increased collaboration, more open to playing with kids who don’t look like them, open minded, generous, etc.)
Motivation (37:57)

..* Autonomy, Mastery, & Purpose - Genius Hour & self-directed projects, student-led conferences, solve problems in their local community
Homework from Daniel Pink (40:56)

..* Be a better observer of your own behavior - how are you doing at different times of day? Observe and act accordingly

..* Beginnings, middles & ends - importance of the end of the year
Danpink.com / danielpink.com / email newsletter
Takeaways (43:52)

..* Quiz on Daniel’s website to learn your own chronotype

..* Make the end of year powerful!