Notes on time management

This book was recommended by my friend Jing Ya and written by the famous Daniel Pinker. I have read two of his books: Driving Force (a masterpiece in the field of management) and New Thinking. Timing Management is his fourth book on 20 18. Through the analysis and scientific demonstration of timing, the author puts forward the principles and methods of timing management, aiming to help everyone work smarter and live better from the inside out.

This book is divided into three parts. The first part is "time management, people-oriented management", which mainly describes the types and tasks of time and the relationship with personal characteristics; The second part is three points that must be paid attention to in actual management, namely, starting point effect, midway effect and peak-tail effect; The third part is group opportunities, that is, the principles and methods of individual and others, team cooperation.

At first, the author found through the investigation and analysis of Cornell University sociologists that people's emotions during non-sleep time follow a very fixed pattern, that is to say, no matter in which continent or time zone, people's emotions change regularly every day, from peak to trough and then back to peak. That is, positive emotions are most active in the morning, decline in the afternoon and rise again in the evening.

In the process of people's thinking and reasoning, it is also significantly influenced by timing. The mental acuity on which rational evaluation depends is higher in the morning, and the mental inertia and wrong cognition that lead to prejudice increase with the timeline of that day. One reason is that our brains are more alert in the morning. Usually our brains are on alert in the morning, and the brain can effectively eliminate the interference of information that is not helpful for solving problems. But as time goes on, the brain will feel tired, so alertness and brain energy will rise in the morning, peak at noon and plummet in the afternoon.

But for some "epiphany problems", that is, when faced with problems that don't need much analysis or logical reasoning, if the energy level of human brain is not in the best state, the innovation ability and creativity are the richest at this moment.

In other words, the human brain follows the dual-ability model. Morning is the peak of brain power, and most people are good at solving analytical work, because this kind of work requires keenness, vigilance and high concentration. Later in the day, during emotional recovery, most people will be better at solving "insight problems" or innovative problems that require less attention.

Time type refers to the personal mode that determines the circadian rhythm of human body and mind. You can judge a person's time type in a simple way, think about the behavior that you don't need to get up at a fixed time on weekends, and then answer three questions: What time do you usually go to bed? When do you usually wake up? What is the midpoint between the two times, that is, what is the midpoint of your sleep? For example, if you usually go to bed at 1 1:30 at night and wake up at 7:30 in the morning, then the middle point of your sleep is 3:30 in the morning. The middle point of sleep is between 0: 00 and 3: 00 in the morning, which is called lark, accounting for 14% of the crowd. The middle point is between 3: 30 and 5: 30 in the morning, which is called the third bird, accounting for 65% of the population. The middle point is from 6: 00 a.m. to 6: 00 p.m. 12 p.m., which is called owl, accounting for 2 1% of the crowd. Now think about what kind of bird you are.

This section mainly introduces the content of "rest", which is divided into alert rest and restorative rest.

The so-called vigilance rest means that before a high-risk event happens, you should stop your actions and check all the instructions to prevent mistakes. Because no matter who's time type, afternoon time will affect our professional judgment and moral judgment, and vigilant rest can relax the control of our behavior in the trough. As the case of doctors in the University of Michigan proves, regular compulsory vigilance breaks at work will help us regain the attention needed for new recovery and complete the challenging work that must be completed in the afternoon.

The so-called restorative rest is to help us easily bypass the dangerous period. Many books have mentioned such a case. 20 1 1 Sociologists use the data of the Israeli Judicial Committee to study judicial decision-making. They found that, generally speaking, judges are more likely to make a good-faith ruling in the morning and grant prisoners parole than in the afternoon. In the early part of the day, the judge will make a ruling in favor of the prisoners, but as the morning goes on, this proportion begins to decline, and by late morning, their goodwill ruling is almost zero. That is to say, prisoners who open court at 9 am may be released on parole, while prisoners who open court at 1 1:45 have no chance of being released on parole, regardless of the facts of their cases. But after the first lunch break, the judge became more tolerant and willing to make a judgment different from the default ruling. No matter how to explain this phenomenon, an external factor unrelated to judicial decision-making, that is, whether and when the judge can adjourn the court, has become the key to determine whether the prisoner can be released on parole. So how should we have a restorative rest? This book provides five guiding principles.

Principle one, rest is more effective than no rest. One problem in the afternoon session is that if we stick to a task for too long, we will forget the goal we tried to achieve at first. This process is called habituation. In popular language, it means walking for too long and forgetting why I started. A short rest can prevent habituation, help us stay focused and reactivate our determination to achieve our goals, so regular rest is more effective than occasional rest.

Principle two, moving is more effective than sitting. Walking in the workplace can also increase people's initiative, improve people's attention and creativity.

Principle 3: Socialization is more effective than solitude, and solitude also helps to restore energy, especially for introverts. However, most studies on restorative rest show that when we are with others, especially when we are free to choose who we are with, we will show great energy. Studies in the workplace show that social breaks, such as talking with colleagues about things other than work, can reduce stress and improve mood more effectively than some cognitive breaks, such as answering emails or taking nutritional breaks, that is, eating snacks.

Principle 4: Walking outdoors is more effective than staying indoors. The rest method close to nature can make us get the most benefit. People who walk outdoors will recover their emotions faster and have more energy than those who walk indoors.

Principle five, it is more effective to completely empty than to think about it a thousand times. Most people don't have the ability to multitask in parallel, such as reading WeChat or friends circle, or discussing work with colleagues, which is a wrong rest. That's why we all say that outdoor running or meditation, even for five minutes, is one of the most effective ways to rest.

In addition to restorative rest and alertness rest, the other two ways of rest are also worth considering.

The most helpful lunch break has two key elements: autonomy and separation. Autonomy: having some control over what to do, how to do it, when to do it and who to do it, which is very important for high performance, especially for complex tasks. Disengagement: Psychologically and physically, it is also very important to get rid of work completely at lunch time. During lunch break, if you are still concentrating on your work or playing social networks on your mobile phone, it is likely to aggravate your fatigue.

Take a nap. Napping has two main benefits: it can improve cognitive ability and promote physical and mental health. Napping can not only improve the alertness of the brain, but also improve the learning ability of the brain. An efficient and ideal nap time is usually 10 to 20 minutes. Studies in Australia show that a five-minute nap can hardly reduce fatigue and increase vitality, but a 10 minute nap can produce a positive effect lasting nearly three hours. But once it lasts for about 20 minutes, our bodies and brains will start to pay the price. This price is called sleep inertia, which is the feeling of confusion and confusion when we wake up. This groggy feeling will affect people's ability to make correct judgments. So a long nap will make people fall into sleep inertia, but a short nap of 10 to 20 minutes will have a positive impact on people's cognitive function.

In a word, time science has affirmed the old wisdom that we should give ourselves a rest. Rest is not a symbol of laziness, but a symbol of strength.

The starting point plays a very important role in the whole development process and always affects the end point. Although we are not always sure when to start, we can exert influence on its points and reverse the influence of bad results to a great extent. No matter what you do, you should make full use of the power of the starting point and strive for a good start. If we fail, we can try to start over. If the beginning is beyond our control, we can let others join in and work together. These are the three principles of a successful start: a correct start; Start over; Start together.

1, the right start, when is important. According to a survey of 30,000 students in some schools in the United States, it is beneficial to junior high school students, senior high school students and even college students to postpone class time. They do better in class and in many aspects of life. Delaying class time can strengthen learning motivation, improve mental health and reduce depression and impulsive behavior.

2. Start over and use the time stamp. On the first day of the year, sociologists call it "time landmark", just as human beings rely on geographical landmarks to find their way in space, and people use time landmarks to navigate in time. For example, in the United States, on the New Year's Day of 65438+ 10/,the search volume of the keyword "diet" always soared, about 80% more than usual. At the beginning of the new semester, the attendance rate of college students' gyms increased by 47%. At the beginning of the new week, it increased by 33%. People usually use two kinds of time markers to help people achieve a new beginning. One is social time landmarks, such as every Monday, the first day of every month, or 1 in the New Year. Another kind is personal time landmark, such as birthday, the first day after graduation, or the first day of a new school. We see the psychological mechanism behind the behavior, the starting point effect, so that we can use this skill consciously and purposefully every day.

3, start together, personal problems can be solved collectively. Economist Kahn found that the time when people start their first job largely determines their future direction and achievements. People who enter the job market during the recession earn less than those who start working when the economy is strong, and this disadvantage will not disappear, it will accompany people for 20 years. Because if the economy is depressed, it is difficult for people to increase their wages by job hopping, and enterprises have not recruited or continued to develop, which means that people who enter the labor market during the economic downturn often stay in jobs that do not match their skills for a long time. This example shows that in any dynamic system, the initial conditions will have a great influence on the subsequent experiences of the members in the system. This part will not be introduced too much, because it involves the influence and strength of society, organization or team.

Halfway effect refers to the negative influence on the target behavior due to the interaction of psychological factors and environmental factors when the incentive process is halfway through.

Our life rarely follows a clear straight path. We often remember clear beginning and end segments, but the impression in the middle is always vague. But time science shows that the middle point has a great influence on what we do and how to do it. Sometimes we get stuck in the middle point of a project or a thing, which will ruin our interest, delay our progress and erase our motivation. Sometimes the middle point will inspire and stimulate us, reawaken our motivation and push us forward at full speed.

1. At first, the author analyzed the concept of "middle-aged crisis", and a large number of studies in social economy, demography and other fields have reached the same conclusion: people's happiness rises rapidly from childhood to their thirties and forties, and falls into a trough around 50 years old, but people will recover from the decline of happiness soon after that, and the happiness in their later years often exceeds adolescence. Why is this middle point depressing? One explanation may be that people are full of confidence in the future in their twenties and thirties, and then they are gradually wiped out by a series of blows from reality. Another interesting explanation is that from the researchers' experiments on chimpanzees, it is found that the "middle-aged low tide" may be more a biological phenomenon than a sociological phenomenon, an unchangeable natural law, rather than people's selective response to the environment.

At the same time, the author puts forward the concept of "U-shaped pattern", that is, midpoint relaxation. In the mid-term, we relaxed our standards, perhaps because others also relaxed their requirements. At the middle point, for some uncertain but important reasons, we began to take shortcuts and cut corners. If middle-aged low tide or middle-aged low tide is inevitable, then as long as we know its existence, we can also alleviate some of our psychological discomfort. If we can realize that our standards or behaviors may be relaxed at the middle point, it may help us to make corresponding behavioral adjustments consciously to alleviate the consequences of this relaxation.

When we reach a certain intermediate point, sometimes we will be depressed and sometimes we will be excited. At this time, there seems to be an alarm in our minds to remind us that we are wasting time. This new sense of urgency and healthy pressure will activate the motivation of team members and change our action strategy. It will accelerate our progress and ignite the spark of our new hope. So the middle point is not only an objective fact in life, but also a natural force. There are three steps to turn failure into spark and motivation for progress:

First of all, we should be aware of the existence of the middle point and see it; Second, use the midpoint to remind yourself, instead of giving up, to make yourself nervous and urgent again, instead of being discouraged; Third, stand in the middle and think about where you are lagging behind, but don't get caught up in thinking too much. This will stimulate our motivation and may help us achieve our ultimate goal and win success.

The destination is quietly guiding us to do what and how. In fact, all kinds of life experiences, work items and the end of life stages affect our behavior in four predictable ways: activation, coding, editing and sublimation.

1. Activation: When we begin to pursue a certain goal, our motivation is mainly the degree of progress, but when we approach the finish line, we rely on efforts to narrow the remaining gap to enhance our vitality. With the activation of the finish line, the deadline has become an effective means to motivate us to take more urgent action. Through the analysis of marathon participants, the author can see that the possibility of running a marathon at the age of 29 is twice that of people at the age of 28 or 30. Negotiators with a deadline are more likely to reach an agreement than negotiators without a deadline, and the time to finalize an agreement is mostly when the deadline is approaching.

2. Coding: The fast completion effect means that we will work harder and harder as we approach the finish line. The end point helps us to code, that is, to evaluate and record the experience of the whole event in the brain. Many books have put forward the "law of summit". I believe many friends also know that after experiencing something, all you can remember is the experience at the peak and end of the process, and the proportion or length of good and bad experiences in the process has little influence on this memory. We played down the duration of an event, and then magnified what happened last. The coding ability of destination affects our view of things and subsequent decisions. For example, we usually judge whether things are good or bad, not according to the experience of the whole process, but according to certain moments, especially the final feelings. For example, when Americans elect a president, voters are mainly based on the economic situation in the election year, that is, the economic situation at the end of the current presidency, rather than the overall performance of the elected person; This practice will lead to short-sighted voting and eventually short-sighted policies. The end point helps us to code the experience, that is, to define the evaluation and recall the experience, but it will distort our point of view and not see the overall situation clearly. Among the four ways that affect our behavior, coding is the one that needs the most vigilance.

3. Editor: Stanford University researchers put forward the theory of social emotional selectivity. Our view of time determines the direction and goal of our life. When time is abundant and there is no end in sight, we will face the future and pursue knowledge-based goals. We will weave a broad and broad social network, hoping that this interpersonal network can help us collect information and establish a beneficial relationship in the future. But when time becomes scarce and limited, we will adjust the present and pursue different goals, such as emotion, satisfaction, enjoyment of life, sense of meaning and so on. These goals will make us very picky when choosing social partners, and urge us to systematically polish our personal network. At this time, we will start editing social relationships and ignore some less important people. We choose to spend the rest of our lives and years with a small number of people who are close to us, and choose those who can meet our higher needs and expectations.

Sublimation: We are often asked a question: I have two pieces of news, good news and bad news, which do you want to hear first? 80% people will choose to listen to the bad news first. Chronology science has found that people seem to have a natural preference for happy endings. We like time to go up instead of down, and we hope the situation will continue to improve instead of getting worse. But in the traditional sense, the best ending is not always happy. As we often see in movies, the protagonist finally achieves his goals, only to find that these goals are not what he really needs. Researchers have found that the core of those meaningful endings is the most complex emotions that human beings have experienced, such as bitterness, which is a mixture of happiness and sadness. For example, for graduates and everyone, the most beautiful ending makes them feel bitter, because bitterness conveys important significance. They will create things that enrich our hearts. A sudden inspiration, or a moment of surpassing oneself, finally gets what you really need by giving up what you originally wanted. The conclusion and destination reveal some of the most essential things of our existence. In the end, we are looking for the meaning of life.

Our ability to survive and even live depends on our ability to cooperate with others all the time. The last part of this book describes the ability of group cooperation and synchronization, and the three principles of group timing that need to be followed for successful group synchronization. In other words, the team must keep synchronization at three levels: synchronization with the boss, synchronization with the team, and synchronization with the heart.

Principle 1: external standards determine speed. A sense of rhythm, synchronized with the boss. The first principle of group timing management is that a boss or someone else, such as a customer, should decide the speed of the group on or off the team, maintain the standard and let everyone concentrate.

Principle 2: A sense of belonging is conducive to personal cohesion. Sense of belonging, synchronized with the group. The second principle of group timing management is that individuals should be synchronized with the boss who decides the pace of work, and also with the team, that is, members should be synchronized with each other. The sense of belonging profoundly affects people's thoughts and emotions. Lack of sense of belonging will bring negative effects, while sense of belonging will bring personal health, team health and satisfaction.

Principle 3: The improvement of happiness is both the requirement and the result of synchronization. Sense of meaning and spiritual synchronization-this is the third principle of group timing management. The sense of synchronization makes us feel good, which helps the wheels of the team turn more smoothly. Being synchronized with others will make us think of others and enhance the group synchronization. Synchronization enlarges our openness to outsiders and makes us more likely to participate in "pro-social" behaviors. That is to say, synchronization makes us better people, and better people in turn make us better synchronizers. A common mission can help us synchronize and trigger another virtuous circle. Living in harmony with others can make us more kind.

With Daniel Pinker's original words as the conclusion, I personally feel particularly resonant: