When. Daniel H. Pink

      

      Daniel H. Pink is the author of several books, including the New York Times bestselling Drive, To Sell is Human and A Whole New Mind. His books have been translated into 35 languages and have sold more than 2 million copies worldwide. He lives in Washington D.C. with his wife and children. danpink.com

      Also by Daniel H. Pink

       Free Agent Nation

       A Whole New Mind

       The Adventures of Johnny Bunko

       Drive

       To Sell Is Human

       When

       The SCIENTIFIC SECRETSof PERFECT TIMING

      Daniel H. Pink

      Published in Great Britain in 2018 by Canongate Books Ltd, 14 High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1TE

       canongate.co.uk

      This digital edition first published in 2017 by Canongate Books

      © Daniel H. Pink, 2018

      The moral right of the author has been asserted

      First published in 2018 by Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA)

      Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 100014, USA

      British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available on request from the British Library

      ISBN 978 1 78211 991 3

      Export ISBN 978 1 78211 989 0

      eISBN 978 1 78211 990 6

      CONTENTS

       Introduction: Captain Turner’s Decision

       PART ONE. THE DAY

       1. The Hidden Pattern of Everyday Life

       “Across continents and time zones, as predictable as the ocean tides, was the same daily oscillation—a peak, a trough, and a rebound.”

       2. Afternoons and Coffee Spoons: The Power of Breaks, the Promise of Lunch, and the Case for a Modern Siesta

       “A growing body of science makes it clear: Breaks are not a sign of sloth but a sign of strength.”

       PART TWO. BEGINNINGS, ENDINGS, AND IN BETWEEN

       3. Beginnings: Starting Right, Starting Again, and Starting Together

       “Most of us have harbored a sense that beginnings are significant. Now the science of timing has shown that they’re even more powerful than we suspected. Beginnings stay with us far longer than we know; their effects linger to the end.”

       4. Midpoints: What Hanukkah Candles and Midlife Malaise Can Teach Us About Motivation

       “When we reach a midpoint, sometimes we slump, but other times we jump. A mental siren alerts us that we’ve squandered half of our time.”

       5. Endings: Marathons, Chocolates, and the Power of Poignancy

       “Yet, when endings become salient—whenever we enter an act three of any kind—we sharpen our existential red pencils and scratch out anyone or anything nonessential.”

       PART THREE. SYNCHING AND THINKING

       6. Synching Fast and Slow: The Secrets of Group Timing

       “Synchronizing makes us feel good—and feeling good helps a group’s wheels turn more smoothly. Coordinating with others also makes us do good—and doing good enhances synchronization.”

       7. Thinking in Tenses: A Few Final Words

       “Most of the world’s languages mark verbs with time using tenses— especially past, present, and future—to convey meaning and reveal thinking. Nearly every phrase we utter is tinged with time.”

       Further Reading

       Acknowledgments

       Notes

       Index

      Time isn’t the main thing. It’s the only thing.

      —MILES DAVIS

      INTRODUCTION:

      CAPTAIN TURNER’S DECISION

      Half past noon on Saturday, May 1, 1915, a luxury ocean liner pulled away from Pier 54 on the Manhattan side of the Hudson River and set off for Liverpool, England. Some of the 1,959 passengers and crew aboard the enormous British ship no doubt felt a bit queasy—though less from the tides than from the times.

      Great Britain was at war with Germany, World War I having broken out the previous summer. Germany had recently declared the waters adjacent to the British Isles, through which this ship had to pass, a war zone. In the weeks before the scheduled departure, the German embassy in the United States even placed ads in American newspapers warning prospective passengers that those who entered those waters “on ships of Great Britain or her allies do so at their own risk.”¹

      Yet only a few passengers canceled their trips. After all, this liner had made more than two hundred transatlantic crossings without incident. It was one of the largest and fastest passenger ships in the world, equipped with a wireless telegraph and well stocked with lifeboats (thanks in part to lessons from the Titanic, which had gone down three years earlier). And, perhaps most important, in charge of the ship was Captain William Thomas Turner, one of the most seasoned seamen in the industry—a gruff fifty-eight-year-old with a career full of accolades and “the physique of a bank safe.”²

      The ship traversed the Atlantic Ocean for five uneventful days. But on May 6, as the hulking vessel pushed toward the coast of Ireland, Turner received word that German submarines, or U-boats, were roaming the area. He soon left the captain’s deck and stationed himself on the bridge in order to scan the horizon and be ready to make swift decisions.

      On Friday morning, May 7, with the liner now just one hundred miles from the coast, a thick fog settled in, so Turner reduced the ship’s speed from twenty-one knots to fifteen knots. By noon, though, the fog had lifted, and Turner could spy the shoreline in the distance. The skies were clear. The seas were calm.

      However,