Picture this: It’s 3pm in the afternoon, and you walk into the discussion room to do one of the biggest presentations in your career. One you have toiled on for months on end, one that will intrinsically determine your value at work.
Halfway through, you start to feel the slides just staring back at you. All that conviction and enthusiasm you have mentally prepared for is starting to creep away from the cortex of your brain, as you try to clamp down that mid-presentation yawn and fumble through that image with a lot of bars.
Then someone kicks in a question from the back of the room, one you did not prepare for. That’s it; your mind goes blank. Knees weak, palms are sweaty.
“Why?” You ask yourself after the presentation. “It wasn’t like this when I rehearsed this presentation with Gary yesterday morning! And that was such a simple question!”
You Caught Me At The Wrong Time
The problem in that scenario was that it was rehearsed well yesterday morning but bombed this afternoon.
Because it wasn’t the correct time.
It wasn’t your correct time.
And that’s what this book is about: the best time to do anything….according to your chronotype.
In the book “The Power Of When” by The Sleep Doctor, Dr Michael Breus, he states that “every person has a master biological clock” … “but not every person’s biological clocks keeps the same time”.
He argues that it is mainly due to technological advances; since forever, our ancestors have hunted, gathered, and rested in bio-time synced with the sun. However, the invention of the light bulb allowed us to break away from the sun’s patterns (the solar cycle). Advances in transportation have also allowed us to travel multiple timezones in a short amount of time, leaving bio-time lagging behind.
What’s Your Chronotype?
In his book, he talks about 4 groups of chronotypes, and it starts with a quiz for you to determine which one you are (it’s also possible to a be mixture):
- Dolphins: The people with low sleep drive, the light sleepers, the insomniacs. About 10% of the population are dolphins.
- Lions: The early risers that are optimal in the morning, but sleep early. About 15–20% are lions.
- Bears: The people who go with the flow, and are chronologically synced to a 9 to 5 job. About 50% are bears.
- Wolves: The people (like me) who come alive at night, the polar opposite of lions. About 15–20% are wolves.
Dolphins
In general, they are light sleepers with frequent insomnia tendencies, which makes them easy to identify.
Key Personality Traits:
- Cautiousness
- Introversion
- Neuroticism
- Intelligence
Sleep/Alertness Pattern
- Light sleepers
- Wake up feeling unrefreshed, and feels tired till the evening
- Most alert late at night
- Most productive in spurts throughout the day
- Tries to nap, but cannot
Other Observations
- Low energy in the morning, hyperactive brain activity at night
- Eat-to-live types with high metabolism
Lions
My best description of lions are the people that wake up at 4am for a run, have a shower and a good breakfast, go to work (being the first person to reach the office), and have already replied to all emails and messages by the time I wake up. Basically everything I’m not. Also, most of the CEOs in multi-million dollar companies are lions, as evident in the vast amounts of articles about their morning habits.
Key Personality Traits
- Conscientiousness
- Stability
- Practicality
- Optimism
Sleep/Alertness Pattern
- Wake up bright eyed before dawn, tired during late afternoon
- Most alert during noon
- Most productive in the morning
- Finds napping a waste of time
Other Observations
- Unlikely to stay out late
- Overachievers, workaholic tendencies
- Prioritises health, so less likely to indulge in junk food
Bears
It’s no surprise that bears make up the majority of the population, because they are the closest to being in sync with the solar cycle. This also means that their body is more tuned to the working class of 9 to 5, and are usually the people person. Also, bears are natural grazers, which explains the midday snacking and food stealing that’s happening in your office!
Key Personality Traits
- Cautiousness
- Extroversion
- Friendly
- Open Minded
Sleep/Alertness Pattern
- Wakes up in a daze
- Most alert during mid mornings to afternoons
- Most productive during late mornings
- Needs naps to boost themselves
Other Observations
- Sleep patterns match with solar cycle
- Will eat if there is food available
- Good people skills
Wolves
Ah, the lovely bunch. Wolves are the most out of sync with the solar cycle. They also find the hard to fit with the socially accepted schedule, because they simply don’t peak during the same time frame as most of the others.
Key Personality Traits
- Impulsivity
- Pessimism
- Creativity
- Moodiness
Sleep/Alertness Pattern
- Has difficulty waking up before 9am
- Most alert from evening onwards
- Most productive during late mornings and late evenings
- Cannot sleep at night if they nap
Other Observations
- Comes alive after the sun goes down
- Tendency towards high fat, high sugar food
- More likely to take risks
The Perfect Day In The Life of A [Chronotype]
The next 4 chapters are my favourite parts of the book, because it puts the chronotypes into a concrete form, instead of just an abstract idea to follow for the rest of the book. In these chapters, he brings forward some case studies, traits, and most importantly, an hourly breakdown of what each of the chronotypes are usually doing (typical) and what they should be doing (optimal), along with how to change to these optimal habits.
I don’t know about the other chronotypes, but man the wolf’s typical daily schedule sounds like me!
The Best Time To…
The remaining chunk of the book is dedicated to a wide array of daily topics, about when is the best time for each activity, for each chronotype. There are a total of 50 topics in 8 categories, which is definitely extensive enough to work on changing and optimising your daily habits.
Categories range from individual activities such as fitness, sleep, food, to activities that have to do with other people, such as work and relationships. In the latter cases, taking note of the other party’s chronotype is also essential to get optimal results! I mean, you wouldn’t want to ask your boss for a raise when they’re at the optimal time to say no, would you?
As for the specific topics, they include the best time wake up, go for a run, have coffee (yes caffeine kicks in differently for different chronotypes), snack, make deals, brainstorm, interview for a job, call a friend, and even fighting with your partner or having sex. Sometimes there’s even a chronotype-to-chronotype matching table for reference!
And My Review…
This is one of the few books I found really hard to put down. It opened my eyes to another way of thinking about productivity, and allowed me to be more conscious about when I’m peaking, and when I can’t do anything.
That in turn allowed me to re-arrange my tasks, which of course made me more productive! I also discovered that I’m part wolf, and surprise surprise, part lion.
Mainly a wolf, because my productivity peaks from 10pm to 2am, and I can crunch into 5am if need be. My second peak is the first 2 to 3 hours after I wake up, be it 8am or 11am, which is very un-wolfy. Of course I would still prefer to wake up late if I could!
So, the best balance for me is to start my day with more detail-oriented tasks, churning data, and making tough decisions. By the afternoon, as my energy levels dip, I’d catch up on my reading, think about bigger picture stuff such as long-term plans, or ponder over creativity related issues. The last spike in the day will go to drafting proposals or thoughts from my dip period, or to tie up the loose ends to end the day.
The biggest downside of this is dinnertime. During the period most commonly reserved for running errands, catching up with friends, or just going out to have a good time in general, I power down and sometimes go into a daze. But I guess the good thing is, I can now explain my yawning with this book, or even introduce this idea to keep the conversation going!
All in all, I recommend The Power of When as another way view your to-do lists, and how you plan your day. Sure, sometimes it’s not up to us to decide exactly what we can do at any given time, but for the ones that we can, I find this really impactful. Timing is truly an important factor of opportunities.
