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Personal Productivity

Life-Hack Your Day

Published by O'Reilly Media, Inc.

Beginner content levelBeginner

Understanding chronobiology and its link to your productivity

All humans—and virtually all animals—have an internal clock with attendant “best” and “worst” times to do various tasks. Decades of research have found circadian rhythms in all cultures and posit three main chronotypes, depending on when a person starts their day. Evidence suggests that trying to do things at the wrong time for your circadian rhythm can be harmful, both within a company and in life generally.

Join Connie Missimer to discover your own chronotype so that you can figure out what time of day to do certain tasks for the best results. While knowing your chronotype is useful for overall life-hacking, you’ll also learn how to apply these findings in the workplace.

What you’ll learn and how you can apply it

By the end of this live online course, you’ll understand:

  • That “when” is as important as “how” or “what” a person does
  • That we’re wrong in assuming we can keep the same level of skill and attention all day, as borne out by evidence
  • That there’s a close correlation between alertness and emotional valence
  • That there are certain times of day when it’s a poor idea to judge others (for a job or for a performance review, for example)

And you’ll be able to:

  • Learn your chronotype for overall life-hacking
  • Apply these new findings in the workplace
  • Understand the importance of breaks during the workday

This live event is for you because...

  • You’re an executive or senior leader in any area of your company, and you’re looking for ways to improve worker productivity and well-being that are science based.
  • You’re a manager or individual contributor in any area of your company and want to make the most of the limited hours in a day.
  • You’re head of a growing company, and you need to know how to ensure high morale within your workforce.

Prerequisites

Recommended preparation:

  • Please write answers to the following questions: The night before a “free” day (not a workday), when do you usually go to bed? And when do you usually get up the next day?

Recommended follow-up:

Schedule

The time frames are only estimates and may vary according to how the class is progressing.

Introduction (10 minutes)

  • Presentation and group discussion: Chronobiology defined; a bit of history—the procrastinating astronomer hides a plant and makes a surprising discovery

The evidence (20 minutes)

  • Presentation and group discussion: Evidence for this phenomenon

Determining your chronotype (20 minutes)

  • Presentation and group discussion: The chronotypes—Early Bird, Owl, and Third Bird; calculating your chronotype; what percentage of the population is each type; implications for the workplace and life generally
  • Break (10 minutes)

How to have (the best shot at) a great day (25 minutes)

  • Presentation, hands-on exercises and group discussion: Approaches to help you have a great day—morning, afternoon, and evening

How to give others a good day (25 minutes)

  • Presentation and group discussion: Approaches for giving others a good day

Wrap-up and Q&A (10 minutes)

  • Presentation and group discussion: What findings on chronobiology mean for us and our company; ways to bring this understanding to the workplace

Your Instructor

  • Connie Missimer

    Connie Missimer is a philosopher and expert in critical thinking. Her book Good Arguments: An Introduction to Critical Thinking, which offers the basics of analyzing theories and arguments, is now in its fourth edition. She’s been influential in the critical thinking community for articles on her empirically based theory and has conducted workshops both nationally and internationally. She worked at Microsoft and then at AT&T, where she advised Samsung, Microsoft, and Google on making their products more user-friendly, and she holds over a dozen patents. Connie is fascinated by empirical findings—especially the counterintuitive ones—relating to daily work and is the author of Critical Thinking at Work: Does Your Company Pound or Flex? She has enjoyed the privilege of giving workshops on the O’Reilly learning platform for the past four years.

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