In the excellent book ‘When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing‘, Daniel Pink investigates the importance of Timing in what happens in our lives.
The take of the book is that “Timing , we believe , is an art. I will show that timing is really a science — an emerging body of multifaceted , multidisciplinary research that offers fresh insights into the human condition and useful guidance on working smarter and living better.”
The book covers timing issues at different time scales: day, week, month, year and even decades. It shows that certain timing issues can be predicted, linked to our physiology. Some others can be predicted thanks to our psychology (for example, “Negotiators with a deadline are far more likely to reach an agreement than those without a deadline — and that agreement comes disproportionately at the very end of the allotted time“.
I was a bit frustrated by the fact that the role of luck in timing was not sufficiently developed when it comes to the timing of single events of major importance in our lives. However the guidance given on the part of timing we can control – when best to take decisions, learn, be creative makes it a worthwhile read.
