Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Book Review: When: the Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing

Since I stopped playing Spider Solitaire at the beginning of June, my reading as sky-rocketed. Plus, I've been traveling and books make the very best traveling companions.




I read Daniel Pink's When: the Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing because a friend recommended it. To be honest, it took me a while to get into it. Mostly because I wasn't sure I agreed with his premise. Timing isn't everything. No one wants to believe it or admit it, but in the game of life LUCK is huge. 

The prophet in Ecclesiastes says it best:
I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. Ecclesiastes 9:11 

But then I realized even the prophet made a reference to time, and my attitude shifted. Here's a few key points that made me stop and think:

We're smarter, faster, dimmer, slower, more creative, and less creative in some parts of the day than others.

In our naive twenties and thirties, our hopes are high, our scenarios rosy. Then reality trickles in like a slow leak in the roof...Yet we don't remain in the emotional basement for long because over time we adjust our aspirations and later realize that life is pretty good.

Like beginnings and mid-points, endings quietly steer what we do and how we do it. Indeed, endings of all kinds...shape our behavior in four predictable ways. They energize us, help us encode, edit and elevate.

A life of meaning and significance isn't to live in the present, it is to integrate our perspectives on time into a coherent whole, one that helps us comprehend who we are and why we're here.

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