When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing

by Daniel H. Pink

The answer goes back to those sentries guarding our cognitive castle. For most of us, mornings are when those guards are on alert, ready to repel any invaders. Such vigilance—often called “inhibitory control”—helps our brains to solve analytic problems by keeping out distractions.22 But insight problems are different. They require less vigilance and fewer inhibitions. That “flash of illuminance” is more likely to occur when the guards are gone. At those looser moments, a few distractions can help us spot connections we might have missed when our filters were tighter. For analytic problems, lack of inhibitory control is a bug. For insight problems, it’s a feature. Some have called this phenomenon the “inspiration paradox”—the idea that “innovation and creativity are greatest when we are not at our best, at least with respect to our circadian rhythms.”

Lots of advice from so-called time management experts tell people to do their “most important” work in the morning. But that’s not what the science says. The science says the best time to do something depends on what it is you’re doing. For many tasks, being mentally loose and somewhat unfocused – which, for many of us, occurs in the late afternoon and early evenings – can be a huge advantage.