How to Life-Hack Your Day—

Understanding Chronobiology and Its Link to

Your Productivity

Connie Missimer
Critical Thinking at Work
For O’Reilly Media
Agenda
First Hour
• Chronobiology defined
• Evidence for it
• How to leverage your circadian rhythms
• Group chat and exercises
• Break
Second Hour
• How to give others a good day
• Your lifetime rhythms
• Group chat and exercises
• Summary

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

Poll question
You call to schedule surgery on your foot. You are told that
there are two openings: One at 8AM and the other at 2PM.
Which appointment would you take?

a) 8AM
b) Late afternoon
c) It would depend on what I else I had scheduled that day

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

Actually, it would matter
• Go for the morning appointment!
• The same person is “not the same” throughout the day
• 30% more mistakes by a given person made in the afternoon
• Keep in mind that if a person makes 1 mistake in 10,000 procedures,
that’s a small increase. Still...
• We tend not to appreciate this!
• OK, let’s back up a bit to tell the whole story

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

The guy goofing off, and the plant
• 18th century– sensitive plant
opened and shut in the dark!
• “Historically productive
procrastination”
• The light isn’t opening and
shutting the plant.
• What is doing that?

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

Fast forward to this century
Suprachiasmatic nucleus “master clock”
• You have a “master biological
clock” in your brain (20k
neurons in your hypothalamus)
• This “master” clock produces
circadian rhythms and regulates
their timing
• The SCN controls clocks found in
every tissue and organ!
Courtesy National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

Without sun, will we do what the plant did?

In a word, yes Without light, we still wake up

• Experiments in which people
spent over a week with no way to
tell time
• 7 of them in isolation
• 2 groups of 4
• Their behavior indicated a “day”
between 24-27 hours.
The circadian rhythms of human subjects without
timepieces or indication of the alternation of day and
night

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

Your internal clock gets adjusted by daylight

Suprachiasmatic nucleus controls Circadian rhythms

• In total darkness, our “clock”
would slowly go out of whack
• Light sets it to daylight hours
• Driven by evolution
• A day is a “cosmological thing”
vs. a week
• Humans around the world all
exhibit this and other general
rhythms
Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021
Summing Up
• We have an internal rhythm—biological “clock” that
works without light
• But light adjusts our SCM clock (suprachiasmatic
nucleus) to a 24-hour period
• A day is a cosmological “thing”
• Humans around the world all exhibit this general
rhythm
• Chronobiology is the study of these internal rhythms

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

Poll Question: You’re going to Mars for a year and
learn that a day there is 25 hours. What would you
expect there?
a) You will have trouble sleeping because there are no plants
b) Your SCN “clock” will be very confused
c) The day cycle on Mars will adjust your SCN “clock”
d) Your SCN will gradually get you out of synch and you’ll be up at
night on Mars for part of the time

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

 You’re going to Mars for a year and learn that a
day there is 25 hours. What would you expect
there? Check all that apply.
a) You will have trouble sleeping because there are no plants
b) Your SCN “clock” will be very confused
c) The day cycle on Mars should adjust your SCN “clock”
since it’s so close to Earth’s 24-hour day
d) Your SCN will gradually get you out of synch and you’ll be up at
night on Mars for part of the time

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

Poll: What is a week? Just check “all” or
“none” if you think that’s the case
a) An arbitrary marker of time
b) A cosmological “thing” or phenomenon
c) A unit of time
d) All of the above
e) None of the above

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

What is a week?
a) An arbitrary marker of time
b) A cosmological “thing” or phenomenon
c) A unit of time
d) All of the above
e) None of the above

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

Humanity’s alertness rhythm
• You get up not so alert
• Throughout the next few hours
alertness increases until it hits a
peak
• Often that’s noontime
• Then you become less alert in the
afternoon
• Followed by increasing alertness in
the evening
• I’m being vague about the times
for a reason...

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

Evidence of tie between alertness and affect
• Massive Twitter harvest
• 500m tweets, 2.4m people, 84
countries, 2 years
• Text analysis program LIWC
• People make happier entries in the
morning– enthusiasm, confidence
• Unhappier in the afternoon—
anger, lethargy, guilt
• Then get happier, more energetic
again in the evening
• Emotion maps to alertness, energy
• Cross-cultural effect

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

It gets even more interesting
• People worldwide have one of three chronotypes
• Larks
• Owls
• Third Birds
• Your chronotype depends on when you naturally go to bed and wake
up
• Why are there different chronotypes?
• Perhaps for evolutionary reasons: Early humans needed some people
to stand guard!

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

Use the worksheet to figure out your chronotype
• Figure out the answers to the
three questions on p.1
• Please alert me in group chat if
you are confused!
• I can help you during the break if
need be

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

Which bird are you?

• If mid-point between 3:30

and 5:30AM, you’re a “third
bird”
• 65% are third birds
• ~15% larks
• ~20% owls
• Data from across decades
and continents

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

Poll – What “bird” (chronotype) are you?
a) Lark
b) Third bird
c) Owl

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

Owls have more challenges
Best time to do these things, depending on your chronotype
Lark Third Bird Owl
Analytic tasks Early morning Early to midmorning Afternoon

Decisions Early morning Early to midmorning Evening

Low impact tasks Afternoon Afternoon Evening

Nap/break Afternoon Afternoon Evening

Remember: Your emotions are positive earlier in your day

Your mind is keener earlier in your day

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

Three Exercises
1. Pretend you’re an owl (or just be yourself if you are one). Assuming
you are surrounded by third birds and larks, what misunderstandings
might they have about you?

2. Can you think of any ways larks and third birds might work with you
better?

3. Do you think it’s up to the owl or up to the corporation to be

accommodating to owls (~20% of us)?

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

 Evidence for our variable emotions, cont.
• Day Reconstruction Method (DRM)
• 900 US women, mix of race, income,
age
• Describe “episodes” in day
• Choose from list, e.g., “happy,
frustrated, enjoying myself”
• Same pattern of positive affect
• Climbs in the morning to noon peak
• Afternoon, falls and stays and low
(frustrated, worried, hassled)
• Climbs again in the early evening
Daniel Kahneman, Alan Kreuger et al.

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

 Evidence that this affects businesses
• Stock Quarterly Earnings Reports (!?)
• Conference call to investors, reporters, stock
analysts
• Revenue, expenses from previous quarter
• Questions by analysts
• Study analyzing 26k earnings calls
• 2100 public companies
• 6.5 years
• Morning calls upbeat, afternoons negative,
irritable, combative
• This influenced stock price!
• Indicates “a...pervasive phenomenon of diurnal
rhythms influencing corporate
communications, decision-making and
performance across all employee ranks and
business[es] throughout the economy.”

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

Ponder this
“A...pervasive phenomenon of diurnal rhythms influencing corporate
communications, decision-making and performance across all
employee ranks and business[es] throughout the economy.”

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

Or, more colorfully....
“But vigilance [alertness, close attention] has its limits. After standing
watch hour after hour without a break, our mental guards grow tired.
They sneak outside for a smoke or a pee break. And when they’re
gone, interlopers— sloppy logic, dangerous stereotypes, irrelevant
information— slip by.” Pink, p.23

Difference can be equivalent to drinking the legal limit

Happens largely below our attention

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

What to do/not to do in the afternoon
The slough of despond– and mistakes due to tiredness
Try not to
• Get a medical procedure (~30% greater risk of mistakes)
• Meet with your manager or with a report
• Decide on a candidate for a job (stereotyping is worse)
• Interview for a job (they are crankier in the afternoon and
you’re not at your best unless you’re an owl)
But do
• Non-critical administrative tasks
• Take a break to be more alert later in the afternoon (nappacino, anyone?)

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

Use p.2 of the worksheet to figure out your optimal
day
• Draft a schedule that is as
realistic as you can make it!
• Build in a nap(!) break half-hour
midway through your workday
• Please alert me in group chat if
you are confused!
• I can help you during our break if
need be

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

Exercise: Use Your Chronotype to Map Out
Your Typical Workday on Your Calendar
Best time to do these things based on your chronotype
Lark Third Bird Owl
Analytic tasks Early morning Early to midmorning Afternoon

Decisions/Thinking Early morning Early to midmorning Evening

Low impact tasks Afternoon Afternoon Evening

Nap/break Afternoon Afternoon Evening

Remember: Your emotions are positive earlier in your day

Your mind is keener earlier in your day

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

Exercise
Often, hiring a new candidate entails the candidate give presentations
or meet with teams throughout the day.

Knowing what you do about chronobiology and chronotypes, are there

any other ways a company could go about interviewing a prospective
hire?

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

Upshot: When is as critical as how!
Your Great Day
• Morning (when you get up)
• Analytical activities: Your upwards trajectory
• Meetings (if positive emotions)
• Build in “slack” non-meeting times to think
• Afternoon
• Take a break! Go for a walk!
• Take a nap even! Performance improves
• Do administrative tasks
• Evening
• More creative
• More alert for play or work

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

Speaking of breaks, break for 10 minutes!

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

Agenda
First Hour
• Chronobiology defined
• Evidence for it
• How to leverage your circadian
rhythms
Second Hour
• How to give others a good day
• Maximizing happiness
• Your lifetime rhythms
• Group chat and exercises
• Summary

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

We resume with a word from our
sponsor,
the stone-age brain

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

“We are feeling machines that
think, not thinking machines that
feel.” Antonio Damasio, The Feeling of What Happens

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

Did you know
• The brain sees others as “friend” or
“foe”
• Bi-modal
• Default is foe!
• The brain sees situations as “reward”
or “threat”
• Brain craves predictability, comfort
• You can change your reactions
• Label how you’re feeling
• Reframe (reappraisal); Mentally taxing
Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021
This data fits nicely with that about groups
and happiness*
Groups Happiness data 2020 (156 countries)
• Humans are “groupies” by nature • Personal and institutional trust
• People can be manipulated to form • Strong safety net
competing/hostile groups • Clean natural environment
• Foe “default” behavior can create • Having someone to count on
inadvertent enemies
• Need to broadcast friendly intent • Having a sense of freedom to make key
life decisions
• With effort, splintered groups can
reunite • Low inequality
• “Synchronizing with others feels good,
which deepens attachment and improves * Nothing about money or status, notice
synchronization further still.” Pink, p. 196

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

Dealing with fear/hostility costs the brain

“Laser brain” (dlpfc)

• Attention is fragile!
• If you’re anxious, your amygdala
will put up a racket in your pre-
frontal cortex- you’ll “tunnel”
• But surely that’s not such a big
deal at work?
• Why yes, yes it is

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

Partner for happiness “up” and “down”
• Your manager has a huge effect
on your happiness, even when
you’re not in the office
• For middle-aged workers,
difference in life satisfaction
between a partner-boss and a
boss-boss is “huge.”
• “Equivalent in life satisfaction...
to more than a doubling of Years of data from Gallup and others show that
household income.” happier employees are higher performers (employee
. engagement).
Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021
New Upshot: When and “Emotional How” Are Critical
Your and Your Colleagues’ Great Day
• Morning (when you get up)
• Analyticial activities
• Meet people as partners
• Happiness— relationships more than money, status
• Increases group cohesion
• You won’t suffer from anxiety
• Build in non-meeting times to think
• Afternoon
• Take a break! Go for a walk!
• Take a nap even! Performance improves
• Do administrative tasks
• Evening
• More alert for play or work, creativity

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

Human preferences over
time

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

Chronobiological data on endings
The last should be best

• People prefer a longer, more painful

situation that ends less painfully than a
shorter, less painful situation that ends
more painfully
• People value a shorter life that ends on
an upswing more than a longer life that
ends on a downswing.
• Savoring that last chocolate
• Good news/bad news– end with the
good news

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

Poll question
Do you think you would have judged that last chocolate as more tasty if
you had been in that experiment?

a) Yes
b) No
c) Not sure

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

Exercises
We seem to prefer less pain at the end even if it would entail more pain
(maybe even a lot more pain) beforehand.
Did that surprise you?

Can you think of life events, or fictional examples that demonstrate this
finding?

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

Chronobiological data on life trajectory
• Age predicts feelings of well-
being
• People in middle years
• Most liable to professional stress
• And raising family, helping parents
• But notice how it gets better!

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

Exercise
• Psychologists are investigating
changes due to Covid in
reported well-being
• Do you think that Covid might
change this curve?
• If so, in what way?
• Do you think it’s more likely to
go back to this distribution post-
Covid?

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

Summary
• Chronobiology: We have an internal
clock with better/worse times for
activities. Applying this info will make
us happier and more productive.
• Others: We can use chronobiology and
other data, such as that on happiness,
to help everyone perform better at
work.
• We can avoid the evolutionary mirage
that more money/status will result in
greater happiness— happiness comes
from people like you!
Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021
Wrap-up— Great spring reads
• What do these books
have in common?
• Deep data-set with
profound
implications for work
and life in general.
• Knowledge is a
stochastic walk—
three steps forward,
one back
• We’ve got so much
more to discover!
Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021
Bibliography
Daniel Pink, When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing
Michael W. Macy and Scott A. Golder, “Diurnal and Seasonal Mood Vary with Work, Sleep,
and Daylength Across Diverse Cultures,” Science 30 Sep 2011:
Vol. 333, Issue 6051, pp. 1878-1881
David Rock, Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus,
and Working Smarter All Day Long
Adam Grant, Give and Take– Why Helping Others Drives Our Success
Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence– Why It Can Matter More Than IQ
Edward O. Wilson, The Social Conquest of Earth
Daniel Nettle, Happiness— The Science Behind Your Smile
Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir, Scarcity– Why Having Too Little Means So Much
Robert Sapolsky, Behave– The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst
Connie Missimer, Critical Thinking at Work: Does Your Company POUND or FLEX?

Copyright, Connie Missimer, 2021

 Thank you!

Connie Missimer
Critical Thinking at Work
For O’Reilly Media