When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing – by Daniel H. Pink

BOOK REVIEW *****

Thoughtful, fascinating observations on timing. Beginnings, middles and endings. Noticing when is your best time, your trough (your lows), and how to boost, rejuvenate and rest when you need.

Important decisions should never be made in the afternoons.

Avoid driving between 2-3pm to lower your risk of traffic accidents.

In your 29th, 39th, 49th, 59th years you tend to make extra pushes to do something extreme, like run a marathon for the first time.

Synchronising with another person or a group can lift your physical and mental wellbeing. Ie. singing, yoga, running,…

Write x amount of words a day. If you happen to stop mid sentence. Stop there. Coming back the next day it will be easier to return to the unfinished sentence than to a completed one. Hemingway swore by this.

Practical suggestions are given at the end of each chapter to improve your ‘When.’ I feel like I need to read the book again because there are so many good ideas packed into this book.

I love the example used of the dabbawallas of Mumbai and how mostly illiterate men without the use of cellphones or technology can synchronise with others to deliver home cooked lunches from home to the office everyday without mistakes. From house to office on bicycles and trains with co-ordination that is exquisite.

The film The Lunchbox is based around this very daily routine. I have watched it many times and it is a wonderful love story.

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Kick The Drink…Easily

Kick The Drink…Easily by Jason Vale
Book Review 5/5

Commonsense, straight forward, repetitive in a logical way. Dispels the myths of drinking and encourages the mindset to embrace freedom rather than recovery. Jason Vale is known for his juicing books but I just stumbled upon him with a recommendation from where I don’t remember anymore.So glad I did.

My final drink was over three months ago. So why am I reading this now? It’s a popular book and I was on the waiting list at the library. In every book about alcohol you can gain something positive from it surely. This book has it in bucketfuls.

Not a quick read. I mean it makes you think. You will want to go away and linger over a point. Mull it. Pun intended. And then go back to it. It is not a light read, like a summer novel. I didn’t finish it in one sitting. It took me a week. Unusual for me. It’s an important read. It was for me.

Jason’s style is one you will either run with or despise. He repeats himself, on purpose, to hammer in the importance of his points. As he says alcohol is the mostly widely available, accepted and legal drug in the world. It will not be going away anytime soon. The alcohol industry is a behemoth and all that tax goes to the governments so pulling the plug on that won’t be happening. And besides if we are told no, don’t we want it even more?

This book reinforces the belief that no willpower is required to becoming a non-drinker. I attest to that. The decision to not drink alcohol is a difficult one because we fear it will be difficult. That fear is unfounded. Not drinking is easy. Or it was for me. The decision not to drink was difficult. Fear stopped for ages. That fear was unfounded.

The world for me is newly exciting. I have found confidence, joy, more money in the bank and freedom without alcohol. The advantages are countless. The disadvantages none.

I am running with it, this new found freedom. I am not waiting for something to happen to me. I am living life. I no longer have hangovers. I can drive myself anywhere at anytime. I don’t compare my drinking habits with others. I don’t count my drinks. I don’t count my days not drinking. I am free of it all. It feels good. I feel good.

If you are thinking about taking your last drink or have already taken your last drink you will enjoy this book. Perhaps you wonder what the fuss is all about and are just curious. That’s what started you drinking in the first place. Don’t take my word for it. Read it yourself and make your own mind up.