Biorhythm management

I recently read another book on time management to add to my impressive collection. I have now ordered so many books on this subject that Amazon thinks I might be interested in Time Management for People Who Have Too Much Time to Read Useless Books. Still, I have learned a few basic principles. One of them is to know your biorhythm and stop fighting it. If you are able to concentrate well and work effectively in the mornings, for example, you should try to do your most important and difficult work then. If you are tired and droopy after lunch, try to use that time for tasks that don’t require much focus. This is, of course, all fine and good if you have some control over what you do when.

"It’s good to know your biorhythm, but it’s better to have some coffee ready just in case."

If you have a baby and work from home, like I do, your productivity is more dependent on your child’s biorhythm than on your own. If you’re a doctor on call, you may be required to do the most complicated, dangerous operation just when your biorhythm is at its lowest point ever. (It is recommended that you don’t mention this little problem to your patient or his family.) And if you work in an office, you’d better hope that your boss has a similar biorhythm to yours. A man I used to work with — let’s call him Marco Lepsky — always had his low point after lunch, just the time when our boss liked to have staff meetings. Marco once even managed to fall asleep when he was only one of five people there. So my point is, it’s good to know your biorhythm, but it’s better to have some coffee ready just in case. And now, if you’ll excuse me one minute, there’s someone at the door. It’s probably another Amazon delivery.

’Tis (sort of) the season

Christmas parties are supposed to be fun, right? A chance for everyone to unwind at the end of a stressful year? Now, though, it seems as if the parties themselves have become stress factors. Two companies I know will not be having their Christmas parties in December this year. It’s too hard to find restaurants, you see, and everyone is “too busy anyway.” Both of the firms are planning to do something in January instead. This strikes me as a good idea in theory only. We could all decide, for example, to exchange presents with our families in January, because everything from ornaments to toys is on sale then. But it wouldn’t be quite the same, would it? Office Christmas parties are voluntary. Have them or don’t have them. But if you do, have them reasonably close to Christmas.

KATHRIN ENKE is an American editor and translator based near Stuttgart. She is still getting used to her new boss: her baby daughter, born in September 2007. Contact: k.enke@spotlight-verlag.de