When

The most fulfilling jobs share a common trait: They prod us to work at our highest level but in a way that we, not someone else, control. Jobs that are demanding but don’t offer autonomy burn us out.

“Siesta” derives from the Latin hora sexta, which means “sixth hour.” It was during the sixth hour after dawn that these breaks usually began.

For most of us, those sharpminded analytic capacities peak in the late morning or around noon.

One study showed that hourly five-minute walking breaks boosted energy levels, sharpened focus, and “improved mood throughout the day and reduced feelings of fatigue in the late afternoon.”

On a scale of 1 to 10, how mentally alert do you feel right now? 3. On a scale of 1 to 10, how physically energetic do you feel right now?

Harvard professor Teresa Amabile concurs. After examining 12,000 daily diary entries by several hundred workers, she found that the single largest motivator was making progress in meaningful work.

Suppose you’re a venture capitalist and I pitch you the following business idea: It’s a lunch-delivery service. Homemade meals picked up at people’s apartments and delivered precisely at lunchtime to the desk of their family member on the other side of town. That town, by the way, is the world’s tenth largest city, with twice the population of New

Buffett prescribed a three-step remedy. First, he said, write down your top twenty-five goals for the rest of your life. Second, look at the list and circle your top five goals, those that are unquestionably your highest priority. That will give you two lists—one with your top five goals, the other with the next twenty. Third, immediately start pla

One well-known NASA study, for instance, found that pilots who napped for up to forty minutes subsequently showed a 34 percent improvement in reaction time and a twofold increase in alertness.40