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Afterpage · week card

Drive

Daniel H. Pink

Key ideas

  1. Carrots and sticks have limits.
  2. Autonomy.
  3. Mastery.
  4. Purpose.
  5. Type I and Type X.

The week

Day 1Read the summary. Five key ideas and where the book overreaches.
Day 2Write your sentence. Write one sentence that sums up what you want your life or work to be about.
Bad day: Write a rough version of your sentence in your notes app.
Day 3Ask if you were better today. At the end of today, write down one way you got better at something that matters to you.
Bad day: Write one sentence about something you did better today.
Day 4Claim one area of autonomy. Choose one part of your work where you'll decide the task, time, technique, or team yourself this week, and tell the people affected.
Bad day: Decide how you'll approach one task today, without asking anyone.
Day 5Find your flow. Set a timer to go off at random three times today, and each time write what you're doing and whether you feel challenged and engaged.
Bad day: Write down one moment this week when you lost track of time.
Day 6Give autonomy to someone. Give one person more control over how they do a task, and don't add an if-then reward.
Bad day: Ask one person, “How would you like to do this?”
Day 7Connect a task to purpose. Pick one task you dislike and write down how it connects to something larger that matters to you.
Bad day: Write one sentence about why one dull task matters.

Free week by email at getafterpage.com/books/drive