It’s 12:36 am as I write this post. I am a third generation night owl. You may not believe that your sleeping habits are genetic, but I do, particularly after talking to my mother the other night on the phone at 3am.
At least once a month I see a post similar to this one from Lifehacker: Be More Productive by Waking Up Early (400 Facebook Likes) or Why You NEED To Get Up Earlier (And How To Do It!) (128 comments).
Every time I see these posts I experience one of two emotions: guilt (“oh I really should try to become a morning person”) or frustration. I decided however that I should just start a trend of “Night owls are productive too” posts.
When I was in college, I discovered my peak, most creative time, was 3am. So, I used to come home from class in the afternoon and give myself down time until about 7pm and then start on my work and create/design/accomplish until 3 or 4amish. This worked out well for me. My friends thought I was a little crazy but I got my work done, in an uninterrupted, very inspired fashion.
I spent my first year out of college trying to fight my natural sleep pattern. I attempted the wake up before work and go to the gym, to get energy “tricks”. I even tried waking up at the same time every day, even on Saturday when all I wanted to do was sleep in. That didn’t work either. Once I felt like I did everything I knew to do, I decided I’d give the nightowl tendencies a chance again.
How could I be most productive, yet also live in “the real world” (as my dad calls it)?
I prioritize my work, fun, down time, me time, as well as get what I need to get done during the day and also have my night time productivity marathons. Just as a morning person may wake up at 5am to read blogs (or the newspaper *gasp*) and drink their coffee, have alone time, watch a little TV all before their day starts. I do a lot of this in the evenings.
Since 7pm tonight I have:
- taken a shower, so that I won’t have to get up in the morning to wash my hair (*hate* blow dryers)
- joined a group skype chat/call with some awesome bloggers
- organized, responded to, and archived 150 emails in my work inbox
- moved a load of laundry to the dryer
- responded to a few blog related emails
- perused some of my long distance friends’ lives via Facebook
- written this blog post
- after I finish this post I will catch up on the blogs I wanted to read today
- my bedtime “story” will be in audiobook format before I fall asleep
In Peter Shankman’s post, Why You NEED To Get Up Earlier (And How To Do It!), he says you need to get up earlier for 10 reasons (and I’ll also give you my counter thoughts in the parenthesis):
- To Learn (I’ve done that this evening and do that almost every evening)
- Have Alone Time (most evenings I spend at least an hour by myself, listening to music, writing blogs posts, reading on the kindle, etc.)
- Watch the Sunrise: to get perspective on life (Peter got me on this one I don’t watch the sunrise, but I have watched many ‘a sunset)
- To Show Up Early (I discovered once I gave up on being a morning person I had to get all my ducks in a row before going to bed. You’d be surprised how much quicker you can get ready if you have already decided what to wear and have your stuff ready for the day)
- Eat Breakfast (ok I admit I fail at this on most days, but I do enjoy some evening tea time)
- Exercise (this is something I opt to do in the mornings. For the first hour after I wake up my brain seems to need warm up time so I find working out is something I can do that doesn’t require a lot of creativity or brain power.)
- Have an easier commute (I work from home, so this isn’t an issue for me)
- Be a power player and a market maker by connecting with the big dogs at 7am. (I can’t even count the number of times I’ve connected with some pretty major folks online in the night owl hours. There are plenty of us who are around for some brainstorming late night. I’ve gotten some brilliant emails this evening alone.)
- Do something you never have time for (1:30am is just as quiet and uninterrupted at 5:30 am)
- Change the World: be more productive, make more money, connect with more people (I do whole hearted agree with Peter than an extra 30 minutes a day can indeed change the world. But, I believe I can put my 30 minutes of productivity in from 11:30pm-midnight just as easily as he might from 6-6:30am)
I am 8 for 10 on Peter’s list, and likely would be on several of the other “you need to wake up early” advice pieces. I’ve found allowing myself to be a night person I get more accomplished in a shorter amount of time, am able to relax, get at least a moment or two by myself, and wake up refreshed knowing I have a clean slate for the day.
So, the question of the hour is… are you more productive in the morning or at night? Do you think becoming a morning person makes you more productive?
I will NEVER be a morning person. Never have been, never will be, not even as a kid. Even though my current job requires me to be in at 7, I still stay up late because nighttime is when I’m inspired to cook, exercise, read, etc. And usually, my first few hours “working” are spent drinking coffee to wake the hell up and emailing instead of doing actual work. Productive? Not so much. Also, totally feel you on the showering at night to avoid blow drying thing.
Double like… I’ve suffered through trying to change into a morning peson many times in my life. It doesn’t happen and I always report back to better productivity as a nigh guy.
Like the other commenters, I’m not naturally a morning person either. I hit my peak productive time at 9 p.m. It’s like clockwork. I can go strong until about 1 a.m.
Here’s my question: What time do you wake up? Or, how long do you sleep? I can’t let myself get into the night owl thing because it will mean waking up around 10 a.m. and I do kind of feel like I’ve wasted the day. By the time I get out of the house, it’s noon.
My peek productivity is between midnight and 2am. It has been that way ever since I was a teen.
Last year I spent three months getting up at 6am to get that “early morning miracle”. What actually happened was I was exhausted by 6pm, falling asleep (missing time with my family) and then waking up at about midnight with lots of energy. I would lay in bed until I finally fell asleep after a couple of hours and then when 6am came around, I was up….but tired, brain dead and completely non-productive.
I’m a night owl. It won’t change…and I’m through trying to change it.
My gym is busy in the mornings and in the evenings, so I tend to go in the afternoons. But that breaks up my day. I also don’t have the energy to go in the morning.
Oh, I agree completely! I homeschool my teen, a night owl like me. For years I have tried to force him into ‘normal’ hours, but he can get so much more done if he can wait and start around 10 pm. Too bad the world doesn’t just accept that we are all different.
Lisa @All That and a Box of Rocks
Between being a night owl AND left-handed, I’m always having to “fit into” a world that’s just not built for me. I always feel guilty for sleeping in til 11 on weekends, even though I get just as much done as anyone else…just 3 hours later.
I have never been a morning person. Now that I can make my own schedule, I use the time between 9am-12pm to read blogs, news, twitter stuff and work out. Then I can work until about 6pm when I need a break until 10pm or so. Then from 10pm-1am-ish I have a second wind and can do more work. That’s just how I am and I’m glad I can accommodate it now!
I actually AM a morning person, preferring to get up early, get things done before I go to work etc. However, I don’t think you NEED to be a morning person to be productive. I just happen to be. I think if you can find your rhythm and your peak time, then that’s when you should get things done. I don’t really think morning is better than night. Rather, natural timing is better than forced! Go with what feels good and right!
Agreed, I think you should follow your natural rhythms and take advantage of them! My peek productivity is usually between 11am and 2pm, I’m not really a night owl or a morning person…
This is a very good perspective. I’m a morning person and get a lot done between 5 AM and 7 AM (when my daughter wakes up), including eating a great breakfast. But, I’ve taken to staying up late (midnight is late for me) one night a week and find that time is just as productive. It’s really about finding what works for you. Thanks for sharing!
Nice post – I applaud you for knowing what works and sticking with it.
I happen to be a 3rd Generation Morning Person! Proud of it! But I am not about to cram advice down anyone’s throat. Find what works, stick to routines that make sense, get your stuff done.
AMEN! Let’s hear it for night owls! I couldn’t agree with you more – I get my best work done late in the night, and if I could I wouldn’t show up in the office until about 11am.
That said, when you have kids, life flips around for the night owl. Not only are they up late sometimes (easy for us), but they always wake up EARLY (BAD for us). It’s a hard adjustment period.
You have a great point. I think why people say the morning bit is because most people can’t function on little-to-no sleep and it’s actually unhealthy.
I suppose if you can wake up later or are not affected by less than 7 hours of sleep, then being up late into the night can be JUST as effective. It all depends like you said on who you are.
I’m creative at night, but I have to get up and be at work around 8, so I don’t have that luxury to stay up and be creative then. If I wake up in the morning a little earlier, I rise with the sun, I got enough sleep to keep me feeling strong and I also got things done before my work day has even started.
I guess what I’m saying is the outlier here is sleep and the health benefits you get from it. I’m a balance, sometimes I stay up late and sometimes I’ll wake up early for extra work. After college, I wasn’t able to sleep in, sooo lame haha