Would you look at the time?

watch

(image from governmentauctions.org)

I find it extremely interesting how different people are. Every day I am exposed to people that are accomplishing things in ways that I would consider either unorthodox or even impossible for myself. For this blog post I want to talk a bit about the “Night owl” (yours truly) and the “Early riser” (the weird people).

I kid, I kid.

Anyway, some history first, when I was a wee lad of about 13 summers old, I had the distinct pleasure of moving with my family from Syracuse, NY to Oconomowoc, WI. I moved from a modest suburban homestead to an honest to goodness working farm (my Grandmothers). It was a dairy farm and we had cows and chickens, turkeys and pigs, about 100 cats and a couple of dogs. There was even a mule or two and various others critters.

The big point in all of this is that animals get up really early. Anyone who has worked on a farm knows, you get up when the animals do. Thus, I was forced into early riser status. I had to do my chores BEFORE I got ready for school. I was getting up and was in the barn by 5am. If you can picture a 30 degree BELOW ZERO Wisconsin winter morning, you can picture how much I loved that scenario.

Now, I don’t know if that has colored my perception of getting up early, but my body tells me so. I am most definitely a night owl. My brain works better between the hours of 9pm and 2am than any other time of the day. If I have to get up any time before about 8am, I know that I will not be hitting on all cylinders until about 10am. In data chart form for regular days:

2-8 am: Dead tired (sleepy time)
8-10 am: Gearing up
10-4 pm: All cylinders running
4-6 pm: Recharging
6-9 pm: All cylinders running
9-2 am: Overcharged

I am sure everyone has a similar schedule fine tuned for their bodies.

SO WHAT? You might be saying. Here is my point. It is a really good thing to know your own rhythm. You need to leverage those hours where you are at your best to be your best. You also need to know the rhythms of those you work with so that you can get the most out of your working relationships. If you want a brainstorming session with me, DO NOT schedule it for 7am. To note: I do not drink coffee. My caffeine comes from Mountain Dew, so if you do schedule a 7am meeting, bring the dew for me.

Are there variations to this? Sure. Do moods affect this? Sure. But for a general rule, I let everyone know this is my schedule so that we can make the most out of our working time. When am I writing this? It’s 1:00am! Night owls unite!

Leave me a comment and let me know if you have any issues working with us night owls? Or if you want to commiserate with me about those perky early risers 🙂