The early bird catches the worm. An old adage most people believe to be true. Starting your day early might produce a lot of results for your career. And it created a lot of successful people.
So are night owls plain lazy? Are they destined to fail? I mean, it’s just willpower to wake up and work as early as possible, right? Not exactly. That’s far from the truth.
Understanding the Science of Our Body
If we understand our biology, it’s related to our genetics. Some people are just predisposed to do well in the morning. And some at night. It can be attributed to our own chronotypes.
So based on your genetics, if you’re a night person, your energy just warms up at later hours compared to your morning person counterparts.
But what if you’re a night owl? Can the world wait until you’re ready? I mean most working hours start in the morning. Are you doomed to mediocrity? It’s not the case.
Here’s how to be productive when you’re not a morning person.
Get Enough Sleep
First things first. Whether you’re a morning or night person, a productive person should have enough time to sleep. Some might just say that they’re night owls. But in fact, what they need is a proper sleeping schedule.
So check this guide out and see if you can correct your body clock and have a productive day ahead.
Know Where Your Energy Peaks
Knowing thyself is the first step to improvement. And to maximize your productivity, you should know where your energy peaks.
As a night owl, at what time do you wake up? What time are you most energetic? It’s hard to fight these tendencies. Instead, you should work around it. By keeping this in mind, you can budget your time accordingly.
Prepare the Night Before
Now that you are certain that you’re a night owl. It’s time to make the most out of it. You are active during the night. So you might do some preparation before you sleep.
Prepare the night before for the tasks the following morning. Or maybe do some little tasks. See how your productivity in your workday soars higher when done right.
Shallow Work on Off-peak Hours
So if you start work at 7 AM, you might still be groggy or lethargic. After all, your body is not at its best during these wee hours. With this, you can start doing shallow work instead.
Shallow work is mostly admin work that won’t produce high value. Example are:
- Organizing files
- Checking emails
- Updating Calendar
- Creating a To-Do List
Why are you doing these tasks first? It’s not that you’re lazy. You have to do these tasks any way. So if it’s not mentally tasking, you can sometimes finish it on autopilot.
It’s better than starting with the hardest task, only to be stuck because, well, you’re not at your best. At least, you’re doing something on those off-peak hours.
Deep Work on Peak Hours
Here comes the best part! What if you’re at your peak? What do you do now? Most people do shallow work instead — only to provide subpar output.
It’s time to practice deep work instead. Deep work is an activity that provides unique and valuable output. For example, when you’re a writer, that’s finishing an article. If you’re a marketing manager, that’s planning for a potential marketing campaign.
Use your peak hours on the hardest tasks on your list. In this way, you can pour the best energy into creating the best output for your clients.
Follow a Regular Schedule
Now that you know your best hours. It’s time to follow a regular schedule. Creating a routine automates some parts of your work and frees up your best hours for the most crucial tasks.
To make this even more effective, you can plan for time blocking and separating these tasks with your peak hours in mind.
Conclusion
With this, you can surely become productive even if you’re not a morning person. Success is not only for the early birds. But it can also be achieved by night owls as well. Cheers to a productive remote working career!
