Get up at 5:00 a.m.? No thanks.

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Successful people nowadays get up at 5 a.m. or even earlier. Apple Chef Tim Cook, Michelle Obama or Fiat Chef Sergio Marchionne are just a few examples of successful personalities. On top of that there are a lot of influencers who start the day with the "perfect morning routine" before the sun & preach that everyones life will improve instantly if you are like them - because you're only able to be successful, if you do the same kind of thing!

You're bound to feel a guilty conscience: Do I have to get up so early to be successful? Will I never be rich, successful or happy, ... if not?

My opinion on that? Absolute humbug. There are enough counter-examples that you can also be successful as a night owl: Mark Zuckerberg, Barack Obama, Tim Ferriss, ... You won't become a lazy fat loser, because your inner clock is ticking the way it's ticking. Because that's the thing: everyone is different. What works for one person doesn't have to work for another. For some, it may be that someone just jumps out of bed fit and happy at 4 a.m. without having to set an alarm, for others 4 a.m. in the morning sounds rather like a time to go to bed after a long day than to get up.

The Power of When

There are several theories about sleep types. In the test after the book " The Power of When "by Michael Breus there are the following types:

• Lions: Early risers who prefer to get up with the sun
• Bears: This sleep pattern appears most often, you sleep at night and stay awake during the day.
• Dolphins: Dolphins generally sleep very badly. Real dolphins sleep while only half of their brain is in sleep mode.
• Wolves: They stay awake until late night and are most productive at that time. 

Owl or lark?

Another (quite simple) differentiation is the well known owl theory.

• Larks are the early risers,
• the owls like to turn night into day.

Extreme larks go to bed when the extreme owls get up. 

Night owl? - Welcome to the club!

I am a night owl & the sooner I learned to accept that & embrace it, the more productive I was for school/university/work & of course also pursue my private interests better. & in general, of course, it also makes me happier. I simply work best between 8 pm & 2 am. What do we learn from this?

The upsides of getting up at 5 a.m. are:

• Quiet, undisturbed time to work focused on a project
• Fresh, clear mind
• Great time to establish new habits (see my blogpost series about Atomic Habits).
• A time in which you can devote yourself to personal development.
• You build up more discipline

The upsides for the natural waking up and staying up late are:

• Quiet, undisturbed time to work focused on a project
• Fresh, clear mind
• Great time to establish new habits (see my blogpost series about Atomic Habits).
• A time in which you can devote yourself to personal development.
• You build up more discipline

& no, you didn't read wrongly, nor did I publish a copy-paste error. Whether extreme lark or extreme owl - the world around you is in bed when you have your most productive time. Means: you're able to work without being disturbed. You are then the most clear & most focused when your body is ready for it & is able to be more productive than working against your inner clock.

Here's the catch

After all, we do not live in a society only consisting out of extreme larks - thank God! - Nevertheless, working hours and school hours are usually oriented so that you start the productive part of the day at 8 a.m.. For me, who clearly sees myself as a night owl / wolf / ... this means running around like a zombie in the morning & being glad my head is attached, otherwise I would lose it. For me, however, staying up for a long time doesn't mean that I will slepp in until noon - my inner clock wakes me up at 8/9 a.m.. I can cope better with physical exertion in the morning, mental work works better for me after dinner until 2 or 4 a.m..

As a night owl in a lark's society.

Although it is usually not possible to combine my attendance hours with the hours of my highest productivity in normal work/study life, I know exactly which hours of the day I put my study times in, if possible home office or the times for my freelancing. In addition, I know how to make my weekends as productive as possible or how to organize my study days in the exam phases.

If you feel the same way, try not to put important conversations, taxes, due dates, exams (if you have the choice) on the hours you are in zombie mode. & even if it's tempting: don't work all through the night if you have to be ready somewhere at 8a.m. the next day. My tip: set an alarm clock - not (only) to get up, but (also) to go to bed! Especially if you are programming 'in the zone' or in the flow you forget everything around you & suddenly it is 4 o'clock in the morning. In order to avoid that & to have a routine bedtime that makes it easier to be almost fit in the morning. Of course, it's still not easy to break this state of highest productivity & switch to sleep mode, but it's still better than going to bed at 4 a.m. & getting up at 6 a.m..

Don't underestimate fatigue!

Realistically, fatigue can make you counterproductive all day long - everyone probably knows the feeling of sitting in front of the screen & almost having to stick your eyes on to not nod off. A study showed that the productivity of overtired people is similarly or even worse than that one of people under the influence of alcohol. In addition, the accuracy of the reaction & also the speed of the reaction decreases significantly! It was even half as much as that of the alcoholized people!

A overview study conducted by the University of Freiburg found that the risk of depression doubles when there is a lack of sleep! I don't have to talk about other health consequences - they are well known or just a Google search request away.

How about you?

On what time are you most productive? Do you think getting up at 5 a.m. would help or hinder you? Did you take the test? What's the result? Lion or rather wolf?

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