Why am I more productive at work during afternoon / evenings that in the morning?

[ocnjgirl]

Originally Posted by TracySam

I know! People equate "gets up late" with "lazy and unproductive." People like me (and it sounds like, you) are very productive, just at different time periods from the majority of people. I chose my hours to be 10-6, and I really get annoyed at those who say or imply that the 7-3 or 8-4 people are the "go getters."

I read some quote somewhere that said the easiest way to get a lot of respect from people is to be an early riser. And it seems so (unfairly) true. Someone talks about how they get up at 5AM every day, and people are in awe. Someone mentions running 2 miles every morning at 6AM before work, and people think they're a super hero. But people who run 2 miles every evening after working all day don't get such a reaction, like that's no big deal.

So people can get up at or before dawn, but never accomplish much, but somehow they are considered more productive, ambitious, efficient, etc, than those of us who get up later and stay up later, and accomplish a lot more.

Growing up with my grandmother, if I were still in bed at 9am, she'd come up and lecture me that "the day is half over!!"

[purehuman]

Originally Posted by ocnjgirl

I think this is just your make-up. Some people are "morning people" and some are not. I am 51 and have always been a "night" person. In the evening is when I start to feel like cleaning, exercising, etc, while I struggle in the mornings. I've had a job that requires I get up early, but despite years of doing this, evening is still my natural "energy" time.

I think you're right...cept I'm the opposite of you...I gotta get up early and try and get most of the days work done by early afternoon latest...that's definitely my "natural "energy" time".

[CityGirl72]

Did I write this post?

I'm NOT a morning person but I'm not night owl either. I like to get out of bed around 9 am, and get back into bed around 9 pm, falling asleep around 10 sometime.

I waste my work day in the mornings too, but try not to. Sometimes there are mornings meetings and my brain is just not there yet. I put meetings at 2 or 3 or 4 pm and people complain that they are so tired. Somewhere around 2:30 pm I am getting tons of work done, if only I could harness that from 8 am - 12 pm.

OH and my husband thinks it's BS and that I need to TEACH my body to be a morning person - because he had to teach himself. But he is BS to me, he gets up on the weekend and I've seen him mowing the lawn at 7:30 am. NO WAY IN H*LL I'd do that. I usually don't start getting up off the couch on a Saturday til 11 am. Then by 2 pm I'm ready for cleaning or errands. At the beginning of our relationship he would get so annoyed by this and tell me I wasted my day...and I'm like "it's 2pm we have TONS of time before bed"

[Fiona13]

When I was working in an office, I noticed a lot of wasted time in the mornings. Not because I wanted to waste time, but that was the time when everyone else wanted to socialize, have coffee, etc. including the boss.

I am more of a morning person. If I am going to clean or something I have to get it done before 4:00 PM or it won't get done. I have a brother who is a night owl. His whole life he has worked on 2nd shift and I don't think he would ever consider a job that started before 2:00 PM. When we growing up and my parents had to get him up in the morning it was a serious ordeal.

I am not sure you can TEACH yourself to be the opposite and actually enjoy it. I worked second shift for a little while many years ago. It was OK but I would get up early, do all my stuff before work and then go to bed as soon as I got home from work. One time I did some overtime on 3rd shift and I thought I was going to die! lol

[Utopian Slums]

As most others have said, you are a "night person." Just because most young are, DOES NOT mean that you are young. Many people night people at all ages. The below is incorrect.

Originally Posted by vision33r

This shows you're still young, a hormone controls this and is active during the day for kids which is why a lot of kids are more sleepy in the day and more active later.
.... . .

[Lilac110]

Originally Posted by iama30something

I've been in the professional working world for almost 10 years now. I've noticed a consistent pattern, no matter where I'm working, what I'm doing, how much I'm making, etc… I always waste away the morning and really don't start doing any work until the afternoon.

Morning are consumed with getting coffee, chatting with co-workers, catching up on Facebook, personal emails, checking City Data, etc…

Once the afternoon roles around I become very motivated and do lots of work. In fact, I even stay late a lot at night because I'm "in the zone" and I'm often one of the last people in the office.

Any ideas why I'm like this?

Hello, me. Meet the real me.

Seriously, I'm the same way. I got up at 7:30 this morning. Do you know what time I started actually working? 3:00. In the meantime, I got some payment issues sorted out, did two loads of laundry, figured out a grocery list, read a good bit of news, shared what was relevant to my work on various social media, reviewed a few things on LinkedIn, and tweaked my budget for February. But I didn't work on anything billable 3:00. This is why I freelance.

I'm on a short break, I'll spend about 20 minutes slogging through citations, then another 15 proofreading, and I'll consider myself done at 3:00 a.m. eastern. Whee!

Originally Posted by TracySam

I've never been a morning person, and I much more productive in the afternoon and evening. I work 10-6 because I hate getting up early; it's great that I can choose my own hours.

Those are my official hours, too. I tell these crazy morning people who want to do interviews at 8:00 a.m. eastern that I have a standing commitment in the morning and I keep a later afternoon to work with people on the west coast. But really, it's that I cannot bear the thought of dealing with humanity for the first 2 hours I'm awake. I'm miserable in the morning, between sinuses, hunger, digestion (if you know what I mean), and the creakiness of age. Just NO. Do not even talk to me until I'm ready.

[Wordsmith12]

I'm the same way. It takes people like us longer to warm up than others. I'm the farthest thing from a morning person; rather, I am more productive in the afternoon/evening hours.

[Tracysherm]

I just had jury duty this week, which meant I had to get up at 6am. Did you know it's still DARK then? I didn't. How much does that suck? Then as I was driving the one-hour trip to the county courthouse, I was shocked at all the people out driving at 7am. School buses, commuters, people taking kids to school.

I remember my high school in the 80s started at 8:15am, which to me was early enough. Now I hear of school opening at 7:30 or earlier! When I asked people with kids about that, they said it was mostly the teacher's unions that pushed for it, perhaps because the majority of them wanted to be done early. To me, going home at 3pm is TOTALLY not worth getting up so God-awful early! It's hard for me to even understand how people could even want that. I work with people who just LOVE going in early so they can dance out the door at 3:30. Ugh. Are we even the same species?

So as I said above, I usually work 10-6/6:30 and it's perfect for me. Thank God I only had jury duty one day! I actually stressed out all weekend because I knew I'd have to get up so early Monday. I went to bed at 9pm Sunday night, but getting up at 6am (in the DARK, did I mention that?) was no picnic.