You’ve probably noticed that our world today – and even before – values early birds. One of the common traits of successful people is that they wake up early. But even though it is associated with some negatives like weight gain, your sleepy brain doesn’t have to be reprogrammed as some of the most influential individuals consider themselves as night owls.
Mark Zuckerberg
The Facebook founder never thought of himself as a morning person. In the morning, he would spend a good amount of time on Facebook while still in bed. He always has a slow start to the day. In his early years, he was known for staying up during his “hacker hours.”
Jonah Peretti
The CEO of Buzzfeed and co-founder of Huffington Post stays up until 8:30 AM and gets to escape early wake up times.
Alexis Ohanian
The co-founder of Reddit is a self-proclaimed night owl who isn’t up until late in the day. He would try to wake up at 10 AM, which is pretty much afternoon for entrepreneurs.
Just like the three people above, you don’t have to feel doomed if your body doesn’t follow the normal schedule.
Here are tricks that allow night owls like you to take advantage of your most productive hours:
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Have a reasonable routine
Know how many hours of sleep you need and what hours you want to work. Being a night owl doesn’t mean you have to be up all night. You just want to have some quiet time for work, while others are sleeping and you want to be up a little later than them.
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Stay comfy
Some of us prefer to work on a desk or even in bed. Make sure you are comfortable no matter what, especially when you’re sleeping. Some factors affect our sleep quality, including our mattress. Consider replacing your mattress and check the one that’s right for your sleeping habits, so that you can enjoy both sleep and wake times.
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Choose your projects
If you have the luxury to select your projects, take advantage of this. Go for ones that will invigorate you and motivate your creativity to flow. You will find yourself wanting to work harder no matter what time it is.
Night owls stay up at night later than their early bird counterparts. But most of them make sure that they go to bed before the sun is up. Whether you follow this advice or not, you don’t have to change your routine as long as you’re happy, comfortable, and productive with it.