There seems to be a common perception that those who wake up early are more productive people. However, productivity expert Chris Bailey recently experimented with waking up at 5:30 AM each morning to see whether or not his productivity was affected by his early mornings.
After two months of waking up early, Bailey concluded that the time you wake up has nothing to do with the productivity levels you experience during the day. The productivity levels of those who wake up early versus those who sleep in are negotiable, and it all comes down to personality traits and who you are as a worker. Bailey explains this nicely with his 9AM/9PM rule. Can you get more done past 9PM, or before 9AM?
If you find yourself diligently working before 9AM, it makes sense for you to rise early and tackle the day's tasks before first light. However, if you feel that your best work happens in the depths of night, it makes no sense for you to get up early, especially if it cuts into the 8 hours of sleep that everyone should get.
All in all, the time that you choose to wake up should be a personal choice based off of who you are as a worker. So, determine your prime time for productivity, and try to arrange your sleeping schedule around this. As long as you are getting around 8 hours of sleep each night, you will remain as productive as before, but will likely switch up the times you really put your nose to the grindstone. Give this approach to productivity a try; you never know what you might discover!
