夜猫子VS.早起鸟：职场前景谁更好

时间留给家人

    工作越早开始，便能越早结束，也就有更多时间在孩子们上床睡觉之前陪陪他们。对于有学龄儿童的家庭来说，更是如此。因为，学生早上很早就得去赶校车，因此，只有在晚上，一家人才能聚在一起享受美好时光。

    虽然早起的好处显而易见，但这并不意味着它们唾手可得。艾米•彼得拉桑塔曾在出版行业工作，她说：“有三次，我都做到了早起：第一次是我在高中和大学游泳队的时候，当时早上要进行训练；第二次是在我搬到加利福尼亚州之后，当时公司执行的是东海岸时间；还有就是我有了孩子之后，他们每天很早就会醒来。总体说来，我很享受那些早起的日子。我很惊奇，原来早起可以做那么多事，而平时我在那个时间才刚刚起床。好处很多，但我从来没法坚持。最后我总是故态复萌，重新回到吸血鬼一样的夜间生活方式。”

    如果你也有类似的经历，不必沮丧。时间管理专家劳拉•斯塔克说：“我认识许多人，他们都是在下午、晚上或深夜的时候最有精神，但他们的事业都非常成功。关键是要清楚自己在什么时间精神状态最佳，精力最充沛，因为，与其他时段相比，在这一时间段，大脑能够进行一些更高级的活动。”劳拉•斯塔克著有《超能力：高效工作的六大诀窍》（SuperCompetent: The Six Keys to Perform at Your Productive Best）一书。

    不论精力最充沛的时段出现在何时，在这个时段都应集中精力，制定关键决策，解决问题或进行头脑风暴，或其他需要复杂或细致思考的活动。无论如何，斯塔克称：“千万不要把自己的黄金时间浪费在娱乐上，或做一些简单琐碎的事情，或者与朋友闲聊。关键是要自律。”清晨6点从被窝里爬出来也是如此。

    翻译：刘进龙/汪皓

Clearing the way for family time

    If you start work earlier, you may get done earlier, giving you a chance to spend the early evenings with your kids before they go to bed. Particularly for families with school-aged children who have to get on the bus early in the morning, evenings may be the only time everyone can be together.

    These advantages are fairly straightforward, though that doesn't mean seizing them is easy. Amy Pietrasanta, who's worked in the publishing industry, notes that "I have successfully impersonated a morning person three times: when I was a swimmer in high school and college and had to go to morning practice, when I moved to California and (sort of) worked East Coast hours, and when I had babies who woke up early." Each time, "I have generally enjoyed the early morning, marveled at how much I could get done before I would normally get up, etc., etc., etc." But it never stuck. "I always go back to my true, vampire-ish nature."

    If that sounds like you, don't despair. "I know people who are high energy in the afternoon, evening, and late night who are very successful in business," says Laura Stack, a time management expert and author of SuperCompetent: The Six Keys to Perform at Your Productive Best. "The key is to be aware of what time you're at your highest energy level, because your brain is capable of doing higher-level activities in that range compared to other times during the day."

    Whenever you're at your best, that's the time to focus on critical decisions, problem-solving or brainstorming activities, or anything requiring complex or detailed thought. Whatever you do, "Resist the urge to do fun, easy, trivial things or talk to your friends during your prime times," says Stack. "The trick is self-discipline," just as with rolling out of bed at 6 a.m.