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.
