It’s OK to Wake Up Late
Making my own schedule means that I sleep in on a daily basis — and it’s perfect
At the time of writing, it’s 12:25 am. I feel great — energized, excited to write, full of ideas. I have another hour or two of work in me before I’ll fall asleep, and tomorrow I’ll probably sleep until 10.
My body clock has been tuned in this direction for as long as I can remember. I have clear early memories of spending summer vacations at my grandparents house, sneaking out of the bedroom I shared there with my brother and out into the living room, where I’d find my grandfather, usually watching a grainy black and white war movie on their tiny TV, with the sound turned low. He’d let me stay and watch, promising not to tell the others — at least until he took a trip to Whataburger to listen to language tapes and drink 2 a.m. coffee from a styrofoam cup.
If you look up advice on productivity for night owls, you mostly find instructions on how to wake up.
When you work in an office, it’s a given that we are all on the schedules of The Morning People. For many years I worked at a company that prided itself on a creative, flexible approach to different work styles, but mandatory in-office meetings at 9 a.m. were also a given. I…
