It's funny you call that late at night, I call it early in the morning. But I totally agree with you. I wake up daily at 3:10 and can get about 3 or 4 hours of good uninterrupted work done. It's also a great time to go to the gym because few else are there.
There's a huge difference in the context between 3am "late at night" because you've stayed awake or 3am "early in the morning" because you just woke up. Some will hate one but not the other - personally I find them equally useful times for different reasons.
How do you find this kind of routine meshes with the sleeping patterns of your social circle? I've always been interested in trying something like this, just to see what it's like.
What time do you usually go to sleep?
Re:Things I do to be consistently happy
by mattdeboard on Sunday August 19, 2012 @07:02PM
(#4405557)
I always find that I'm most productive at work after 11am or so. At home, most productive after 9pm (about when my kid goes to sleep)
Re:Things I do to be consistently happy
by personlurking on Sunday August 19, 2012 @08:59PM
(#4405841)
In the sense that you are bringing up productive time, or when you are at your best, I vote for the morning because of something that is probably personal to me. I see the mornings as a time of hope and possibility ('imagine all that you can get done today'). No one says to themselves, 'oh, I hope today is crappy'. Not a surprise then that I actually get more 'depressed' as the day goes on (ie, afternoon and onward) and it's not necessarily dependent on how much I've accomplished or not, but rather that the realm of what is possible has dwindled.
Coffee is also my friend. I have between 1 and 1.5 cups per day but just getting up and feeling like Success Kid, per a mix of caffeine and hope, gets me going in the right direction.
Re:Things I do to be consistently happy
by chucknelson on Monday August 20, 2012 @01:06PM
(#4408563)
I've found that the time of day doesn't matter as much as the current state of the problem I'm trying to solve.
If I've hit a groove and a path forward is in my head, productivity is through the roof. Otherwise I'm in thinking/experimental mode, and productivity (seems) like it has reached 0. True, I'm still learning and iterating, but...you know the feeling.
Also, once you have a family and/or a "normal" job, it gets much harder to pick what times you are productive. 1am - 4am would be a touch choice in most jobs - have to be in at ~8am or so, right?
Re:Things I do to be consistently happy
by muratmutlu on Sunday August 19, 2012 @08:12PM
(#4405713)
I'm the same, for exactly the reasons you say - it's the calm that helps, there's no temptation to be distracted because there's kinda nothing to do.
Re:Things I do to be consistently happy
by kellishaver on Sunday August 19, 2012 @08:11PM
(#4405708)
My most productive hours are between midnight and 6am, then I usually nap 'til 10am or so and then grab another 2hrs from 9-11pm. I've tried more normal schedules, but this is what works best for me and where I sort of naturally end up if I don't try and force the issue of sleeping at night.
The primary reason is that there are fewer distractions. The news cycle has slowed, my FB news feed is all but dead, I'm not receiving any emails/calls/chats, my roommates are asleep, and it's too late to accomplish chores like shopping or doing laundry. I'm also less likely to desire switching to another task, having accomplished them all earlier in the day. In other words, when I get into the zone late at night, I'm more likely to stay in the zone.
Another reason has to do with the pressure of a deadline. The later it gets, the stronger that nagging feeling is in the back of my mind telling me, "It's late. Go to bed." Nothing gets me working more efficiently than a rapidly approaching deadline. And, unlike most deadlines, I can continually push this one back: "1AM? Okay one more hour. 2AM? Shit, just one more hour." I can spend an almost indefinite amount of time in "deadline mode".
Of course this only works if you don't have anything important to wake up for in the morning.