Nighttime is my time.  I know  this goes against everything they say will engender a healthy lifestyle. The part of the day that I consistently have to myself is the night. The most important aspect being that I am also productive.

I have not yet gotten the hang of being an early riser. I am talking about being awake, alert and functional at the dawn of the day. The idea of getting at least half of your work day completed before 7am. It’s very appealing. The problem that I have always faced with early rising is that my productivity is low. Even with a plan, a list and scheduled tasks, it is still a struggle for me.

I compensate for this lack of motivation by getting my to dos and tasks done at night. Taking advantage of this time to accomplish my computer related tasks and tasks around my home during my most productive period. I find that as I move around working through these tasks, that I have more spontaneous ideas. Many more moments where I am questioning, either myself or others, and having those “what if” moments.

Over the long term, my daytime life begins to suffer. Usually because I am trying to be greedy and just don’t want to go to bed. I get caught up in my tasks and keep going. The trick is to transfer some of my productivity to the daytime. When this transition period happens, I definitely take advantage of it. Inevitably after being lackluster compared to my nighttime self, I go back to being my most productive self at night.

I used to feel awful about this. Why can’t I stay on the far side of the hump of being an early riser. For me, this meant waking and starting my day at some time between four and five in the morning. Being both productive and self-aware. So I took control. Rather than leaving things undone for a better tomorrow, I take advantage of my productive surges at night. I still schedule at least one task that has to be done on a specific day in the daytime.

This is how I manage the fact that I come alive at night. This has left me with a good balance without putting tasks off or sacrificing the quality of my days.