4 ms·

For anyone deciding if it's worth clicking through: it's mostly a list of anecdotes about early-riser CEOs & people who workout as soon as they wake up. I didn

For anyone deciding if it's worth clicking through: it's mostly a list of anecdotes about early-riser CEOs & people who workout as soon as they wake up. I didn't see anything about those who work through the night. [I personally find 4am is often productive for me, but that's because I work at night, and I'll only continue coding at 4am if I'm already in the zone. If I'm not making progress, I'll want to crash to sleep long before then.]

perseusprime11 10y ago
When do you sleep?
- J5892 10y ago
  When I'm tired. (not OP, but we have the same mind-set.)
  - _asummers 10y ago
    How does this manifest itself in practice? What hours do you generally keep? If they're odd, has it affected social/family life?
    - cortesoft 10y ago
      Yeah, this only really works if you are single with a very flexible job. Parents can't just sleep when they are tired, and a majority of jobs require you to be there at least a few specific hours.
      - lsc 10y ago
        yeah. I did this when I worked for myself, but I found that with the addition of social (and business social, and errands that must be done at a certain time) I would end up either missing appointments or waking up mid-sleep cycle. I mean, the regular down 10 up 14 isn't great for me, either, I seem to be on a 26 or 28 hour cycle naturally, but I end up getting a lot more uninterrupted sleep if I keep it to a mostly 24 hour cycle that very slowly creeps forward, with occasional resets. (and end up being a lot more productive when awake.)
      - grahamburger 10y ago
        I have two kids and do basically this. I usually work from 11 am or so until 5-6 pm, then from 11 or midnight until sometime between 2 and 4 am. If one of the kids needs before 4am I usually handle it, after 4am my wife usually takes it. Kids are usually up between 9 and 10 am (I guess we're all late risers - not sure if it's genetic or learned) but if they're up earlier my lovely wife lets me sleep.
        cortesoft 10y ago
        That sounds like you have a fairly consistent schedule though; the person I was commenting about made it sound like their sleep varied completely (they just stayed up until they were tired and then slept until they were rested). Of course, many schedules will work for families - my point was that you need to have one if you are going to function in a multi-person family.
- SyneRyder 10y ago
  I generally sleep 3am - 10am, but it varies. Midnight is about the earliest, and 7am if I'm still in the zone / peak concentration. I try to sleep 8 hours every night, so if I go to sleep at 7am I won't wake until 3pm. I'm a solo developer, mostly working on my own projects, but even when I work with remote clients I maintain what they call "vampire hours". Since I'm based in Australia, my weird productive hours naturally align with Berlin time. _asummers asked about socializing - being naturally nocturnal makes it easier to go to nightclubs & concerts, or invite friends to restaurants or a moonlite all-nite diner. It's great if you have insomniac friends! I also track my time/concentration using a program called Vitamin-R for Mac [1]. I've found my peak productive coding hours are 10pm - midnight. (4am - 7am is my actual 'peak', but I think that's because I only work those hours if I'm already in the zone.) [1] http://www.publicspace.net/Vitamin-R/ http://www.publicspace.net/Vitamin-R/
  - rubicon33 10y ago
    I wish I had your life. My DREAM is to work on my own projects, in my peak productivity time, which is naturally from 10pm to around 3am. That's my dream, and one I strive to achieve before I'm old and tired. I'm 28 now. Working a 9-6 just isn't fun when it's a) not my project b) not my peak productivity time. If you don't mind me asking... Are you retired?
    - vickychijwani 10y ago
      The trick is to work at a company where you can choose your working hours. I usually work 2 pm to 10 pm, and then tackle my personal projects / hobbies 11 pm to 4 am. Of course, things will change completely if / when I get married, but while I'm single and unburdened I can afford to maintain this lifestyle.
    - klibertp 10y ago
      I have a similar schedule to the GP: I frequently start my day around noon, start working around 3 pm, get a break around 7 pm for a couple of hours (to interact with my SO, who is back from work then), then work well into the night. That schedule is only disturbed when there's an important meeting during the day. Funny thing is I don't even work 100% remotely (well, I sometimes visit the office...) - I just work for the company which couldn't care less about when I work as long as I deliver. So, while I'm not working on my own projects I still can choose when and how I work. It's been this way for 3-4 years and I just turned 30 a couple of weeks back. So what I want to say is that you don't need to be retired or be an entrepreneur to have a freedom to choose your working hours. It's actually a good thing for the company because my working hours overlap with working hours of people half a world away, for/with who we frequently work. So don't give up, search for opportunities and you'll sooner or later find a place where you can work according to your own schedule.
bluejekyll 10y ago
I would do the same thing if I didn't have kids. With kids my time, sleep, and work schedules all have to be aligned to theirs.
rch 10y ago
Thanks for the recap. I was curious if global output peaked at 0400 UTC, but that's all.

perseusprime11 10y ago

When do you sleep?

J5892 10y ago
When I'm tired. (not OP, but we have the same mind-set.)
- _asummers 10y ago
  How does this manifest itself in practice? What hours do you generally keep? If they're odd, has it affected social/family life?
  - cortesoft 10y ago
    Yeah, this only really works if you are single with a very flexible job. Parents can't just sleep when they are tired, and a majority of jobs require you to be there at least a few specific hours.
    - lsc 10y ago
      yeah. I did this when I worked for myself, but I found that with the addition of social (and business social, and errands that must be done at a certain time) I would end up either missing appointments or waking up mid-sleep cycle. I mean, the regular down 10 up 14 isn't great for me, either, I seem to be on a 26 or 28 hour cycle naturally, but I end up getting a lot more uninterrupted sleep if I keep it to a mostly 24 hour cycle that very slowly creeps forward, with occasional resets. (and end up being a lot more productive when awake.)
    - grahamburger 10y ago
      I have two kids and do basically this. I usually work from 11 am or so until 5-6 pm, then from 11 or midnight until sometime between 2 and 4 am. If one of the kids needs before 4am I usually handle it, after 4am my wife usually takes it. Kids are usually up between 9 and 10 am (I guess we're all late risers - not sure if it's genetic or learned) but if they're up earlier my lovely wife lets me sleep.
      - cortesoft 10y ago
        That sounds like you have a fairly consistent schedule though; the person I was commenting about made it sound like their sleep varied completely (they just stayed up until they were tired and then slept until they were rested). Of course, many schedules will work for families - my point was that you need to have one if you are going to function in a multi-person family.
SyneRyder 10y ago
I generally sleep 3am - 10am, but it varies. Midnight is about the earliest, and 7am if I'm still in the zone / peak concentration. I try to sleep 8 hours every night, so if I go to sleep at 7am I won't wake until 3pm. I'm a solo developer, mostly working on my own projects, but even when I work with remote clients I maintain what they call "vampire hours". Since I'm based in Australia, my weird productive hours naturally align with Berlin time. _asummers asked about socializing - being naturally nocturnal makes it easier to go to nightclubs & concerts, or invite friends to restaurants or a moonlite all-nite diner. It's great if you have insomniac friends! I also track my time/concentration using a program called Vitamin-R for Mac [1]. I've found my peak productive coding hours are 10pm - midnight. (4am - 7am is my actual 'peak', but I think that's because I only work those hours if I'm already in the zone.) [1] http://www.publicspace.net/Vitamin-R/ http://www.publicspace.net/Vitamin-R/
- rubicon33 10y ago
  I wish I had your life. My DREAM is to work on my own projects, in my peak productivity time, which is naturally from 10pm to around 3am. That's my dream, and one I strive to achieve before I'm old and tired. I'm 28 now. Working a 9-6 just isn't fun when it's a) not my project b) not my peak productivity time. If you don't mind me asking... Are you retired?
  - vickychijwani 10y ago
    The trick is to work at a company where you can choose your working hours. I usually work 2 pm to 10 pm, and then tackle my personal projects / hobbies 11 pm to 4 am. Of course, things will change completely if / when I get married, but while I'm single and unburdened I can afford to maintain this lifestyle.
  - klibertp 10y ago
    I have a similar schedule to the GP: I frequently start my day around noon, start working around 3 pm, get a break around 7 pm for a couple of hours (to interact with my SO, who is back from work then), then work well into the night. That schedule is only disturbed when there's an important meeting during the day. Funny thing is I don't even work 100% remotely (well, I sometimes visit the office...) - I just work for the company which couldn't care less about when I work as long as I deliver. So, while I'm not working on my own projects I still can choose when and how I work. It's been this way for 3-4 years and I just turned 30 a couple of weeks back. So what I want to say is that you don't need to be retired or be an entrepreneur to have a freedom to choose your working hours. It's actually a good thing for the company because my working hours overlap with working hours of people half a world away, for/with who we frequently work. So don't give up, search for opportunities and you'll sooner or later find a place where you can work according to your own schedule.

bluejekyll 10y ago

I would do the same thing if I didn't have kids. With kids my time, sleep, and work schedules all have to be aligned to theirs.

rch 10y ago

Thanks for the recap. I was curious if global output peaked at 0400 UTC, but that's all.