31 ms·

This is predicated on the idea that you're only really productive in the afternoon, and that the morning is just wasted time. I'm most productive in the mornin

This is predicated on the idea that you're only really productive in the afternoon, and that the morning is just wasted time. I'm most productive in the mornings, and my productivity only takes a dive in the afternoon because that's when all my meetings are. Turns out, anecdotes about an individual's workflow aren't broadly generalizable!

s73ver_ 9y ago
I think the point is less about which actual hours, but more about focusing on those hours that you are productive, making those count as much as you can, and not forcing yourself to work more during those unproductive hours "just because".
- ubertaco 9y ago
  I think you missed the part where those other, less-productive hours in my workday are spent in meetings with others. As in, that's part of my normal workday. And yeah, it may not be productive in the way I like, but it's necessary time to effectively collaborate. This idealized notion of "when I feel like it" workdays is particularly unrealistic in a workplace where you collaborate across timezones. I work best in the morning Eastern time, and I have teammates on the US west coast. If there's any chance of working with them instead of around them, I can't just say "eh, I'm less productive after 11am Eastern, so I'm just gonna call it quits."
  - s73ver_ 9y ago
    No, I didn't. I'm just pointing out that the specific hours mentioned in the article are not the focus, but the idea that you should concentrate during your peak hours, whatever they are.
vvanders 9y ago
Yup 100% this. I shifted my schedule to early morning(6-7am) just so I could get 3-4 hours of uninterrupted work in before the onslaught of meetings. Highly recommend it.
davehtaylor 9y ago
I agree that the ideas aren't necessarily generalizable, but what if we shifted to an idea that people's individual schedules reflect when they specifically are most productive. Someone else who replied said they were most productive in the morning. Great! Let them have and earlier start time. For me, I'm completely useless in the morning. Sure, I can be in the office at 8:00am, but you're not getting any meaningful work out of me until late morning or noon-ish. So let me come in at noon and work until 6:00. And for someone else who is super productive in the evening hours, if they want to come in a 8:00pm and work until 2:00am, why not? I get that there are issues of collaboration or interaction that may be necessary. But in general, it seems like, as long as your job doesn't depend on customer interaction or some other constraint, why not let people work a schedule that suits their lifestyle, and lets them work when they are most productive?
- nitrogen 9y ago
  ...if they want to come in a 8:00pm and work until 2:00am, why not? Part of the "why not" is a deeply ingrained belief in at least American culture that morning people are just "better" than night people. It's so ingrained that we mostly forget to talk about it and it's just assumed. "Early bird catches the worm" and all that. I once saw a workplace where there were night-person-friendly policies and schedules. Then one insanely morning person joins and wants to leave at 3:30 every day. Suddenly all of his scheduling preferences were presumed valid, and all night-person preferences had to be fought for and justified. So if you want to reach a world with truly optimal flexible schedules, first you'll need to wrest ownership of the culture from the "morning people are better" people who currently dominate it.
  - dictum 9y ago
    > Then one insanely morning person joins and wants to leave at 3:30 every day. Suddenly all of his scheduling preferences were presumed valid Why wouldn't their preferences be presumed valid? It's as hard for the morning person to deal with night-person preferences as it's hard for a night person to deal with morning-person preferences. (Disclaimer: I'm a morning person and I'm not American.)
djhworld 9y ago
I most productive in the morning too, I get into the office around 8:20am and leave at 4:20ish. I can get the most work done between 8:20 - 13:00 or so, then lunch, then the productivity tails off after that
hbosch 9y ago
I'm the opposite. I try and get every meeting possible in before lunch time, then I eat, and then I work until I have to go home. If I were a manager, I'd probably have less control over this... but if someone asks to meet with me after 2p, I always make an attempt to just have that same meeting the next day at 9a or 10a.
notheguyouthink 9y ago
I'm definitely most productive in the morning. I do best when I can just get to work and get into something. If I should up to work mid day (perhaps, due to prior appointments) it's a struggle to get into work.
krylon 9y ago
Maybe the lesson here is not that working 13:00-18:00 is best for everybody, but that different people have different "peak hours", and forcing everyone to work a 9-5 40-hour week might not be such a good idea after all.

s73ver_ 9y ago

I think the point is less about which actual hours, but more about focusing on those hours that you are productive, making those count as much as you can, and not forcing yourself to work more during those unproductive hours "just because".

ubertaco 9y ago
I think you missed the part where those other, less-productive hours in my workday are spent in meetings with others. As in, that's part of my normal workday. And yeah, it may not be productive in the way I like, but it's necessary time to effectively collaborate. This idealized notion of "when I feel like it" workdays is particularly unrealistic in a workplace where you collaborate across timezones. I work best in the morning Eastern time, and I have teammates on the US west coast. If there's any chance of working with them instead of around them, I can't just say "eh, I'm less productive after 11am Eastern, so I'm just gonna call it quits."
- s73ver_ 9y ago
  No, I didn't. I'm just pointing out that the specific hours mentioned in the article are not the focus, but the idea that you should concentrate during your peak hours, whatever they are.

vvanders 9y ago

Yup 100% this. I shifted my schedule to early morning(6-7am) just so I could get 3-4 hours of uninterrupted work in before the onslaught of meetings. Highly recommend it.

davehtaylor 9y ago

I agree that the ideas aren't necessarily generalizable, but what if we shifted to an idea that people's individual schedules reflect when they specifically are most productive. Someone else who replied said they were most productive in the morning. Great! Let them have and earlier start time. For me, I'm completely useless in the morning. Sure, I can be in the office at 8:00am, but you're not getting any meaningful work out of me until late morning or noon-ish. So let me come in at noon and work until 6:00. And for someone else who is super productive in the evening hours, if they want to come in a 8:00pm and work until 2:00am, why not? I get that there are issues of collaboration or interaction that may be necessary. But in general, it seems like, as long as your job doesn't depend on customer interaction or some other constraint, why not let people work a schedule that suits their lifestyle, and lets them work when they are most productive?

nitrogen 9y ago
...if they want to come in a 8:00pm and work until 2:00am, why not? Part of the "why not" is a deeply ingrained belief in at least American culture that morning people are just "better" than night people. It's so ingrained that we mostly forget to talk about it and it's just assumed. "Early bird catches the worm" and all that. I once saw a workplace where there were night-person-friendly policies and schedules. Then one insanely morning person joins and wants to leave at 3:30 every day. Suddenly all of his scheduling preferences were presumed valid, and all night-person preferences had to be fought for and justified. So if you want to reach a world with truly optimal flexible schedules, first you'll need to wrest ownership of the culture from the "morning people are better" people who currently dominate it.
- dictum 9y ago
  > Then one insanely morning person joins and wants to leave at 3:30 every day. Suddenly all of his scheduling preferences were presumed valid Why wouldn't their preferences be presumed valid? It's as hard for the morning person to deal with night-person preferences as it's hard for a night person to deal with morning-person preferences. (Disclaimer: I'm a morning person and I'm not American.)

djhworld 9y ago

I most productive in the morning too, I get into the office around 8:20am and leave at 4:20ish. I can get the most work done between 8:20 - 13:00 or so, then lunch, then the productivity tails off after that

hbosch 9y ago

I'm the opposite. I try and get every meeting possible in before lunch time, then I eat, and then I work until I have to go home. If I were a manager, I'd probably have less control over this... but if someone asks to meet with me after 2p, I always make an attempt to just have that same meeting the next day at 9a or 10a.

notheguyouthink 9y ago

I'm definitely most productive in the morning. I do best when I can just get to work and get into something. If I should up to work mid day (perhaps, due to prior appointments) it's a struggle to get into work.

krylon 9y ago

Maybe the lesson here is not that working 13:00-18:00 is best for everybody, but that different people have different "peak hours", and forcing everyone to work a 9-5 40-hour week might not be such a good idea after all.