5 ms·

Living in Australia, I had a phase of working for US clients that often required early morning meetings (7am), but then the rest of the day was up to me. I'd of

Living in Australia, I had a phase of working for US clients that often required early morning meetings (7am), but then the rest of the day was up to me. I'd often do something a bit similar: Alarm for 6.50, slam down a bowl of cereal, and on the call at 7. Finish the call at 8, a bit of follow up stuff, then wander around in a daze until 11am, when I'd do a couple of hours work. Then I'd take the afternoon off, and settle back down to work around 5, and do my most productive work from around 7 to 11pm, then bed. I didn't love the early meetings, but I did like the bit where no one would bother me during my work day because they were all asleep. The trickiest times were when I had to catch both a 7am US west coast meeting, and an 11pm US east coast meeting on the same day. Hard to go straight to sleep after an intense meeting.

LilBytes 4y ago
Same experience as me, I'm living in Australia but my own clients (as well as my employers) are mostly in the US. Most of them are Mountain Time but there's clients on both east and west coast. I've told both sets of clients there's a pretty good chance I'm going to be still awake at 2AM AEST so book meetings for their morning time and I'll likely be able to attend, even without much notice. It probably seems a little odd to most but it's working well for me, I like 2AM AEST meetings. I don't like 7AM AEST meetings.
- texaslonghorn5 4y ago
  I've always thought it had something to do with the cyclic nature of my daily routine. At 7am I am preparing for a day of getting ready and working and cooking and driving and cleaning, so having to be fresh and ready for a meeting is another thing to do. But at 2am I have no other impending obligations; all I need to do is take the meeting and I already fulfilled all of those other things earlier in the day.
deviation 4y ago
Also an Australian here. Scheduling meetings to be respectful of both timezones is the bane of my existence... The # of times I've woken up at 6/7am or 10/11pm to cater for a director who's based in Austin or Seattle... I'm stressed even thinking back on it now. I love the freedom it gives me during my day (like you explained very well) but looking back, I'm not sure if it's even worth it at the end of the day.
insin 4y ago
I've lived in Australia while working remotely for a UK company for the last 6 years, so I was legally permitted to go "[chuckle] that's not a night owl - THAT'S a night owl" while reading the friendly article, brandishing my 6pm starts at it.
bamboozled 4y ago
I often travel to Asia for work which means I have meetings in the USA which start at 6am. It's absolutely insane how hard 6am meetings are for me compared to 7am or 8am starts as when I'm back in Sydney time. When I have to get up early, I'm just less productive, end of story.

LilBytes 4y ago

Same experience as me, I'm living in Australia but my own clients (as well as my employers) are mostly in the US. Most of them are Mountain Time but there's clients on both east and west coast. I've told both sets of clients there's a pretty good chance I'm going to be still awake at 2AM AEST so book meetings for their morning time and I'll likely be able to attend, even without much notice. It probably seems a little odd to most but it's working well for me, I like 2AM AEST meetings. I don't like 7AM AEST meetings.

texaslonghorn5 4y ago
I've always thought it had something to do with the cyclic nature of my daily routine. At 7am I am preparing for a day of getting ready and working and cooking and driving and cleaning, so having to be fresh and ready for a meeting is another thing to do. But at 2am I have no other impending obligations; all I need to do is take the meeting and I already fulfilled all of those other things earlier in the day.

deviation 4y ago

Also an Australian here. Scheduling meetings to be respectful of both timezones is the bane of my existence... The # of times I've woken up at 6/7am or 10/11pm to cater for a director who's based in Austin or Seattle... I'm stressed even thinking back on it now. I love the freedom it gives me during my day (like you explained very well) but looking back, I'm not sure if it's even worth it at the end of the day.

insin 4y ago

I've lived in Australia while working remotely for a UK company for the last 6 years, so I was legally permitted to go "[chuckle] that's not a night owl - THAT'S a night owl" while reading the friendly article, brandishing my 6pm starts at it.

bamboozled 4y ago

I often travel to Asia for work which means I have meetings in the USA which start at 6am. It's absolutely insane how hard 6am meetings are for me compared to 7am or 8am starts as when I'm back in Sydney time. When I have to get up early, I'm just less productive, end of story.