Does anyone else get extremely frustrated with the concept that night owls aren't productive or are lazy? I'm a freelance video game Environment artist and I've ALWAYS been a night owl. I naturally fall asleep around 1-2am and naturally wake up between 9-10am. I'm extremely lucky to work freelance where I can pick my own schedule yet I feel constantly pressured by society as well as my husbands earlier work schedule to get up and get to work at earlier times and feel “lazy” if I don't start working before 10am-11am.
Before I worked freelance I was absolutely miserable at my office job when it came to work hours. We would need to be at work 8-5 and I spent a good majority of that job battling insomnia during the week then completely crashing and sleeping 10-12+ hours on the weekend since falling asleep before midnight was near impossible for me. I tried every thing from exercise, meditation, sleepy tea, turning off electronics 2 hours early, etc. I even discussed this battle with my doctors and they suggested going on daily sleeping pills because I just simply could not turn my brain off. When I would get to work I'd be completely useless until around noon, I'd drink 2-3 cups of coffee and get tasks done so slow I might as well have not been at work. Now that I've been doing freelance for the past couple years and picking my own work schedule I feel SO much better when it comes to my natural circadian rhythm. I'm much more productive and more creative. Obviously there is the occasional 9am meeting which really isn't a big deal to do every once and awhile. I wonder what the world would be like if more employers let employees work a flexible schedule like this.