It would be an interesting study to find out when young entrepreneurs wake up in the morning and start working on their business. I don’t think that there is any golden rule for when to start work, but I’ve noticed that my best performance is usually early in the morning and late afternoon.
I’ve ran some experiments over the last few days to see if waking up a bit earlier, say 7:00, instead of around 8:30 would increase my performance and I did notice a slight increase.
I’ve spoken to a few young entrepreneurs in the past about the times that they start their days and some wake up around 9, some around 7, and some even 10 or later on some days.
The results definitely vary. I think that it all comes down to our internal clocks and when we perform the best during the day. Waking up early doesn’t mean that you’ll have more hours to work on your business anymore than staying up later does.
Some entrepreneurs will wake up around 10, but it’s likely that they’ll be working on their business to 2 AM. On the other hand, some may wake at 7AM and stop working around 5 PM. So it’s all relative.
What’s important is to find out what times work for you. If you’re naturally not an early riser, then don’t force yourself to be one. If you usually wake up very early, then stick with that. Each entrepreneur will have to find their own balance.
Sure, if you have school or other jobs that force you to wake up at a certain time then there isn’t much room to experiment. Nevertheless, you can still tweak your sleeping hours. When I was working a 9 to 5 and running my business at the same time, I knew that going to bed around 10 PM made more sense than 1 AM, because it gave me the rest needed to wake up before work to spend some time on my own business.
The one thing that you want to avoid is having to go through the entire day with that horrible feeling of being drained and wanting to fall asleep every 30 seconds. If that’s happening, then you’ll want to adjust your sleeping schedule.
Listen to your internal clock and focus your days around that. Your body will thank you and your business will be much better off.
What time does your workday start and end?
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I typically get up between 8 and 8:30 and start working immediately. I take a break around 9am and do some email/rss catchup and a take a walk. Around 10ish I get back to working hard-core and, with an hour lunch, finalize at 6pm. If I’ve got a ton to do, I usually hit it back up around 9pm until about midnight or 1am.
Man, I’m sick. heh.
I am most def an early bird, if I don’t wake up by 5 or 6 a.m. there is no way that my day would be as productive, if I were to wake up at 8 or 9 a.m. Ideally, this means I am in bed by 10 p.m., which frankly never happens due to college demands. Now that I am finally graduating, that’s certainly going change, and that makes me very very happy. Cheers to more sleep!
“Listen to your internal clock and focus your days around that. Your body will thank you and your business will be much better off.”
Good advice.
Ending a couple weeks ago, for a few months, I got up at 7:00 AM every single day. In bed around 10:30 PM, maybe later, and get 7-8 hours of sleep a night. I really liked being done with my morning routine earlier. Being done with my routine in the late morning and having the rest of the day (for the most part) to do whatever was the aspect of it I liked.
I hoped that my body would adjust, which is why I stuck with it… but, it didn’t. The aspect I didn’t like was that I’d wake up and feel tired more often than not. So, I just went back to waking up when I wake up. I don’t finish my routine as early… but, I don’t wake up tired. I get to bed around 10:30 to 11:00 PM and generally wake up around 8:00 – 8:30 AM.
Nate: That sounds like a very similar schedule as mine. I usually wake up around 9ish, though. When I wake up earlier than that, I’m pretty tired for the rest of the day no matter how early I go to bed.
Carolina: Yeah, you are quite the early bird. Can’t wait until your graduate…it’s almost over…the hell is almost over… hehe. Cheers to more sleep!
Patrick: Thanks. Yeah, every time I try to make my body adjust to waking up around 7:30AM, it never really forgives me until I return to my normal 9AM-ish time. I absolutely hate feeling tired all day, so I make sure not to force myself to adjust anymore…just going with my body’s natural flow.
Thanks for the comments guys!
I’m usually up between 9AM and 10 and stop around 1AM or 2. In between, I take a few hours for lunch and dinner (and spouse time), but otherwise, its a workaholic’s life for me!
Hey Josh, yeah same here buddy! 9AM is that golden hour for me. Oh, and how can I forget my lunch time — I love that hour. I have to admit, for lunch I usually watch TV for 20 – 40 mins… and just take it real easy…
I ussally go to bed at aroun 5 am or so, then wake up at 1 or 2. Im a night person..
I work from 10am-5am..