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4 a.m. Is the Most Productive Hour

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Re: 4 a.m. Is the Most Productive Hour

#41

looks like only 15% of american adults are awake at 4 am. ppl like to sleep in! http://flowingdata.com/2015/12/15/a-day-in-the-life-of-ameri...

Which is precisely why it's easy to be productive at that time in the morning - fewer people around mean fewer distractions.

From the article: By waking up at 4 a.m., they’ve essentially wiped a lot of those distractions off their plate. No one is expecting you to email or answer the phone at 4 a.m.

Re: 4 a.m. Is the Most Productive Hour

#42
post #34

I'm one of those unlucky types that have the hardest time waking up and getting going in the morning. Mentally I'm at 50% or less. Is there anyone else like this who's found techniques or other methods of overcoming the slow start?

Coffee, exercise.

Re: 4 a.m. Is the Most Productive Hour

#43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keep in mind I said "worthwhile". :) I wouldn't tell anyone how to value their time, but I certainly wouldn't tolerate an employer telling me what I could focus on during off-hours.

Well it's certainly worthwhile to the Japanese people that work at these jobs for decades. Otherwise they would not continue to do it.

Worthwhile probably isn't the best word to use here. Most do it because it is expected of them. Some people thrive with this mindset and others are SOL.

The work culture in Japan is a very extreme case and can't be used to prove that this type of behavior is common in other parts of the world. I would say the majority of companies in the US and in Europe do a reasonable job of respecting the personal lives of their employees--more so if they are part of a union.

Re: 4 a.m. Is the Most Productive Hour

#44
Only tangentially related, while I don't like having to wake up at 4, being out and about in town at 4 a.m. is a pretty enjoyable experience, especially on say a Sunday morning. I love driving through foggy streets as dawn is just starting to break, and the only other people around are gas station attendants and the occasional extra-early rising farmer.

Re: 4 a.m. Is the Most Productive Hour

#45
post #8

Who the heck gets productive within 1-2 hours of waking up? Sure, those hours are great for ingesting what has happened since the last cycle but not really for creating new value. Edit: I just realized I wrote this the wrong way. What I meant was that I can't imagine people being productive during the first 1-2 hours after waking up.

People who can produce the goods in 1-2 hours are that productive. >Sure, those hours are great for ingesting what has happened since the last cycle but not really for creating new value. Why?

Well, for starters because it takes at least 1 hour to eat breakfast, take a shower and get dressed + usually another half hour for the commute and some minor errands on the way.

Obviously that applies less if you work from home, since you can cut the shower and the commute.

Re: 4 a.m. Is the Most Productive Hour

#46
Interesting article!

The Rishi's and Yogi's in India always woke up at 4 in the morning. In the Hindu Yogic philosophy this time period is also called the Brahma Muhurta. If anyone is interested, you can read more about it here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmamuhurtha

and

http://hinduism.stackexchange.com/questions/537/what-is-the-...

Re: 4 a.m. Is the Most Productive Hour

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you believe you are hiring him for that reason, then I see why you felt the need to use a throwaway. You're buying his time and experience for agreed upon hours. You don't have the ability to make him put your work ahead of his anymore than you have the ability to make him put your work ahead of his family, personal life, education or retirement savings. In discussions like this I tend to fall on sympathizing with…

Of course, you're forgetting the most important part! People get paid for all sorts of reasons. If you are being paid specifically to put work in front of your hobbies, then that is your job! Think database uptime employees who are paid to get up in the middle of the night to fix a bug, etc. Heck, I even paid a friend to eat a shoe once; you can pay people to do all sorts of things. Paying someone to put work in fron…

"If you are being paid specifically to put work in front of your hobbies"

...then it is most probably illegal in quite a lot of countries. Labor codes exist for a good reason. Most people are a) employees b) not willing to put life ahead of work and c) not willing to be forced to by competition from desperate/workaholic co-workers.

Database uptime employees work shifts, so even they should not be forced to put life before work.

Re: 4 a.m. Is the Most Productive Hour

#48

This was obviously written by a "morning person." Like most engineers and other creatives, 4 AM is when I'm just starting to get my deep sleep (which peaks at 6-7 AM). 12-2 AM is the most productive time of the day for me.

To each their own.

Most people have highly adaptable bodies and can train themselves to be a "morning person." If a person were to stay up until 2AM, there's no way they'd want to wake up at 4AM. They would therefore see themselves as a productive night owl.

Re: 4 a.m. Is the Most Productive Hour

#49
post #41

looks like only 15% of american adults are awake at 4 am. ppl like to sleep in! http://flowingdata.com/2015/12/15/a-day-in-the-life-of-ameri...

Which is precisely why it's easy to be productive at that time in the morning - fewer people around mean fewer distractions. From the article: By waking up at 4 a.m., they’ve essentially wiped a lot of those distractions off their plate. No one is expecting you to email or answer the phone at 4 a.m.

unfortunately for me, all my distractions come from within my own mind :\
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