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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

#131

Post by lsc »

praptak wrote: post #47
randyrand wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 b…

Pager jobs at smaller companies are often not on shifts. Larger companies are usually much more realistic about it. Larger companies tend to give you shifts, along with the better compensation and more realistic expectations, at least in my experienice.

Legally, as an exempt employee, at least in California, my employer is in the clear. Hell, I believe they do it to hourly workers, too. I have worked in the computer industry my whole life, but I am told that it is not uncommon for minimum wage jobs to insist you come in at unexpected hours to cover unexpected events.

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

#132

Post by nostrademons »

mwfunk wrote: post #129
nostrademons wrote: post #96

Here I thought I'd be getting some validation for being a night owl. 4 AM is my most productive hour. It's just that I haven't gone to bed yet then. What's this "up before the sun rises" stuff? It's productive because the day is just coming to a close.

Same here. I assumed the article would be about someone who discovered the joys of being a night owl. I tend to head to bed around 1 or 2am, but if other life constraints allowed me to stay up later I almost certainly would. Once when I was in my early 20s I had a magical period of 2-3 months where there was no work, no school, and not really even social or family obligations. I would go bed when I was tired and wake…

Very likely true. There've been a few cave studies where they shield the experimental subjects from all natural light, and then time how long their "biological" day is. It usually ranges from about 23.5 hours to around 28, with an average of about 25. It varies significantly by person, but was not at all unusual for someone's cycle to be longer than 24 hours.

(Personally, my natural sleep cycle seems to be about 25-26 hours; I'll usually go to bed 1-2 hours later each night until I reset at some point.)

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

#134

Post by engi_nerd »

Broken_Hippo wrote: post #56
hashberry wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> Most people have highly adaptable bodies and can train themselves to be a "morning person". I disagree. If it were that simple (with some work, obviously), more would easily be able to train themselves to be "night people" to work overnight shifts. And my experience working nights disagreed. Some folks just cannot handle the sleep and waking times of the shift, others get to a point that they have trouble being pro…

Anecdata:

If it were possible to train yourself to be a morning person, then I would have done it by now after several years working 1st shift (8 AM start). Previously I was working 2nd shift (2 PM start). I never really have gotten used to getting up to be at work by 8 AM. I do it, but I always feel sleepy until about noon. Last week, I had to cover for an absent coworker and worked 2nd shift for the first time in years. All last week, I felt more alert, I was more productive, and I slept better.

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

#135

Post by StavrosK »

thegoodlab wrote: post #130
flanfly wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some years ago I started my day at 4 a.m. to exercise. While it worked, this kept me from having any social life outside from talking to coworkers. Getting a drink with friends in the afternoon is impossible if you want to keep this schedule, so I stopped. Being productive isn't everything in life. I'm only 30 but I doubt I will ever look back wishing I worked harder alone in my room instead of being with my friends.

Well getting drunk with friends in the afternoon doesn't seem like it's the answer to life either. I'm 31 and wake up at 5am during the week. Get to the gym before getting into the office at 7:30. Definitely have enough time to get drinks with friends here or there. I'm not staying out all night partying by any means, but there is certainly a way to make it work. “Looking back over a life of hard work … my only regre…

> Well getting drunk with friends in the afternoon doesn't seem like it's the answer to life either.

Wow, the GP didn't say anything about getting drunk, so you managed to turn his comment into "hanging out with friends isn't the answer to life either". I beg to differ, it's a big part of the answer.

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

#136

Post by cfallin »

nostrademons wrote: post #132
mwfunk wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here. I assumed the article would be about someone who discovered the joys of being a night owl. I tend to head to bed around 1 or 2am, but if other life constraints allowed me to stay up later I almost certainly would. Once when I was in my early 20s I had a magical period of 2-3 months where there was no work, no school, and not really even social or family obligations. I would go bed when I was tired and wake…

Very likely true. There've been a few cave studies where they shield the experimental subjects from all natural light, and then time how long their "biological" day is. It usually ranges from about 23.5 hours to around 28, with an average of about 25. It varies significantly by person, but was not at all unusual for someone's cycle to be longer than 24 hours. (Personally, my natural sleep cycle seems to be about 25-2…

I wonder if there's some control-theory reason why one's unsynchronized circadian rhythm is on average slightly longer than a day? Intuitively it seems that one might actually have more consistent synchronization with the solar cycle if upward pressure from a natural setpoint is balanced by downward pressure from end-of-day environmental signals (light levels, etc). Or in other words, the body has evolved a slight margin to allow for adjustability "in the field" via feedback loops.

But that's just a guess and I can't seem to find anything in a quick search... anyone know more about this?

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

#137

Post by passwordreset »

hehheh wrote: post #128
throwaway991199 wrote: post #16

Wow, remind me not to hire you for a job then. As an employer I am paying you to put my work ahead of yours. I am paying you to be productive so that with the collective production of the employees, the company can outmaneuver the competition. This lackadaisical approach and work-ethic means that, of course the mile high task list will always be there. It'll never ever get done!

I always put my employer's work ahead of my work. Please let me know where I can submit my resume, I have skills I think you'd find useful.

Beautiful!

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

#138

Post by ivansavz »

sliverstorm wrote: post #110
tinco wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never in my life drank even a sip of coffee, energy drink only a few times mostly during college. I have also never woken naturally before 9am. Literally as long as I remember even as a child before high school in the weekends I would sleep in when my younger siblings would rummage through the house the entire morning, much to my parents surprise. I don't doubt that it would be possible to be conditioned to wake…

I usually don't manage to fall asleep before 2am. That would probably be why you don't wake up naturally at 4AM Talking about waking up early puts the cart before the horse. It's really about going to sleep early, IMO.

Also, not eating before going to bed. An empty stomach before bed is (A) good for sleep, and (B) good for waking up early (without alarm).

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

#139

Post by jessedhillon »

StavrosK wrote: post #135
thegoodlab wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well getting drunk with friends in the afternoon doesn't seem like it's the answer to life either. I'm 31 and wake up at 5am during the week. Get to the gym before getting into the office at 7:30. Definitely have enough time to get drinks with friends here or there. I'm not staying out all night partying by any means, but there is certainly a way to make it work. “Looking back over a life of hard work … my only regre…

> Well getting drunk with friends in the afternoon doesn't seem like it's the answer to life either. Wow, the GP didn't say anything about getting drunk, so you managed to turn his comment into "hanging out with friends isn't the answer to life either". I beg to differ, it's a big part of the answer.

You guys are going to be really surprised by this, but I swear it's true: the answer to life is different for each person

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

#140

Post by dang »

throwaway991199 wrote: post #16

Wow, remind me not to hire you for a job then. As an employer I am paying you to put my work ahead of yours. I am paying you to be productive so that with the collective production of the employees, the company can outmaneuver the competition. This lackadaisical approach and work-ethic means that, of course the mile high task list will always be there. It'll never ever get done!

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12347100 and marked it off-topic.
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