Staying Up Late

I often end up in a weird sleep cycle where I sleep at a very late time and wake up during the late morning or even during the afternoon.

This usually isn’t because I “work better at night” - I actually feel like I probably work worse at night. Or rather, if it’s too late in the night, I subconsciously slack off more or can’t focus as well.

And it isn’t because I “prefer to be awake at night”. I do - it’s cooler and quieter - but that’s not the reason.

No, it’s because I keep trying to push to achieve more in a day.

Let’s say I’m sleeping at a ‘normal’ sleep schedule - waking up early, sleeping before midnight, whatever. If I’m not happy with what I achieved during the day, I try to squeeze in a little bit more by staying up late.

This has a knock-on effect of making me wake up later (assuming that I don’t have a commitment to attend to).

Repeat this enough times, and suddenly I’m waking up during the middle of the day, and heading to sleep at around the same time that the sun is beginning to rise!

I end up having to do a ‘correction day’ where I stay awake for longer and sleep at a ‘normal’ time.

I don’t think that this is necessarily healthy. I think that I need to learn to “let it go” and just achieve more the next day; I’ll probably be more refreshed and eager to work.

The main reason that I don’t do that is because I’m in a “flow state” during the nights when I choose to push the sleep schedule, which I wouldn’t necessarily be in during the morning.

So I’d guess that it’s easier for someone on a “Manager’s Schedule” to maintain a regular sleep schedule than someone on a “Maker’s Schedule”; the maker has a real need for a ‘flow state’.

Maybe I should try it the other way. If I want to “push” to achieve a little more, I should note what I need to do, go directly to sleep, but set my alarm for an hour early to get it done?

Food for thought.

Yes, this was published at 4AM. I’m on a night owl schedule right now.