Night Owl Or Early Bird?

So, what are you? An early bird or night owl? The reason why I ask is because the time of day affects my productivity a lot and I'm sure I'm not the only one out there. I think the majority of my friends are night owls. Working with computers a lot probably means we like to work when the internet connection is at it's fastest - when no one else is up to obstruct the lines! However, a handful of my friends are early birds as well. Many because of their job but some because that's just the way they function. One of my closest friends can never stay up late. She begins to get tired around the 10-11pm mark and goes to bed before she starts to get slightly cranky. Though she cannot stay up very late, she gets up early and starts her day at a decent time, getting the most out of the day. She works well during the day and relaxes in the evening. I envy her ability to do this, it would make many things much easier if working during the day worked for me.

Working at night is not completely down to internet speed though. I mean, if we ended up getting cable and the internet was fast all the time I don't think I would suddenly switch to working during the day. There's something I like about working at night. The silence, the ambient lighting and knowing there are less distractions like phone calls, TV, having to go out etc. allows me to get within what I call the "Zone". The "Zone" allows me to work continuously and my concentration is at it's all time high. I generally find this is particularly useful when it comes to video editing. I like to work very chronologically when I'm editing, so each section is crucial to how the next bit turns out. It's also much easier to edit to music than try and find or compose music to video (unless you're a very talented music composer which, unfortunately, unlike some of my friends, I am not). Therefore, working at night helps me sync my clips a lot better, as I tend to play it by ear a lot more than looking at audio peaks.

It's not just editing that works better for me at night either, I tend to write a lot better at night as well. Most of my best essays were written both under pressure and at nighttime - yes, a lot of my best work is also completed under pressure, for some reason my brain likes the challenge and words come to me better at that time. Shame this kind of work flow doesn't work the same when it comes to exam pressure.

So, my name is Milli Lo and I'm a Night Owl. This may all change one day - most likely when I get on the career ladder! - and I may become an Early Bird, after all, they do say it's the early bird that catches the worm. But for now, being a Night Owl suits me just fine.