Do Late Risers Only Catch Sloppy Seconds?

How do we look? Do we look okay? Meaning do I look okay?

Slamming.

Hey, it’s Marie Forleo and you are watching …

Marie TV.

The place to be, to create a business and a life that you love. And today, it’s Q&A Tuesday. Today’s question comes from Sia and she writes, “Hey Marie, there’s a saying. The early bird catches the worm. But I have to admit I have never been fond of mornings. Even as a child I loved my sleep and my most energetic hours are from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM or 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM at night. I sometimes feel judged and labeled as lazy by my husband and others because I’m not an early bird. I feel late risers get a bad rap and that I can be just as or even more productive than a person that gets up early. What do you think? Can this night owl catch a hefty mouse instead of a measly worm? Thanks, Sia.”

Sia this is such a divisive topic. That’s probably because we’ve all been conditioned to think that the only route to success is being an early riser. And I will admit late risers do get a bad rap. But here’s the thing. Each human being comes with their own chronotype, their own sleep preferences. Meaning we come pre-programmed to either be an early bird or a night owl. Now can you change this? In theory, yes you can, but it is very, very difficult to change your natural body clock. And the world does have an undeniable bias for morning people. I mean in stock photos, they’re always the ones having a great time like this. And night owls always look like this.

Night owls like yourself may always feel like you’re kind of at war with the world. I mean that’s because school schedules and work schedules often demand early starts and that can create something called social jet lag. You’re always feeling sleep deprived and you’re always feeling tired because you’re trying to adjust to a schedule that’s not natural to you. But here is the bottom line. It doesn’t matter whether you’re an early bird or a night owl, you can be productive and happy no matter what. And they both have their advantages and their disadvantages.

There are loads of productive night owls and a few famous ones include: President Obama, Bob Dylan, and French novelist George Sand. And great early birds like: Ben Franklin, Condoleeza Rice and Ernest Hemingway. So here’s the deal Sia. This whole conversation comes down to respect. You have to respect your own body clock and you’ve got to respect others. So when it comes to work and getting things done, really honor your most productive times and at the same time, honor those of people around you. Now it’s true that as a night owl, you’re going to have to work a little bit harder and be a little more accommodating, but that should just give you more fuel to kick some major ass and prove your husband and whoever else thinks you’re lazy, dead wrong.

You know what? Speaking of your husband, first thing you got to do is show him this video and the next thing you got to do is sing him this song.

(Singing)

So Sia, let’s wrap this up with a tweetable. “No human believes that any other human has a right to be in bed when he himself is up.” Robert S. Lynd.

Now I would love to hear from you. So late owls, have you ever tried to change your nature? Or if you embrace how you are, do you have any great tricks to share with the rest of us? And for all you early birds, what’s your experience like with the night owls? Do you have any advice to share with how you honor and respect the differences? Now as always, the best discussions happen after the episode, over in the beautiful comment section at marieforleo.com. So get yourself there and leave me a comment now.

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Stay on your game and keep going for your dreams because the world needs that special gift that only you have. Thank you so much for watching and I’ll catch you next time on Marie TV.

I’m a terrible boss. I make people get up. What you all seeing? I know you’re talking about me. That sounds dirty. I’m [inaudible 00:05:25] what? She stuck it in before I got there. Did I ever get awkward? Social lubricant and sloppy seconds. Nope, I’m done.