Bedtimes for productivity?

[GBGames]

I've seen more than a few people suggest getting up earlier to work on your development for an hour before you go to work. I think that sounds good. I currently wake up at 6 and leave my house at 7ish to get to work by 8:30. I could just as easily get up at 5, work on my own thing for 45 min, then get ready for work.

But I currently go to sleep between 10PM and 11PM. Presumably I would need to go to sleep earlier, but then that cuts into what I can do in the evenings, which is when I usually get my own stuff done.

While I think that I can't really go to bed earlier without ruining my social life (after 5PM, I like to spend an hour or two seeing people socially), I would like to know what time you go to sleep, especially if you make use of the get-up-earlier-and-work-on-your-own-thing-then method. Do you normally go to sleep at 8PM during the week, leaving the weekends for late nights out with friends?

Thanks in advance.

[BigZaphod]

Everyone is different. If you're a morning person (which you might be from the sounds of it), then sure, grabbing some extra time in the morning to work might be a good idea for you.

For me, though, I barely function until after noon. Even if I fall asleep early and get up good and early (say, 8am :)), I'm usually mostly just drifting through life until after lunch. I'm not sure why this is. Even having a breakfast of some kind usually does not change anything. It is like I'm not fully awake until around 1pm or so. Then I can start working. Often I do my best stuff around 11 or midnight or later.

*shurgs* Everyone works slightly differently. So for me, if I was trying to make time, I'd stay up later and get up later. Of course that isn't always possible. For some reason our culture seems to make it easier to get up earlier and go to bed earlier rather than the other way around. So, if that works for you, you're lucky. :)

[monco]

You commute an hour and a half to work?? That's three hours wasted a day. Can you find something closer or move? Or work from home sometimes?

[Vectrex]

laptop solves all, 3 extra hours in the day! :D unless of course you drive, then it might be a tad difficult ;) in which case DAMN, i walk 2 minutes to work

[GBGames]

I know. I currently drive 45 min to my uinversity's campus, where I have a parking pass, and then take the train down for 25 minutes. Add in the overhead of waiting for the train and the like, and yeah, it takes way too much of my time just to get to work.

There is a train closer to my house that I can take directly downtown. I generally have someone drop me off there, and I think it shaves like 20-30 minutes off the commute.

I currently drive rather than save the time because I like being able to decide when I want to leave, especially when I have classes and make spontaneous decisions to stay later in the library or in a meeting. I am on break now, but when I drive, I can see my girlfriend since she lives much closer to the school than I do. If I took the train closer to my house, it would be much tougher to see her.

Moving isn't an option. I fortunately (and sadly) live with my parents, but it is cutting down on my costs. I only have to pay for gas for my car. Food and shelter is pretty much accounted for, and I'd rather save the $1000+/month than pay someone rent just to save time commuting.

I can't work at home since I am an intern and am doing the grunt work on-site. I could try to find something closer, but my neighborhood is not known for its IT industry.

Part of the reason I chose this job over the one I had before (which had only an hour commute) was that part of the commute involves the train. I can read a book or something while I wait, whereas before I just drove. I was thinking about getting books on tape, and I really should still do so since 45 min is a long time to just drive.

Taking into account the fact that my commute just sucks in general, I think that waking up earlier isn't really an option. Getting home after 6:30 or 7 would then only leave me with an hour or two at most to do anything. So my current situation, where I get home and have about four hours straight, is much better.

[Abscissa]

For me, though, I barely function until after noon. Even if I fall asleep early and get up good and early (say, 8am :)), I'm usually mostly just drifting through life until after lunch. I'm not sure why this is. Even having a breakfast of some kind usually does not change anything. It is like I'm not fully awake until around 1pm or so. Then I can start working. Often I do my best stuff around 11 or midnight or later.

I'm exactly the same way. (Which makes typical 9-5 work a tad difficult, but oh well... ;) )

[wazoo]

Just have a few kids.

That's what I did, and now I don't even need to sleep anymore. :)

200mg caffeine pills go a long way too. It beats actually having to DRINK an entire coke, while pausing to digest the carbonation..

[GBGames]

Well since this post got bumped, I think I'll take the opportunity to say that I've cut back my commute drastically. I was working with some numbers and I found that my commute was roughly 20 hours a week! That's 50% of my working/getting-paid-for time just to get there and back! So I did some research on my options. I didn't want to move out for various reason, but mostly because that would be too long term of a solution and I wanted something fixed now. But I decided to take the train (a different train system than I mentioned above).

Previous commute:
45-60 min to drive to campus parking garge
30 minutes to get to work

Current commute:
< 5 min drive to train
<30 min to get to work

Even better: the time I spend on the train is time I get to spend reading or doing other work. The ride back is a bit more crowded, but I can still read.

So now I can do more with my mornings, and I can get started on my evenings earlier, get to sleep earlier, etc. My commute time becomes my personal time rather than a time sink.

Downside: it costs more money.

But then I did some analysis. 20 hours a week is worth about $1000/month according to the current rate of pay I make. The train at the most costs $2.90 each way, so let's say $6 a day. But I get a bulk pass which is discounted. Still, even $6/day is well worth getting my time back, so I'm getting quite the deal.

Thanks, monco! While I've read other people say things similarly, your comment specifically has been sticking in my head for the past couple of weeks.

[robleong]

the time I spend on the train is time I get to spend reading or doing other work

You could also take the suggestion to work on your game on a laptop while on the train.

[GBGames]

You could also take the suggestion to work on your game on a laptop while on the train.

Unfortunately a month or two ago my laptop stopped working. As I didn't have the time to use one much anymore, I couldn't justify the expense. Now I suppose I can, but I think I will wait until after the holidays. B-)

Besides, I can't read at work, and I like to work while I am at home, so the train gives me some quality time to read books and magazines.