Let me start by admitting the truth: In the 46 years of my life, I have never managed to wake up at 5 a.m. in order to do some productive work. The few times I attempted to do that, I failed miserably.

让我首先承认一个事实：在我46岁的那年，我从未设法在早上5点醒来做一些富有成效的工作。 几次尝试这样做，我都惨败。

With that said, for a long time, I considered myself a misfit in this era of competitive waking. Everyone from CEOs and CFOs to wannabe achievers brags about how early they get up and how much productivity they are able to squeeze into the morning hours.

话虽如此，很长一段时间以来，我都认为自己不适合这个竞争醒来的时代。 从CEO和CFO到想成为成就者的每个人都吹嘘他们早起的年龄以及他们能够挤入早晨的生产力。

Whether or not you want to admit it, rising early in the morning is linked with higher productivity and a brighter mood. As per various studies, early risers are punctual, creative, and healthier. The New York Times suggested that being an early riser is a mark of social success among the elite.

无论您是否愿意承认，清晨起来都与更高的生产率和更明亮的心情有关。 根据各种研究，早起的人守时，富有创造力且更健康。 《 纽约时报》暗示，早日崛起是精英社会成功的标志。

It was not as I like sleeping late, though. Since childhood, my biological clock has been built in a way that I get my sleep only in the later hours of the night in spite of my best efforts to sleep early. Mornings were never destined for me, as I could never truly succeed at getting up early to code, write, exercise, or even meditate, as my peers brag proudly about. And the few times I attempted to toggle my biological clock, I ended up tired, irritated, and burned out.

不过，这并不是我喜欢睡得晚。 从童年开始，尽管我尽力尽早入睡，但我的生物钟的构建方式只能在深夜才入睡。 早上从来都不是我的目的地，因为我的同龄人骄傲地吹嘘，我永远无法真正地成功地早起去编码，写作，锻炼甚至冥想。 几次尝试切换生物钟时，我都变得疲倦，恼怒和疲倦。

Is something wrong with me? Am I lazy? Am I destined to be unsuccessful?

我有什么问题吗？ 我懒吗？ 我注定会失败吗？

These were some questions that tormented me and made me feel like a misfit in today’s early-rising world.

这些问题困扰着我，使我感到自己在当今的崛起世界中不适应。

Until one day, when a friend advised me about the futility of my efforts. His point was simple. We are all trying to apply age-old idioms to the wrong century.

直到一天，当一位朋友向我建议我的努力徒劳无益时。 他的观点很简单。 我们都试图将古老的习语应用于错误的世纪。

Yes, early risers often quote Benjamin Franklin’s adage “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” But they conveniently ignore that Franklin lived in the 18th century when early rising was a necessity rather than a fad.

是的，早起的人经常引用本杰明·富兰克林的格言 “早睡早起，使一个人健康，富有和明智。” 但是他们很方便地忽略了富兰克林生活在18世纪，那时早起是必须的，而不是一种时尚。

In those times, without electric lights, people would structure their day around the rising and setting of the sun. Sleeping late meant you would lose precious time to plant or harvest crops, travel, or do all of the other work that required daylight. And the interesting thing is Franklin never advocated early rising to be successful. However, he did mention resolution:

在那个时期，如果没有电灯，人们将围绕太阳的升起和落日来安排自己的一天。 睡得晚意味着您将失去宝贵的时间来种植或收割庄稼，旅行或进行所有其他需要白天进行的工作。 有趣的是，富兰克林从来没有提倡早日崛起成功。 但是，他确实提到了解决方案 ：

“Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.”

“决心执行你应该做的事； 毫无疑问地执行您要解决的事情。”

Therefore, the key to productivity is to decide what you want, know what you need to do, and be determined to follow through on those actions. Resolution is the single action that separates the dreamers from the doers. Productivity only depends on how you complete your goal. When you do (day or night), it does not matter.

因此，生产力的关键是决定您想要什么，知道您需要做什么以及决心执行这些操作。 解决是将梦想家与行动者区分开来的唯一行动。 生产力仅取决于您如何完成目标。 当您这样做时(白天或晚上)，这都没有关系。

And here is how you can be productive while working at night.

这就是您夜间工作时如何提高工作效率的方法。

制定时间表 (Devise a Schedule)

Stephen Covey rightly said:

斯蒂芬·科维(Stephen Covey) 正确地说 ：

“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”

“关键不是排定日程安排的优先顺序，而是排定优先级。”

You have read about CEOs and whiz kids in the Silicon Valley who only claim to sleep four hours a night. All that is rubbish. A healthy body needs 7-8 hours of sleep to function properly. Therefore, as a night owl, you need to figure out the sleeping pattern that works best for you and work out a schedule around that.

您已经读到了硅谷的CEO和神童，他们声称每晚只睡四个小时。 所有这些都是垃圾。 健康的身体需要7-8个小时的睡眠才能正常工作。 因此，作为夜猫子，您需要找出最适合自己的睡眠方式，并制定出适合自己的时间表。

For example, I sleep at around 1 a.m. every day. So my most productive hours are between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m. when I can work without distractions on my programming and side hustles. I also use this time to work on the most difficult tasks of the day so that I can be better prepared for the upcoming day.

例如，我每天凌晨1点左右入睡。 因此，我的工作效率最高的时间是晚上9点至凌晨1点，这时我可以不受干扰地安排编程和工作。 我还利用这段时间来完成一天中最艰巨的任务，以便为下一天做好更好的准备。

In the same manner, I changed the time of my exercise routine from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. There is no reason to believe that exercising would be ineffective in the evening. In fact, I have always felt more creative after a vigorous exercise routine.

同样，我将日常锻炼的时间从早上6点更改为晚上7点。没有理由相信晚上锻炼会无效。 实际上，经过剧烈运动后，我一直觉得自己更有创造力。

The key is to find out whatever works best for you and build your schedule around it. Fighting against your natural energy patterns is futile. Instead, make use of them and embrace them to realize your full potential.

关键是找出最适合您的方法，并围绕它制定时间表。 对抗自然能量模式是徒劳的。 相反，要利用它们并拥抱它们，以实现您的全部潜力。

让自己感觉就像在工作 (Make It Feel Like You Are at Work)

Ali Krieger hit the nail on the head when she said:

阿里·克里格(Ali Krieger) 说 ：

“You can control two things: your work ethic and your attitude about anything.”

“您可以控制两件事：您的职业道德和对任何事情的态度。”

The problem with attitude — whether good or bad — is that it reflects on your work and ultimately your productivity. So if you are half-sleeping on your bed, lounging in pajamas, and attempting to write killer code, you will never be able to do that. If you are serious about achieving anything, your demeanor should reflect that.

态度(无论好坏)的问题在于它会影响您的工作，并最终影响您的生产力。 因此，如果您在床上半睡，躺在睡衣上并试图编写杀手级代码，那么您将永远无法做到这一点。 如果您认真对待任何事情，那么您的举止应该反映出来。

For example, you might think a TV blaring in the background is a good idea. But every time you switch channels, it might break your creative flow and you might end up wasting precious hours.

例如，您可能认为在后台闪耀的电视是个好主意。 但是，每次切换频道时，可能会中断您的创作流程，最终可能浪费宝贵的时间。

Similarly, if you are working remotely, it is very hard to feel good about yourself if you are working in a dirty T-shirt and sprawled across your bed. Dressing to work is as important as doing the work itself.

同样，如果您在远程工作，那么如果穿着肮脏的T恤并躺在床上，很难感觉良好。 着装上班与工作本身一样重要。

Time wasters like checking their cell phone every few minutes, which can kill their productivity and dilute the seriousness of their goal.

浪费时间的人喜欢每隔几分钟检查一次手机，这会浪费他们的生产力并降低目标的严重性。

Let’s not forget that Apple’s Tim Cook, Disney’s Robert Iger, and Starbucks’ Howard Schultz all reportedly start their days between 3:45 and 4:30 in the morning because they are able to get focused, distraction-free time in the morning. The key here is the focus.

别忘了，据报道，苹果公司的蒂姆·库克，迪斯尼的罗伯特·艾格和星巴克的霍华德·舒尔茨都在早上3:45到4:30之间开始他们的一天，因为他们能够在早上集中精力，不受干扰。 这里的关键是重点。

尽力而为地安排最困难的任务 (Schedule Your Most Difficult Tasks at a Time When You Perform Your Best)

William James rightly said:

威廉·詹姆斯(William James) 正确地说 ：

“It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task, which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome.”

“这是我们在艰巨任务开始时的态度，这将最重要地影响其成功的成败。”

It is ultimately an attitude that makes us procrastinate and avoid difficult tasks. And it is the same attitude that enables us to complete the difficult tasks in our most energetic times.

最终，这种态度使我们拖延并避免了艰巨的任务。 同样的态度使我们能够在最充满活力的时代完成艰巨的任务。

For example, I hated going to the gym because I was forcing myself to wake up at 6 a.m., which went against my natural circadian cycle. However, once I rescheduled it to 7 p.m. in the evening, I started enjoying it, as it boosted my energy levels and improved my mood.

例如，我讨厌去健身房，因为我强迫自己在早上6点醒来，这违背了我的自然昼夜节律。 但是，一旦将其重新安排到晚上7点，我就开始享受它，因为它可以提高我的精力水平并改善我的情绪。

That is why business consultant and coach Brian Tracy asks us to “eat the frog” in our most energetic hours:

这就是为什么业务顾问和教练Brian Tracy要求我们在最精力充沛的时间内“吃掉青蛙”：

“Mark Twain once said that if the first thing you do is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that that is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long. Your ‘frog’ is your biggest, most important task, the one you are most likely to procrastinate on if you do not do something about it.”

“马克吐温曾经说过，如果您要做的第一件事就是吃活青蛙，那么您就可以满意地度过一天，知道这可能是一整天都会发生的最糟糕的事情。 “青蛙”是您最大，最重要的任务，如果您不做任何事情，您最有可能拖延这一任务。”

And before you go to sleep, plan out the next day in advance. As productivity expert Mike Vardy explains in his book Night Owl, end the day with the least consumptive, mindless, or repetitive tasks so that you can save complete time for the hardest tasks in the most creative hours of your next day (or night, in your case).

在您入睡之前，请提前计划第二天。 正如生产力专家Mike Vardy在他的《 夜猫子》一书中所解释的那样，一天结束时要消耗最少，无意识或重复的任务，这样您就可以在第二天(或晚上，您的情况)。

总结思想 (Closing Thoughts)

Remember, your greatest successes will come from leveraging your strengths. Broaden and improve your strengths by finding new ways to use them: Change your work schedule and pursue meaningful assignments in your most productive hours that bring the best out of you.

请记住，最大的成功将来自于发挥自己的优势。 通过寻找新的使用方式来扩大和提高您的优势：更改工作时间表，并在最高效的时间内追求有意义的任务，从而充分利用自己的优势。

And with some careful planning and a great routine, you can harness the creativity of late nights and make them super productive. After all, the key to productivity is achieving your best possible performance in your best possible hours with the least effort possible.

借助一些周密的计划和出色的例行工作，您可以利用深夜的创造力，使他们的工作效率更高。 毕竟，生产力的关键是在最短的时间内以最少的努力获得最佳的性能。