I’m a night owl, so I am most productive at night. In the morning, I’m pretty much useless. The earlier I get up the more useless I am.

In the morning, everything distracts me. I’m all over the place, skipping from one blog to the next, trying to decide whether I want to use cinnamon or peppermint creamer in my next cup of coffee, opening new browser windows only to forget what it was I was going to look up. I’m a real mess until I’ve had at least three cups of coffee, and even then I’m not as productive as I’d like to be.

I get more done between 10pm and midnight than I get done all day. Part of this can be attributed to fewer distractions at home, such as email, client phone calls, etc. Still, I really do feel better at night, and that’s when I’m more focused.

I had an email conversation with Katharine a few weeks ago, and one of the things we chatted about was how we’d both experimented with our work schedules so we could stay up later and wake up later. I truly get more accomplished that way.

My groovy sleep-late schedule got ruined recently, because I now have two daily jobs I have to deliver before noon. Because of the nature of these jobs, I can’t do them the night before the way I’d hoped I could when I took the jobs. The situation’s really bumming me out on one hand. On the other, I’m holding out hope that I’ll adjust to the new schedule and eventually get more productive during my extra morning hours.

I’m curious, when do you work best? When would you choose to work if you had the option? Are you already working at the time of day you’re the most productive, or are you stuck adjusting like I am?