Night Owls vs. Early Birds – Wealthy and Wise?

“Early to bed and early to rise/makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.“  – Attributed to Ben Franklin, but really unknown.

It turns out that, not only is this old bromide not accurate, it may be just the opposite. In two recent studies (one of which is abstracted on the net, the other one is not) by the University of Liege and by a Japanese researcher Kanazawa (read the Liege abstract) night owls are actually better able to handle a day than the “larks,” who are up at the crack of dawn each morning.  And according to Kanazawa’s study, they are, generally speaking, people of higher intelligence than the “morning people.”  Both studies also showed that night owls tend to get more work done, and resist the pressure to sleep better than the larks.

But morning people still have an advantage in the business world.  The simple fact is that the business world tends to have a superstitious belief that there is virtue in being an early riser and that we night people are somehow a bit sinister, lazy, or morally deficient.

Part of this belief probably comes from our agrarian roots.  There is a real evolutionary advantage to getting up with the sun (or slightly before it) and working in the fields.  Now that most of us don’t work in the fields where we are dependent on the light of the sun to get things done, this advantage has vanished, and is only supported by societal belief.  In other words, there is no logical reason why business days must start at 7 AM rather than at 10 AM and end at 5 PM rather than 8 PM.  It is simply a tradition that forces people who do not function well in the morning to interact…often to their detriment.

This is something business should rethink.  Why?  Well, first of all there are a higher percentage of people who are night owls (20%) now than larks (10%), and a large percentage of people who can do either (70%).

Evolution is against the larks, however.  Kanazawa points out in the March 2010 issue of Social Psychology Quarterly (a peer reviewed academic journal) that, the more intelligent one is, the more one will adopt “evolutionarily novel” behaviors.  In other words, those with higher intelligence are more likely to adopt behaviors that lead the human race forward in evolution rather than doing it the way it has been done for centuries or eons.  So the people who moved from hunting and gathering into agriculture were, at one time, radical innovators, probably scorned by their communities.

This is the way evolution, both genetic and sociological, operates.  Those initially performing evolutionarily novel behaviors are scorned by the conservative society that is doing things the way they have always been done.  Sooner or later, as various behaviors become clearly superior, they become “the way we’ve always done it,” and the old, conservative standard is seen as antiquated or even barbaric.  Most of what we believe and do today will be seen as quaint, antiquated, or barbaric by our great grand children.

There are signs that the business world is changing in this arena, too.  Many smaller businesses have adopted much more flexible hours.  More and more small businesspeople are, themselves, night owls.  This correlates well with the fact that more intelligent people have a slight tendency toward being night owls rather than larks.  More intelligent people also are more likely to be entrepreneurs or independent professionals, rather than company people.

And this trend is increasing.  The current recession is forcing more and more corporate executives and corporate workers into finding alternative ways of producing an income.  For most of these folks, depending on friends and family or the government is simply not an option.

So the pressure of the recession is creating tens of thousands of new small businesses.

And this is a very good thing.  Small business accounts for the vast bulk of the GDP, is more environmentally friendly, and can better respond to the many changes that are occurring in society than the behemoth corporations.  These new businesses are being run by people who know how to pressure the government to make laws advantageous to small business, as is actually happening now.  The sheer number of small businesspeople who are turning activist can and will counteract the negative influence of large, hidebound corporations with their large dollar contributions.

Here’s another reality.  Younger people are much more likely to be night owls, and do not function, as a whole, well in the morning.  As we get older, we tend to fall more into the circadian rhythm of getting up with the sun and going to bed with the sun.  This is why really elderly people eat dinner at 4 PM and why assisted living centers aren’t much fun after 8 PM.

But the Boomers are retiring.  Younger people are going to be filling positions in droves.  And they are not as willing as we were to conform their body rhythms to the slavery of “the company.”  They’ll simply leave and find other jobs that aren’t requiring them to get up at 0 dark thirty.

So…night owls of the world — it’s our time to fly!  Contrary to old Ben, we’re brighter, we get more work done (and, thus, will be wealthier) and have more time in the day to hit the gym or do recreational sports…and will, therefore, be healthier!
And businesses of the world — wake up and smell the cappuccino!  Having workers come in late and work later will result in increased productivity and maybe even eliminate that 2 PM doldrums that most offices experience.

Contact John Heckers directly at 720.581.4301 or at jheckers@heckersdevgroup.com.