夜貓子VS.早起鳥:職場前景誰更好
You know the type: As you're groping around the office kitchen looking for coffee, your perky colleague bounds in to tell you that her bike ride this morning was "awesome." Plus, she finished the presentation you two have to give next week. It's in your inbox (time-stamped 7:45 a.m.) should you ever make it to your desk.
下面的場景你肯定不陌生：你還在辦公室廚房裏迷迷瞪瞪地找咖啡，而你的同事卻精神抖擻地跳出來，跟你說早上騎自行車的感覺簡直“酷斃了”。而且，你們倆下週要做的演示文件，她也已經完成了，現在就躺在你的收件箱裏（時間顯示是上午7:45發送），前提是你還能摸索着回到自己的辦公桌。Sure, she's energetic (if annoying). But do morning people have a professional advantage over others?
很明顯，她確實精力充沛（雖然有些煩人）。但在職場上，“早起的鳥兒”真的要比同僚們勝出一籌嗎？The answer may be yes. As part of research published last year by Harvard Business Review, biologist Christoph Randler found that people who were most energetic in the mornings were more likely to identify long-range goals for themselves and feel in charge of making things happen. Other research has shown that such people get better grades in school.
答案或許是肯定的。在《哈佛商業評論》（Harvard Business Review）去年發表的一份調查報告中，生物學家克里斯托弗·蘭德爾發現，早晨精力最充沛的人更能明確自己的長期目標，更有把握實現自己的目標。另外，也有研究顯示，這類人在學校的成績普遍更加優秀。
While night owls may be more creative, "they're out of sync with the typical corporate schedule, " Randler told HBR. "When it comes to business success, morning people hold the important cards."
蘭德爾在接受HBR採訪時稱，“夜貓子”們可能更具創造力，“但他們與公司的正常安排不合拍。事關職業成就，晨型人總能佔得先機。”Here's why:
原因如下：Building momentum
積蓄正面能量Accomplishing things in the morning sets off a "cascade of success, " says Shawn Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage, and a "night owl" who "consciously changed my morning habits so I could get up earlier." He now starts his days by writing down three things he's grateful for, exercising, and sending a quick email to reconnect with a family member or friend. He says he enjoys all these activities, and finds that "if you're thinking about things you're looking forward to, that makes it easy to get out of bed." Then, "once your brain records a victory, it's more likely to take the next step and the next step." If your first major victory comes at 10 p.m. but your boss expects you to be at an 8 a.m. meeting, there's just not much time for getting things done.
肖恩·阿克爾認爲，在早上完成一些事情，能夠帶來“一連串的成功”。肖恩·阿克爾著有《快樂的優勢》（The Happiness Advantage）一書，他自己之前也屬於“夜貓子”型，後來有意識地讓自己養成了早起的習慣。現在，他每天睜開眼第一件事，是寫下讓他心存感激的三件事，然後鍛鍊身體，再寫一封簡短的電子郵件，與家人或朋友聯絡感情。他說自己非常喜歡早上做這些事，並且發現“如果你心裏有所期待，那麼從牀上爬起來就不是什麼難事。”然後，“在大腦記錄下一件成功完成的事情之後，很自然地，你會繼續做下一步，並一直進行下去。”但如果你在頭天晚上10點才完成一天中第一件重要的事情，而老闆卻要求你參加第二天早上8點的會議，那麼很顯然，已經沒有足夠的時間去完成其他事情了。'Pay yourself first'
優先保證重點Financial advisors tell people to transfer money to savings as soon as they get paid, because there will always be a reason why you can't put $500 toward your emergency fund at the end of the month. Likewise, there will always be a reason not to exercise at 5 p.m. A growing body of research suggests that will power functions like a muscle. It fails when used too much. By putting important-but-not-urgent activities like exercise, religious practices, or strategic thinking early in the day, you can knock these tasks off your list before your will power is exhausted by boring meetings or the siren song of the office vending machine.
根據理財顧問的建議，發工資之後，要儘早把錢存到銀行，因爲如果拖到月底的話，總會有各種各樣的原因導致人們無法在應急基金中存入500美元。同樣的道理，不要等到下午5點纔去鍛鍊身體？越來越多的研究顯示，人的意志力與肌肉在功能上很相似。如果過度使用就會出現問題。把一些重要但不緊急的事情放在早上進行，比如鍛鍊身體、宗教修行或戰略思考等，人們就可以提前把這些事情做完。否則等到開完無聊的會議，或者在辦公室忍受了一整天自動販賣機的噪音之後，人們早已筋疲力盡，想要做什麼事情都力不從心了。Minimizing distractions
儘量減少干擾Randeep Rekhi has an 8 to 5 job and also runs an online wine store called . "The physical location for the business is in California and I'm in Colorado, so the easiest way to communicate with other employees is via G-Talk, thus I'm always on it in case I'm needed, " he says. "This can get distracting at times, but working very early in the morning is great because all the other employees are asleep." Even if your colleagues are all early risers, they likely want to use this time to focus, too -- and may feel sheepish putting a conference call on someone's calendar at 6:30 a.m.
蘭蒂普·雷西有一份朝八晚五的工作，同時還在經營着一家名爲的在線酒水商店。他表示：“公司位於加利福尼亞，而我在科羅拉多，所以與其他員工最便捷的溝通方式就是通過視頻聊天工具G-Talk。因此，我得始終保持在線，以免有事情需要我處理。這有時候會讓我分心，但在早上工作的效果非常好，因爲那時候其他員工都還在睡覺呢。”即便其他同事也都屬於早起型，他們肯定也希望用這段時間專心做自己的事情。畢竟，要讓人家早上6:30參加電話會議，實在是不好意思開口呢？Clearing the way for family time
時間留給家人If you start work earlier, you may get done earlier, giving you a chance to spend the early evenings with your kids before they go to bed. Particularly for families with school-aged children who have to get on the bus early in the morning, evenings may be the only time everyone can be together.
工作越早開始，便能越早結束，也就有更多時間在孩子們上牀睡覺之前陪陪他們。對於有學齡兒童的家庭來說，更是如此。因爲，學生早上很早就得去趕校車，因此，只有在晚上，一家人才能聚在一起享受美好時光。These advantages are fairly straightforward, though that doesn't mean seizing them is easy. Amy Pietrasanta, who's worked in the publishing industry, notes that "I have successfully impersonated a morning person three times: when I was a swimmer in high school and college and had to go to morning practice, when I moved to California and (sort of) worked East Coast hours, and when I had babies who woke up early." Each time, "I have generally enjoyed the early morning, marveled at how much I could get done before I would normally get up, etc., etc., etc." But it never stuck. "I always go back to my true, vampire-ish nature."
雖然早起的好處顯而易見，但這並不意味着它們唾手可得。艾米·彼得拉桑塔曾在出版行業工作，她說：“有三次，我都做到了早起：第一次是我在高中和大學游泳隊的時候，當時早上要進行訓練；第二次是在我搬到加利福尼亞州之後，當時公司執行的是東海岸時間；還有就是我有了孩子之後，他們每天很早就會醒來。總體說來，我很享受那些早起的日子。我很驚奇，原來早起可以做那麼多事，而平時我在那個時間纔剛剛起牀。好處很多，但我從來沒法堅持。最後我總是故態復萌，重新回到吸血鬼一樣的夜間生活方式。”If that sounds like you, don't despair. "I know people who are high energy in the afternoon, evening, and late night who are very successful in business," says Laura Stack, a time management expert and author of SuperCompetent: The Six Keys to Perform at Your Productive Best. "The key is to be aware of what time you're at your highest energy level, because your brain is capable of doing higher-level activities in that range compared to other times during the day."
如果你也有類似的經歷，不必沮喪。時間管理專家勞拉·斯塔克說：“我認識許多人，他們都是在下午、晚上或深夜的時候最有精神，但他們的事業都非常成功。關鍵是要清楚自己在什麼時間精神狀態最佳，精力最充沛，因爲，與其他時段相比，在這一時間段，大腦能夠進行一些更高級的活動。”勞拉·斯塔克著有《超能力：高效工作的六大訣竅》（SuperCompetent: The Six Keys to Perform at Your Productive Best）一書。Whenever you're at your best, that's the time to focus on critical decisions, problem-solving or brainstorming activities, or anything requiring complex or detailed thought. Whatever you do, "Resist the urge to do fun, easy, trivial things or talk to your friends during your prime times," says Stack. "The trick is self-discipline," just as with rolling out of bed at 6 a.m.
不論精力最充沛的時段出現在何時，在這個時段都應集中精力，制定關鍵決策，解決問題或進行頭腦風暴，或其他需要複雜或細緻思考的活動。無論如何，斯塔克稱：“千萬不要把自己的黃金時間浪費在娛樂上，或做一些簡單瑣碎的事情，或者與朋友閒聊。關鍵是要自律。”清晨6點從被窩裏爬出來也是如此。
