Kevan, well written and well said! I am definitely a night owl, but I do understand that a lot of my creativity comes in the mornings and at shower time!

The section about "limited willpower" is fascinating. We often confuse this with procrastination. I have found myself using up willpower and creative energy early in the day doing meaningless tasks, only to struggle the rest of the day to try and accomplish what I set out to accomplish.

is it possible to consider that the dude that wakes up at noon actually is writing in the morning...it's just that he is writing in HIS morning?

Just what I was thinking.

Whoa, deep insight, Vincent! I think you're totally right!

I'm definitely with the night owls. I have taken the milk out of the fridge at 8am and stared at it knowing I was supposed to do something but taking about 10 seconds to figure it out. Prior to noon, I have almost no willpower. If I don't want to do something and don't have a tight deadline I just can't get it done in the morning. Whereas afternoon and late evening I can totally tackle those things on my to do list I couldn't even bear to look at earlier.

Funny story about the milk! I've done the same, except at night. Guess we larks and owls aren't all that different after all. :)

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I'm the exception to this. I have a chronic illness that makes functioning in the mornings close to impossible. I depend on routine and I have my ideal schedule mapped out. So long as I stay to it I do great. I'm definitely in there with Frost.

Frost is good company to keep. :)

Hello Kevan, this is great research you did! It helps to know what Science is saying too. However, I'm really not a morning person and even if I wake up early, it doesn't help with my writing at all...even with complete sleep and all. So, I have to agree with the latter part of the article that talks about routine. That applies more for me and I believe, applies to more people too. I start work late in the afternoon and since I've been doing that every day, that's when my creative juices start flowing. And in my case, I get my best ideas before sleeping and not after dreaming. It's all about the routine for me, but great info nonetheless!

Have you tried experimenting with your eating habits (i.e. eating more or less before you go to sleep, or before you start working in the morning?) I've found that honey before bedtime (discussed by Seth Roberts here: http://blog.sethroberts.net... seems to make me more energetic and creative in the morning.

I'm exactly the same as you. If I try and focus on a task in the morning my mind wanders and I get bored really easily, but in late afternoon to evening I find it much easier to get work done and am generally more creative. We must just be night owls with a different routine.

Thanks, Azalea! I didn't want to leave off the part about routine because I know so many people who work the same way you do. There is definitely something to say about creating habits that help you work smarter (and more creatively :)

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Great article! I'm a night owl, as are many creative types. I know when I set up my "action area", regardless of the activity, (e.g., pen & journal, paints & canvas. or sweats & sneakers), my brain seems to kick into the corresponding gear.

Then there are those of us who don't have the luxury to choose optimal times to write. We snatch 20 minutes before the kids get up, half an hour after work, a few precious evening hours when our spouses are away on business. (God bless the spousal business trip.) I love science, and this is all filed under "good to know," but I grab it when I can, optimal be damned.

Don't know how you do it Melissa. You should be so proud of yourself. I have a friend who does so much in 15-minute slots. I think she's awesome. I am fmore like Gen. I need deadlines and then I just work away non-stop. Ouch! Not disciplined at all.

Personally I subscribe to the idea that we are much more than pieces of flesh--that there is an additional, crucial component omitted from the observations of Western scientists: the human spirit.

This is old news in the East--and has been for a least a couple of millennia.
"Thanks" to guys like Wihelm Wundt in the 1800s, we Westerners somehow bought into the idea we are just made of meat and synapses.

Things like willpower and drive and the like are much more likely to come from the spirit.

By considering that as a possibility we open the door to so many other ideas, if for no other reason, because we have removed the limitations from our thinking--limits which come from the fact that we are so certain we could only be these pieces of flesh.

That would explain why it is that once we get on with it (because we have to), the creative juices start flowing and we surprise ourselves even.

I like the way you think. :)

Interesting perspective! Would love to read more about this if you have some links ...

Haven't forgotten you! Just been swamped. Got your email. :)

Hi Kevan. Email me at 3a41e2b7@opayq.com (temp address) and I'll send you some stuff from my real email address.

I find that I am more right-brained late at night, and I'm more left-brained early in the morning. This means that I work on creative writing late at night, then in the morning, I go through the work from the night before to correct grammar, punctuation, etc. This leaves the afternoon and early evening free do do other things.

That's a neat system, Anne! It definitely makes a huge difference to recognize when you are most productive and in which ways (e.g., creative vs. analytic).

I'm much more of a morning lark, and I absolutely agree that my creative bursts manifest within the first couple hours after waking. Very interesting comparison of the morning lark & night owl with regards to writing.

I'm right there with you. Mornings are my best time of day.

GREAT info, THANK YOU!

ah... no wonder why...
Was always able to do homework better and form ideas when I wake up at 3am. Interesting!!

I prefer about an hour after I wake up, before my mind begins multi-tasking on everything else I will be doing through out the day. By the eve my creative energy has been spent on lesser tasks.

Ok so I just did a report on something for University, just to find out out I was doing it wrong, so back to the drawing board I go. However, it's currently 10:47pm (UK) and my mind is buzzing with ideas. I hate getting up in the morning, I despise it. Loath it even. But even with the reassure above, my mind is massively active, which it always is on a night. Which kinda makes it hard to get to sleep when you're thinking about if god is just some giant alien planet making monster....anywhos. I seem to have a high amount of ideas, but yet I'm struggling to find the motivation to be able to put them down on the, erm, screen.....I've already put it down on paper, but now having to alter, change and add the new information for the CORRECT way of the assignment, is just to hard right now. I've got no motivation to do anything with the ideas, but yet I've got tons of ideas as to what to do with the work and how to make it all link and and and....we'll you get the picture. What I want to know is, how am I supposed to now turn these ideas, into an actual report while being motivated so that I get the best out of it? I could Wait till morning, but then the assignment wouldn't be as good as it would be if I did it now. The again, I can't do it now because I don't have the motivation to do said assignment and work. So, erm, help? Please?

Excellent. I will now see to it that I set a particular time of day, each day for writing. I am fond of routine and I believe that this will certainly help me to create better content for my blog &the book that I'm working on. Currently, I write and/or explore creativity when I get the chance during the week and on the weekends I go all in. Typically, I like to start on Friday evenings then wake up on Saturday morning and get back to it...as for Sundays I write in the afternoon. With this type of sporadic schedule, I'm totally looking forward to developing my daily routine starting now! :) thanks for sharing.

The article that you linked to at the very beginning says that night time is best for creative works..

"We know that the creative mind is an early riser and that the editing mind sleeps in."
Generalizations like this are useless--so entirely wrong for night owls like me. I do my detailed, brainless, grunt work during the morning. I struggle with creative work even in the afternoon. Late in the day, things start to roll. I've had my best ideas and most profound insights from 11 pm to 2 am. (And Ben Tailby, I am definitely NOT a teenager.) Unfortunately, the only reason I'm working in the morning or even early afternoon is because #*^&$@* morning people have determined that this is the best time for THEM--and therefore for the rest of the world.

I'm with you!!

general Quote "if you dont have time in day, steal it from Night."

There's now a creative search engine, yossarian.co, that's designed to help with writer's block by returning lateral results rather than literal, unlike traditional search engines. It basically helps you to generate more ideas and come across those serendipitous 'aha' moments, faster.

I always find my most creative ideas come to me late in the evening or in the middle of the night. I'm better at taking in information in the morning but I find it easier to write and get work done after eating dinner at around 7-ish. Why do I basically do the opposite of what this article says should be correct? Is it because I'm a teenager and everything works backwards then?

If I don't want to do something and don't have a tight deadline I have my ideal schedule mapped out.

I'm a night owl, but since meeting my partner and moving in with him I've had to put my night time creativity aside and force myself to sleep as early as 10PM (I used to be up to 4AM).
I'm really not a morning person, and my comfort routine consists of my mail telling me what stories to check out and what people to answer and get back to. It's work but at the same time a time waster. Somehow it's so comforting that I have a hard time giving it up to writing. But honestly, since loosing late-night-writing, mornings are really the second best time for me to get things done. Not as good as in the evenings/night, but what other option do I got?
I've tried working after lunch, but it has really not been working for me :/

Thanks Kevan for the interesting facts about our optimal times of creativity and the inspiration that habits trump the clock.

Hum, this is VERY interesting :) I love the idea of the morning...but my body doesn't always seem to cooperate. I definitely get some of my best ideas in the shower though -ha! I'll have to try establishing a routine as you've suggested. Maybe that inline with Randy Ingermanson's 500 club and my next book will be done :D

I've written my best short stories in the early hours of the morning, after I've deprived myself of sleep for a whole day. Since I know this about myself now, I have gone without sleep on purpose so I can write better stories.

I'm more like Robert Frost. I like to sleep in some, then use the late morning for planning and social media checking. It's not until around 2 p.m. that I'm ready to write.

When do YOU write? Please tell me at http://pauljennynyc.wordpre... Thank you!

Great article. I've always felt that I write better in the morning. Unfortunately, I don't typically take the necessary time out of the morning rush. Interesting note on one's "groggiest time." I might just give that a shot!

My optimal time has shifted over time. I used to mostly work late at night -- I was a definite night owl. But my writing time shifted earlier and earlier, so now it's pretty much any time during the day. Of course, I now have three kids, 2, 4, and 7, and I am working full time, so my writing is more catch-as-catch-can.

There is also research that suggests that creativity is maximized when you are manic and analytical abilities are maximized when you are depressed -- which probably explains why this slightly bipolar writer is both a poet/playwright and an academic scholar. The good news is that no matter what my mood, there's something I can write!

Love this, Troy! Great insight into creativity. :)

I usually write best in the mornings, but occasionally I do find that at night the ideas start moving or the editing kicks into gear.