Daily Blog - May 11th 2021

Most musicians I know consider themselves night owls. Claiming to be most creative and productive late at night. They also believe that they produce their best work at night. And they basically don't function at all in the morning, right after getting up early.

It's a cliché, but it's really what most musicians tell me. Up until 3-4 years ago I thought of myself like that, as well.

Today I want to challenge you to actually test it and find out for real

I'm not saying the whole "night owl" vs "morning lark" idea is correct. I'm not an expert on that subject, but I have my doubts that all three of those claims above are true for most people. 

They're probably not.

Going to bed early every day and waking up between 5am and 6am every morning was one of the best decisions I've ever made.

And almost everybody I know who tried it, as well as SO many famous and successful artists, writers, entrepreneurs, and creatives in general would agree.

I'm still creative in the evening or late at night

But I'm not really productive anymore at that time. And I rarely do my best work very late in the day or evening.

So after testing it and experimenting I've found that I get the best overall performance and results if I

• do the most challenging, deep work in the morning, pretty soon after getting up
• need rest, exercise and quiet time throughout the day to do my best work and stay objective. So I alternate intense, uninterrupted work blocks with rest, walk breaks and exercise and as soon as I notice a drop in focus, confidence or quality of output I call it a day and spend time with the family. 
• have the best ideas at night, when the kids are in bed or on lazy sunday afternoons. Often being tired seems to help with creativity, as well. As weird as that may sound. When I can't really focus anymore and my mind starts to wander, that's when it often happens.

What is it for you? Have you really tested it? Try getting up early for a couple of weeks and see how that works for you. Or the exact opposite if that's what you've done already. Experiment with different times for writing, producing, recording,  practicing, etc.

It's super interesting how important that stuff is and what a game changer it can be.

-Benedikt

PS: You'll also find these daily blog posts in my Instagram Stories: @benedikthain