Learn to Accept Your Energy Cycle

Are you an owl who flies at night, or a lark who sings at dawn?

Some people are night owls. Some people are morning larks. When you know which type you are, you can use that information to improve your energy cycle and to work more effectively with others.

If you’re a night owl, you take about two hours to really wake up, and you tend to run on autopilot until then. Sunlight, exercise, protein and showers will help you to wake up faster, so get them into your morning routine if you can. In the mean time, plan your mornings before you go to bed. Finish tasks the day before they’re due. Lay your clothes out the night before an important meeting. Have a protein rich breakfast ready for yourself when you wake up, or else you won’t eat before noon. Night owls start to fly as the day progresses, so you should set aside your evenings and afternoons to do any important work. After all, that’s when you’re at your most creative and energetic. But you should also be watchful of the late nights. Owls take a couple of hours to wake up, and they take a couple of hours to wind down. More than anything, owls need a bedtime ritual, or they will be flying all night.

If you’re a lark, you need no bedtime because your eyes begin to close as soon as the sun goes down. They also pop open instantly at dawn, sometimes as early as four in the morning-a concept that amazes most owls. Mornings are a lark’s golden and most productive hours. The typical lark will already have worked several hours before the average owl hits his snooze alarm. But larks are tired and ready for a nap at noon, just as the owls are waking up. If you’re a lark, plan your day accordingly and take a catnap in the afternoon to pull yourself through the slump. If you don’t have time for a nap, try sitting in the sun for fifteen minutes; you’ll feel an energy boost. Also avoiding eating carbohydrates for lunch. Carbohydrates make you want to sleep, while protein gives you energy.

In dealing with people who are your opposite, you should be aware that when you are feeling clear, excited and energetic, they are probably feeling tired, cranky and befuddled. So be patient and try to meet each other in the middle. Basically, we each have our own individual styles. We need to understand and honor our styles, because fighting what we are is a lot like swimming up stream. Too much effort, for too little progress…

From A River Worth Riding: Fourteen Rules for Navigating Life, by Lynn Marie Sager copyright 2005

You can find more about this topic on Navigating Life’s website. Simply go to http://www.navigatinglife.org, and visit the Galley for links to our full articles.

Lynn Marie Sager has toured over two-dozen countries and worked on three continents. Author of A River Worth Riding: Fourteen Rules for Navigating Life, Lynn currently lives in California; where she fills her time with private coaching, public speaking, and teaching for the LACCD and Pierce College. She runs the Navigating Life website, where she offers free assistance to readers who wish to incorporate the rules of worthwhile living into their lives. To read more about how you can use these rules to improve your life, visit Lynn’s website at http://www.navigatinglife.org

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