Are you someone who greets the morning with a smile and bounds out of bed excited to get the day started?  Or do you fight with your alarm clock for just a few more minutes of shut-eye because you stayed up most of the night reading, working, or just could not fall asleep?  It’s easy to make a distinction like this, right?  How else can you determine whether you’re a morning or night person?

Are you a morning person, also known as a lark?

• Do you generally need only one alarm to wake up each day? It sits right next to your bed, rings, you just tap it and you’re on your feet.  Or, do you actually wake up before your alarm goes off most days?  The sun is up; so are you.
• Do you enjoy the early hours before everyone else is up? It’s your quiet space, it’s peaceful.  If you’re out and about early, the streets are not congested, traffic is light, and you can actually hear sounds of nature.
• Do you enjoy early morning workouts? They energize you and help you prepare for the rest of your day.
• Do you think that lounging in bed is a waste of time?
• Your best time of day is early; you get most of your work done while others are working on their third or fourth cup of coffee.
• You’re cheerful in the morning. You don’t understand why everyone else is hovering around the coffee pot waiting for that first whiff and sip to start their days.
• Your job is to get the rest of your family up and ready to face the day.
• By early evening, you’re done and ready for bed.Staying up to watch a late movie or going out on the town?  Pass on that – it’s bedtime for you.

Are you an evening person, also known as a night owl?

• Is your alarm clock on the other side of the room, forcing you to get up to turn it off? Do you have more that one alarm set every day – at say, ten-minute increments? Your alarm is so loud it wakes the whole house, everyone except for you.
• Does the thought of an early morning meeting stress you out? If you have to get up early, do you have trouble going to sleep?
• If you’re going on a trip the next day, do you get a good night’s sleep? Probably not; you’re actually thinking about packing up and leaving for a night drive – you can sleep once you get to your destination.
• Is it a struggle to get to sleep almost every night? Your mind is busy planning things to do when the rest of the world is sleeping.
• You do your best work late in the day. When the rest of the office is gearing down; you’re just getting started and hitting your stride.  You’re a nighttime multi-tasker.
• Working out in the morning is not even a consideration.You have no energy for hitting the gym in the morning; but in the evening, that’s a different story.
• Your first priority in the morning is that cup of coffee to get your motor going. No one – friend, family, or foe – wants to face you until you’ve been appropriately caffeinated.
• Are you tired during the day? Does a quick power nap help you get through the day?  Is a weekend of sleeping late a perfect idea, a time to catch up on missed sleep during the week?
• Is your evening calendar full of things to do, places to go?

So, which one are you?  A ray of morning sunshine or a late night powerhouse of energy? Whichever you are, be kind to the opposite spectrum.  Perhaps tone down the morning greeting until your work buddy has that first cup of coffee. Understand the grumpy, good morning is not personal – their internal clock is still getting started.  For the night owl, tolerance for the cheerful morning person is a good thing.  There is that middle ground where the field is level and we all work together.  Good morning / good evening!  Whatever time your day actually starts – have a great one!