When I consulted for a Long Island market research firm in 2017-18, a development manager I worked with had an offset schedule where he got to go home at 3pm because he started off early. That was a pivotal moment in my journey to design the optimal work life as I realized that for knowledge work, all that’s needed is some overlap time everyday with co-workers, not really all of your time.
Once I got the chance, I tried a similar schedule. While living in Dallas on central time, I still worked an early eastern time shift, meaning I was able to close at 3pm local time. Having late afternoons to evenings free weren’t as great as I thought though, I ended up spending a lot of those hours asleep after work. Businesses like the bank had just an hour, so I had to scramble to make it there. My conclusion? having to work first thing in the morning wasn’t healthy. I need some me time to start the day.
Also, it meant exercising in the evenings, but my motivation dwindles as the day goes by so naturally a lot of workouts were missed. I think the feeling and motivation boost from exercise works better for me in the mornings to start the day.
Since I’m away from North America this quarter, I’m testing out starting work between noon and 3pm, and closing off about 9 hours later. So far, it feels great as I get my most productive hours in the day to focus on me. I can read, workout, learn, and run any personal errands before noon. It seems like I’ve been able to move work to fill up hours when I wouldn’t really be motivated to do much else. Also, I have more time to map out my work day subconsciously instead of rolling right into it. Jury’s still out, but so far so good.