Are you an Owl or a Lark?

Vladimir Putin wakes up each morning at about 11 am. George Bush, a lark, wakes up at 5 am and goes to be no later than ten each night. Today’s New York Times styles section includes a story about early risers and what that all really means.

In the story, one professor in California gleefully relates how she wakes up at noon, going to bed no earlier than 2 am. Robert Iger, the new president of The Walt Disney Company, reportedly wakes at 4:30 each morning, goes to the gym, and is at his desk by 6 am. Brian Tracy, famous motivational speaker, maintains that anyone who works an extra two hours a day, in the super productive early morning hours, ‘is guaranteed to outstrip everyone else in your field.’

I have wrestled with both, living in two houses as I do. When I am in my house, I stay up really late, and yet always rise right at seven am. When I am at my girlfriend’s house, we always go to bed at about 10 and wake up at 6. I am happy with both, and I guess that the merits of larkhood is still in question.