Proactivity linked to early risers

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New research suggests that productivity could be linked to those who are "up with the lark", while those who define themselves as "evening people" are likely to be less proactive in the workplace.

The research, which surveyed 367 student participants, found a correlation between their self-reported 'morningness' (measured by their answers to questions about how easy they find it to get up in the morning and how alert they feel) and their self-reported proactivity (measure by their agreement to the questions), was statistically significant.

This is because, while it is fair to assume that those who are able to spring out of bed at the crack of dawn are likely to feel more proactive, there has long been an assumption that any source of early vitality could be short-lived once the day really gets going.

In addition, according to the research, there also exists a so-called 'social jetlag' - caused by the mismatch between people's biological time-keeping and the demands of social time, such as the difference between rise times on weekdays (workdays) and weekends (days off). In fact, the research, it seems, found that proactivity is inversely correlated with this jetlag.

Geared up

As such the findings suggest that morning people really are more productive in terms of getting things done, which should be interesting news for HR managers; however, it fails to reveal whether this is down to an inherent energy and drive or whether the trend is instead linked to the fact that the working world tends to be geared more towards rising early, rather than working late.

And according to lead researcher, Christoph Randler, "Whether evening people could be more proactive in their lifestyles if they had less restrictive schedules (i.e., if they could start work later in the day) is a question for future research."

Nonetheless, Randler's study is far from being the first to look for associations between people's sleep habits and other personality factors. Evidence shows that previous research has drawn correlations between evening people and more extroverted personalities, pessimism and creative outlets; while morning people tend to be more conscientious.

Randler's full research can be found here: Proactive People Are Morning People.

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