BIRDS OF A DIFFERENT FEATHER

BIRDS OF A DIFFERENT FEATHER
EARLY BIRDS AND NIGHT OWLS
TALK ABOUT THEIR CHARACTERISTIC BEHAVIORS
Carolyn Schur
Saskatoon, Canada: Schur Goode Associates, 1994
http://www.nightowlnet.com
186 pages, paperback, $14.95
ISBN 0-9698190-0-5

Reviewed by Lynne Lamberg

When she was growing up, Schur reports, her night owl habits drove her mother to distraction. In college, she gave up trying to get up for early morning classes, working through the night instead, attending class, and then going to sleep. After graduating, she enraged co-workers by not showing up at the office at 9 a.m.

A search for self-understanding led her to a medical library and writings on biological rhythms. Here, she learned that morningness and eveningness are inborn traits. You can change the way your behavior looks to the outside world, in the same way that you can color your hair, but you can't alter your basic biology. This was an immensely satisfying discovery: Schur no longer felt alone.

She still wanted better ways to survive in a 9-to-5 world. Talks with other night owls as well as early birds, some functioning well, and some, poorly, prompted this book. A human resources specialist, Schur sought to document "how night owls and early birds carry on their lives within the confines of their daily sleeping and waking rhythm--how they organize their daily activities, how they manage their family and work life, the problems they face and how they cope."

She informally surveyed more than 400 people, building her book around their experiences. Early birds, or larks, she found, did not depend on alarm clocks, and got out of bed as soon as they awakened. Owls, by contrast, needed alarms, and awakened slowly. Many had morning routines, timed to the minute; any small deviation would make them late. Larks found it easier to travel west, and owls, east.

Owl/lark differences can wreak havoc on a marriage, Schur suggests, if spouses ascribe motives to the other's behavior. "You don't love me because you won't get up to have breakfast with me." "If you were really interested in what I like doing you would come with me this evening." Thriving couples, she found, accepted each other's differences and found ways to adapt. They might tape television shows, for example, and watch them together at a mutually satisfactory time.

In the workplace, Schur found, early birds were praised for coming in early, while night owls were criticized for arriving late and not recognized or rewarded for working late. She makes a good case for flextime, suggesting it might enhance productivity. She also points out the drawbacks. As one executive related, "I need to have my secretary here when I'm here, even if that's not her peak time."

For those who can't adapt to conventional hours, a decision to "go with the flow," Schur suggests, may prove life-enhancing. Schur herself, now self-employed, happily runs her shiftwork consulting firm on a schedule of her own choosing. It's best to call her in the afternoon.