Originally found at Psychology Today, by Zorana Ivcevic Pringle.

New research published in the Academy of Management Journal shows that there isn’t one best time of day for creativity. Rather, peak daily creativity depends on your chronotype – preferred times of activity and sleep. People vary on a continuum from strong morning types (most alert in the morning, going to sleep early) to strong evening types (most alert later in the day, going to sleep late) and tend to be most creative when they work in sync with their chronotype.

This research challenges the common advice that the best time of day for creative work is in the morning. Eminent creators often describe daily routines that start early in the morning. Writers Haruki Murakami and Sylvia Plath would wake up at 4am. Printer, politician, humorist, and inventor (among other things) Benjamin Franklin would wake up at 5am, as did the neurologist and writer Oliver Saks, anthropologist Margaret Mead, and writer Toni Morrison. If this schedule does not seem appealing (or even doable) to you, new research shows this is not the only schedule for creating.

Continue reading the original article at Psychology Today.

Read the original research in Academy of Management Journal.

Learn more about the AOM Scholars and explore their work:

• Jana Kühnel, University of Vienna
• Ronald Bledow, Singapore Management University
• Markus Kiefer, Ulm University