Go back and review the previous chapter. Once you can consistently get to sleep on time every night, you’ll find that you’re getting enough sleep—finally—and your cortisol and therefore stress levels will drop. You’ll also find yourself in better health overall and feeling better.
A Word of Caution
Even though I’ve described the highly addictive nature of so-called tranquilizers and sleeping pills, along with alcohol, the reality is that we live in a “quick-fix” society. Antidepressants didn’t come along due to medical necessity; they came along because psychiatrists have largely changed their practice from weekly sessions of talk therapy to a monthly five-minute visit to get a prescription refill. Antidepressants are also extremely physically addictive, with a few exceptions like Wellbutrin.
My point is that you must avoid the temptation to look for the quick fix. I don’t doubt for one second that the majority of readers who saw the word “relax” had their minds immediately go to thoughts of a pill to make that happen. That’s the world we live in, and the strong desire for instant gratification has sadly extended to medicine. Instead of recommending medical hypnotherapy, or meditation, or deep breathing, or any proven relaxation technique, far too many doctors will whip out the prescription pad and hook you up with Xanax or another tranquilizer, and before you know it you’re hooked and can’t stop without running the risk of very dangerous withdrawal symptoms like seizures.
A final thought on stress: I’m not saying you have to eliminate it. No one can do that. You just have to work on managing and reducing it. It’s well known that being President of the United States is likely the single most stressful job in the world. That’s why presidents age so very rapidly while in office, and why health fanatics like George W. Bush end up with 95% clogged arteries thanks to chronically high cortisol.
It’s also why most presidents in recent history work out. That includes George W. Bush, as mentioned, his dad, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. I’m not so sure about President Trump, given his physique, but then again, he’s been living on the edge all of his life and being the president is probably just like any typical day at the Trump Tower office was for him in terms of stress.
Even when I met Congressman Paul Ryan, and asked how members from both parties are such good friends despite attacking each other on the floor during debate, he said half the reason is that they’re all in the Capitol gym every morning working out together! See, those guys know how to manage stress, too!
Morning Madness
In a truly just world, we’d be able to sue employers for the damaged health and shortened life expectancies their morning schedules cause us through elevated cortisol. While seemingly simplistic, the methods explained in this chapter do work for reducing both stress and cortisol. As always, check with your doctor before jumping head first into a new routine.
CHAPTER 15
How Flexible Work Hours Benefit Employers: Why Employers Who Force Morning Schedules Are Losing Money
The solution to the dilemma of the night owl, and the employer seeking top talent, is flexible work hours.
This has become popular overseas, particularly in Europe as well as in South America; however, the United States hasn’t caught on yet. We’re still stuck on the machismo, “early bird gets the worm” mythology. And yet, these very same employers who demand their employees show up first thing the morning are actually shooting themselves in the foot and are losing money.
Flexible Work Schedules Benefit Employers
First of all, flexible work schedules aren’t a pass for “laziness” or “slothfulness,” as American society would have us believe. Rather, they’re a way for employers to attract top talent—for example, I sure as hell wouldn’t accept a job offer that required me to be there no later than eight o’clock, and this would be the employer’s loss. In addition, flexible work schedules accommodate the natural sleep schedules of night owls, as well as avoiding harm to their health. With the legal industry always looking for new causes for lawsuits, and the evidence now piled up miles high that early rising really does harm to a night owl’s health and puts him or her at risk for premature death, it’s only a matter of time before lawyers get on the bandwagon and fight for our best interests. And I think that’s going to happen sooner rather than later.
The following sections offer some ways that flex work schedules benefit employers.
Heightened Employee Morale
As mentioned throughout the book, a happy worker is a productive worker. Why, then, would an employer deliberately and intentionally make a good employee unhappy, thus harming their productivity?
The biggest reason for providing the option of a flexible work schedule to employees is the simple fact that they’re going to be happier, more awake and alert, more productive, and, most important, will feel a sense of satisfaction and a distinct fondness for that employer. An employer can reduce turnover, which benefits the business.
I can tell you right now that, despite having unlocked the secrets to the sales profession, if I didn’t like my boss, I didn’t perform. Plain and simple.
Remember the best sales manager I’ve ever had, the one who explained that cold calling is a waste of time? He also didn’t require anyone to come in early. In fact, he didn’t care if we came in, or even worked at all, as long as we produced our numbers each month.
This is how businesses operate in the real world. When a business hires an outside contractor, or a management consultant, there is neither any requirement nor any expectation for that contractor or consultant to show up at eight every day. No, what matters is that the job gets done. And my old manager understood this. That’s why he had the top office in the entire West, and why he was able to retire very comfortably far in advance of his peers.
After he retired, a new manager came in with her ideas of “being on time.” The two other top reps in the office and I said, “Screw this shit,” lined up new jobs, and quit. In fact there’s been tons of speculation about what exactly caused the demise of Lucent Technologies. This was a large part of it, a shift away from performance-based work to hourly-based work and an expectation to be in the office even when there was no reason at all to be there.
Any employer who wants to attract the very best, top talent must begin offering flexible work hours! How do you think Silicon Valley manages to constantly stay on the cutting edge? Simple: It’s because it’s the only place in the United States where flexible work schedules are the norm. That’s right, they’re the norm, not the exception. There is no sleep-shaming in Silicon Valley and that’s why tech companies in other areas, those who utilize a strict, 8-to-5 work schedule simply can’t keep up, and meanwhile they scratch their heads wondering why.
Increased Sense of Fairness and Job Satisfaction
At the London School of Economics and Political Science, researchers Leslie Henry and T. Alexandra Beauregard found that a key element for an employee to achieve a proper work-life balance is that they’re being treated fairly and given the ability to make the most of their opportunity with their employer.
Why is this important? That one is easy: It’s because of the law of reciprocity. When an employee feels that they’re not being given the most favorable circumstances to prosper and achieve, they foster a strong sense of resentment against their employers, much like myself and the other top reps at my old job felt, causing us to, first, interview for other jobs on that employer’s time, and subsequently to quit without notice. (In that industry, even with a two-week notice, you got five minutes to get your stuff and get out, complete with a security escort. However, by law the employer still had to pay those two weeks’ salary, so they got screwed both ways—all because they demanded we be in every day at 8:00 a.m.!)
When an employer is providing favorable circumstances to prosper and succeed, just as my “best sales manager ever” did, employees feel a strong sense of appreciation, and, more important, obligation to perform at their very best for that employer.
In plain English, flex hours are a win-win for employers because they enjoy higher productivity and output from that employee, just as I set new sales records out of a sense of obligation to a boss who was giving me what I needed to succeed—flex hours.
Better and More Qualified Employees
While tons of employers will turn up their nose at this and self-righteously proclaim that a good employee is one who is in the office at seven, the truth is that the economy is flying high right now and prospective employees have choices. Here in the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex, as I write this, there is a shortage of available employees and about 500,000 good jobs that are unfilled as a result.
Here’s a wake-up call: If you’re an employer who requires a morning-based work schedule, you’re simply not going to get the talent you require in this strong economy. Top-talent night owls have other choices, better choices. They’re not going to just sit back and let you walk all over them with your “early bird gets the worm” bullshit.
Millennials in particular are strongly averse to morning-centric schedules, and they now make up about 35% of the American workforce—that’s over one-third! And contrary to popular belief, the millennials I know happen to have a strong sense that hard work and smart work equates to success, and many are very entrepreneurial. With the Internet at their fingertips, why would they work for you and drag themselves to work at 8:00 a.m. or earlier when they can start an Internet business, or find an employer who “gets it”?
If you want to attract top talent among millennials, you have no other choice but to offer flex hours. Sorry, but that’s the hard truth. I’m not here to give you a shoulder to cry on, I’m here to give you the truth. And as the old movie quote goes, if you’re still resisting this and demanding that everyone come in by eight, you can’t handle the truth!
On the other hand, if you make it clear that you can offer flexible hours in your job postings, you’re massively increasing the pool of available, top-qualified talent who will be willing to work for you.
Reduced Turnover
Turnover is a four-letter word for business owners and employers. It’s unbelievably costly, and in fact, one of the reasons my Never Cold Call Again® sales training programs have finally come to be embraced by employers is because dropping the requirement to cold call has a huge, positive effect on salesperson turnover, specifically because it’s well-proven and documented that a requirement to make cold calls is the number one cause of sales force turnover.
The happier, more satisfied, and more obligated an employee feels toward you, the chances of that employee leaving for greener grass drops dramatically. In other words, let them work when they’re feeling their best, and you won’t have to endure endless turnover like most employers do.
Studies have even shown that, particularly among younger workers, money isn’t the top factor they consider when choosing whom to work for, or whether to jump ship to a better job. No, flexibility is one of the top factors that’s most important to them, and by denying flexibility, you’re denying yourself access to top talent.
Fewer Sick Days or PTO Days
I can tell you from personal experience that I missed many days of work, at least at those jobs that demanded I be in the office by eight. That obviously caused the employer lost productivity, and cost me PTO days. Offering flexible work hours reduces absenteeism, plain and simple.
When I had flexible hours, I produced way above and beyond my sales quotas, regardless of whether I worked on any particular day or not. Smart employers look only at the numbers, not at the number of missed days and/or tardiness. In fact, “tardiness” is an obsolete word that applies only to school kids now.
In summary, by opting to offer flex hours, employers will have happier employees, healthier employees, more productive employees, more loyal and dedicated employees, less resentment, reduced turnover, and so many more benefits that there are too many to list here.
Morning Madness
Employers who are stuck on the macho “earlier is better” nonsense are actually hurting themselves in terms of lost productivity and revenue, and overall business success. The key to prospering in the twenty-first century is to offer flexible work schedules to employees. If you want to attract top talent, you must make it clear and apparent in job listings that flex hours are an option; otherwise top talent that isn’t interested in getting up before down simply won’t apply.
Epilogue: Night Owls Have a Huge Advantage over Early Risers
If you have suffered a lifetime of sleep-shaming, have been made to feel lazy or inferior or useless because you don’t jump out of bed before dawn, if you have lost good jobs or been unable to accept new ones because you’re a night owl, fret no more.
Night owls:
Are smarter than early risers
Are more creative than early risers
Are more resilient than early risers
Enjoy dramatically more productive hours each day than early risers
Are more productive than early risers
Don’t “crash” by mid-afternoon and can keep going and going.
Are more relaxed people, overall
And, of course, they have many other advantages over early risers that have been discussed in this book.
You’ve also seen the dark side of life as a night owl: the brainwashing society seems to subject everyone to, and the subsequent feeling of imprisonment by ostracized night owls. You’ve learned how early rising is significantly harmful to your health, puts you at risk for myriad severe illnesses, and will shorten your life expectancy if it’s not natural for you (and even if it is!)
You also know how to mitigate these health risks, how to make the most of a bad situation if you must rise early (though I hope you’ll find another job rather than continue to tolerate that), and you have endless facts at your fingertips to convince skeptics and sworn early risers as to why it’s not in their best interests to force you to continue to rise early.
In the end, night owls have a strong advantage over early risers.
We’re the creators of the world. The people who make things happen. The writers. The inventors. The agents of change. The smartest. The best.
I sincerely thank you for reading this book. If you’re a night owl, I hope you have the arsenal you need to both convince others of the truth, as well as to live better in a morning-centric society. If you’re an early riser, you now know the harm, particularly in regard to health, that forced early rising causes to night owls. I hope you will consider the interests of night owls rather than just yours alone.
Happy late nights to you!
—Frank J. Rumbauskas
Acknowledgments
This book was far more time-consuming and difficult to write than any of my previous four books, for the simple reason that it required tremendous research in order to back up the claims made within.
First off and as always, I’d like to thank my wife, Dana, and my two girls, Agnes and Maeve, for all the time I spent in my office working on this book, including on weekends. They will be the first to tell you that I’ve been coming home brain-fried for months and wanting nothing other than simple relaxation after many, many days of researching and writing.
On that same note, sitting in an office chair for greatly extended hours, even a great one like the one I’m in now, can make one’s back tight. For relief of back pain—permanent relief—I thank the late and great Dr. John Sarno, MD, for his groundbreaking work on the real causes and real solutions to back pain. If you suffer from back pain, to any degree, please check out his book Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection (Grand Central Publishing, 2001). I also thank my chiropractor and massage therapist, though I understand that their treatments have no impact on back pain but rather just feel good!
Special thanks goes out to Matt Holt and Shannon Vargo at John Wiley & Sons. I’ve only written business books in the past, and trying to sell a publisher on a book that covers brand-new territory, and away from what have been p
roven sellers for me, is no easy task. However, Matt and the editing team were very receptive, and once I was able to articulate the specific purpose of this book, they jumped on the opportunity to publish it. Thank you!
My physician, Dr. Anthony Lyssy, gets special thanks for giving me my life back after dealing with low thyroid and subsequently adrenal exhaustion. I also thank him for convincing me to give meditation another try after I’d given up on it, which has made a tremendous, positive improvement in my life. Thanks also to my ankle surgeon, Dr. Joseph Carr Vineyard, for installing that new ankle in early 2017 and literally giving me my life back!
Finally, my family, especially my parents, must get a lot of credit. Despite having to force me out of bed for years, they finally “get it” now. As much as I complain now about all the pressure to do well in school that I endured, my mom instilled a strong work ethic through that. And looking over my dad’s shoulder as a kid as he read Entrepreneur magazine allowed me to see the forest through the trees and come to realize that there are better and easier ways to make a great living than just a job. Thankfully the Internet Age has since spread that truth far and wide.
Last but not least, ironic as this may sound, I thank every boss I’ve had in years past who made me get up before dawn to be in the office by 7:30 or 8:00 a.m. You motivated me to create this book and save many others from the same hell!
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