Hasta La Gadget!

(source: Mary Meeker KPCB 2016)

The line between digital and physical is blurring. Nowhere is this more evident than retail, as established brands like Walgreens and Burberry up their digital game to attract new customers while online players like Amazon and Warby Parker continue expanding offline with physical stores opening in major metropolitan areas.

It’s clear new technologies and strategies based on well managed APIs, cloud infrastructure, and agile development practices are behind much of the transformation we’re seeing in retail, but how — and why?

To better understand these trends and implications, my employer, API management provider Apigee, recently examined the patterns driving API digital transformation across 30 global retailers, 700 individual APIs, and nearly 100 billion API calls. These findings have recently been published in the Apigee State of APIs in Retail report.

Having had the opportunity to work with dozens of Fortune 500 executives on their digital transformation efforts, API management, and multi-cloud strategy over the past few years, I’ve found that many companies still struggle with thinking strategically about APIs and digital initiatives management. The findings of Apigee’s State of APIs in Retail report, which I outline below, provide a roadmap for any company launching digital initiatives today.

Start at the Core

The first finding of the report is simple and straightforward: Customers and partners want to do business with companies for the exact same reasons they always have — and APIs simply make this faster and much easier.

APIs are a foundational technology for digital commerce. They allow retailers to create new digital services and experiences as retailers evolve from web to mobile. As illustrated below, executives in retail — and indeed any sector of digital commerce — are well served by skipping the planning phase and jumping right into building the following “core” APIs on day one:

/Product API

Customers want to know what you are selling. Make it easy for them to find out! This is exactly why Product APIs exist.

Most retailers operate a patchwork of backend systems housing various key pieces of information about their products: SKUs, descriptions, catalogs, inventory, and price, to name a few. As any retailer who has undergone digital transformation can tell you, untangling the mess is no small feat.

According to our findings, stitching these various pieces together into a easily consumable Restful API is the clear first step for introducing APIs in a retail setting. This enables retailers to use the API to power rapid development of mobile and web apps, and partner or affiliate programs. It’s a core building block of building modern digital retail experiences.

/Location API
Once customers know what they can buy, the next thing they want to know is where to buy it. Retailers certainly want to give them the option to buy right then and there on their device, but many customers want to see items in person before purchasing. How do companies help customers find their nearest location? Location APIs.

Across the board, Location APIs are a core API for nearly all retail and commerce businesses leveraging APIs to build digital experiences.

/Authentication API
Security is the lynchpin of a great digital experience. Using an OAuth2 authentication API is a key step towards ensuring the safety of the customer’s and the enterprise’s security. It’s no wonder this is one of the very first APIs every retailer puts into place.

/Fulfillment
Fulfillment is where the customer’s digital experience with a brand crosses over into the real world. Did the product get delivered in time? Is flex fulfillment like in-store or curbside pickup an option? Are there integrations with a third party delivery service? Like Product APIs, Fulfillment APIs often take an enormous amount of complexity and hide it behind a simple interface. This way, developers can focus on creating the experiences, not navigating the nitty-gritty of an enterprise’s data model.

/Profile
Every retailer want to know their customers, and the customer wants that too. Profile APIs help retailers show users what they have purchased (or otherwise prefer) and make it possible to provide personalized offerings that are relevant to their individual tastes.

/Cart /Payment
All of this interaction between the customer and a retailer’s products is great, but at the end of the day — transactions are at the heart of any business. Customers want a product or service, and retailers want them to complete the purchase. Today, however, creating a simple way for customers to select items and purchase by credit card, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or any other transaction method is table stakes.

When it comes to building digital programs in retail, the data is clear: show customers relevant products and services, make it easy to get more information about any product, make pickup or deliver fast and seamless, and make dead simple to complete the transaction.

The Path to Platforms

Great digital retailers don’t stop with few core APIs. Findings in the State of APIs in Retail report reveal a clear maturity pattern for retailers building digital experiences as they go from a few initial projects to a more mature program, and eventually a full-blown platform.

Once the initial set of core APIs are built, retailers become more advanced in their digital offerings and add functionality that provides even deeper levels of personalized engagement and customer loyalty, as well as enhanced security features.

No matter the type of retail business, the most advanced API programs in retail leverage the exact same types of data flows to drive great customer and partner engagement. APIs serve as an abstraction layer that makes clear the commonality of the experiences retailers are looking to provide their customers.

Even more importantly, APIs underscore the fact that the difference in digital prowess is not a function of simply having this or that set of capabilities, but rather how well an enterprise leverages these capabilities to create value for customers and the firm.

The State of APIs in Retail report offers a great visual overview of these capabilities. Note in the graphic below how many capabilities — not just the core set — can be used to across a variety of use cases. This clearly illustrates the value of making each individual capability simple and easy to use; doing so means a retailer can quickly create, test, and scale new customer experiences.

Leverage Ecosystems to Escape Constraints and Accelerate Digital Business

Sometimes the data you can’t see says more about a market than what’s immediately visible. In addition to retailers building APIs themselves, there is a large and rapidly-growing ecosystem of APIs designed to complement and augment the core capabilities of retailers is cropping up today as well.

Increasingly, it makes more sense to leverage the APIs of third-party service providers rather than building bespoke systems. Why build mapping when you can get it from Mapquest? Same goes for processing payments with First Data or Vantiv, creating loyalty programs with Belly, or shipping with Pitney Bowes. These companies and others are helping retailers move faster and focus on what matters — building great digital experiences (before the competition does).

The growth of this ecosystem is where much of the exciting work around business model transformation with APIs begins. It also underscores the extent to which the future of retail will be constrained by a brand or retailer’s ability to execute heavy weight IT functions. Once only available to a small few, the rise of API ecosystems makes shipping, payments, loyalty programs, credit and other components of digital are available ‘as a service’ to the entire sector.

Implications for Healthcare, Financial Services, Telcos and others

The competitive imperatives of digital are forcing brands and retailers to lead the way in innovating their business models and adopting APIs, cloud infrastructure, and faster methodologies to provide customers with great experiences — but this trend is well on its way to disrupting the other industries too.

At the end of the day, we are all being trained to expect fast, easy, self-service access to products and services — and whether they’re ready or not, companies operating in healthcare, financial services, telcos and others sectors are being driven to respond. While there are clearly differences in the specific use cases customers will require of these service and product providers, executives in these industries have much to learn from their colleagues in the retail space.

Irrespective of the industry, customers want to engage with a company around the products and services that are relevant to them, and they expect the entire experience is delivered simply, quickly, and securely with minimal friction or hassle.

How will they do it? By looking to the retail industry while creating and managing APIs with very similar capabilities as described here.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

This woman celebrated her big 3-0 by raising funds to support other women.

Mallory Brown traveled to Ethiopia for her 30th birthday with the goal of raising $30,000 in one day, as part of CrowdRise’s 24-Hour-Impact challenge. The funds would go to providing job training and materials for 30 women in the rural village of Chapa, Ethiopia, to start their own businesses.

“I’m celebrating my 30th birthday today, not with my friends toasting over champagne or dancing until dawn, but with 30 women I’ve just met in Ethiopia,” she writes in a blog about the fundraiser. “During my travels, I’ve felt more and more connected to women. Women are mothers, teachers to their children when they can’t afford school, and doctors when there is no hospital. Helping a women will help her family, which in turn, will help her community.”

Brown blew past her target, with more than $35,000 donated so far, and counting.

Around one in three people in Ethiopia is living in poverty, according to the World Bank. In Chapa, families are living on less than $2 a day, writes Brown.

The funds raised by Brown will serve to kickstart three businesses, which 30 women will run themselves, according to a video on the CrowdRise page. A livestock business will breed farm animals to sell their products on the market; a mill house will process grains into food products for the women to sell; and a beauty salon will provide haircuts to men and women in the community.

To sustain the projects over the long-term, Brown is partnering with local nonprofits Begin with One and Children’s Hope Chest, who will help provide training and supplies to the women involved, according to her blog.

Brown co-created the 24-Hour-Impact challenge with CrowdRise, and this is her fifth 24-hour fundraiser. Her previous campaigns include raising more than $27,000 to fund a barbecue serving homeless individuals in Detroit, and $15,000 to provide eye exams to people in Kro Bei Riel, Cambodia.

“I’ve struggled like every millennial has to find connection and meaning,” Brown writes in the blog. “I’ve never questioned that my efforts, while they may be small in scale, are massive for the individuals they impact.”

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Wow. What a time to dredge this up again, Roland.

Roland Emmerich, the director of the 2015 box office epic failure “Stonewall,” which attempted to bring the story of the 1969 Stonewall riots to the general public but was panned for it’s problematic approach, recently gave an interview to The Guardian about his upcoming sequel to “Independence Day.”

The director received heavy criticism in 2015 for his depiction of the events at Stonewall, with many critics claiming the film whitewashed the Stonewall narrative and erased the drag queens, transgender patrons and queer people of color present during — and largely responsible for — the rebellion. 

In The Guardian interview, Emmerich is, once again, dredging up old criticism of the film — and thereby offending an entire community while doing so. 

“My movie was exactly what they said it wasn’t,” he told The Guardian. “It was politically correct. It had black, transgender people in there. We just got killed by one voice on the internet who saw a trailer and said, this is whitewashing Stonewall. Stonewall was a white event, let’s be honest. But nobody wanted to hear that any more.”

Not only is this inaccurate, but somehow Emmerich is still managing to engage in whitewashing queer history almost a year after his film flopped.

Even worse, “Stonewall” wasn’t just a whitewashed mess. Emmerich also went on record to say that he chose a “straight-acting” character in order to appeal to straight audiences — an inherently problematic idea within the queer community.

While Emmerich may be gay, he really needs to learn the role of an ally when attempting to tell the stories of queer people of color. Yield the platform when the community you’re trying to represent offers a critique of your form of representation — and, please, don’t continue to defend your offensive actions a year later.

Do better, Hollywood.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Yes, it’s a universal fact! And nobody can deny it! In fact, nobody can add an extra minute or even a second to their day! For some people, especially bloggers, writers or even many others, this is indeed sad news! I mean, the hours allotted in an hour is not sufficient to fulfill most of their day job!

The 24 hours in a day is not sufficient to do many of our activities! Yes, I am sure this is not only the problem with bloggers, but it’s a problem with many of the busybodies in different fields!

I asked the following questions to some of the busybodies in the world of internet, especially to the blogging experts and entrepreneurs from around the world.

How does sleep or lack of it, influence your productivity? And what is the best time you use for your writings?

Here we go…

I love to sleep. I love to be awake. Two different worlds experienced in a 24 hour period. One can not function without the other and yet so many have challenges balancing their days to get enough sleep.

We all have 24 hours in a day. How we decide to use them is always a great discussion. But here’s what works for me and I’ll also answer the question about being productive and how sleep or lack of it can influence it.

I absolutely must have a minimum of 6 hours of sleep every night. I do try for 8! If I get 7 hours, I’m happy. Six or fewer hours of sleep makes me wake up groggy and I’m not as clear headed in the morning and feel like pulling the covers over my head to fall back to sleep. But I must get up because I go to the gym for a morning swim and weightlifting to start my day just about every day at 7:00 AM.

Sleep for me is being able to enter another realm of my existence. Often I use it as a tool to solve problems or get ideas. Sometimes I’ll ask a question before I sleep and at times, I’ll dream the answer in symbolic dreams.

For Example, when I was in Nursing school I was very insecure about treating patients and working with doctors. I kept having dreams of making mistakes, being yelled at, etc. The more secure I got with my training the less upsetting the dreams were and they got to a point where they reflected my new found confidence as a professional Nurse.

Dreams are valuable and informative. They are not spooky – they just reflect what’s going on in your life and can be a great source of comfort, healing, and guidance. That’s how I view my sleeping experience.

When it comes to productivity, lack of sleep will kill most of my motivation or inspiration because I’ll just want to slow down and curl up and nap. So getting my 7 hours of sleep daily is the best.

Productivity is a commitment of sorts too. And I think how one uses their time during the day can impact productivity. So if I’m distracted by surfing the internet and groggy from a lack of sleep – heck my day is pretty unproductive. However, I use an egg timer to keep me on track. I set it on an hourly basis and I am always amazed at how much I get done! Why? Because I’m focused on one task at a time.

Everyone is different in finding their own sleep/wake balance. Sleep is vital not only for productivity but for overall good health as well.

~ Lesly Federici ~ LeslyFederici

I always try to rest at least 8 hours, because I know that a lack of sleep may influence my productivity.In the case of fatigue during the day, I have a special weapon: power naps.

A short sleep, lasting 20-30 mins, restores my mental alertness and replenish my energy, so to complete all my work and commitments during the day.

My best productivity time is the morning. I find working in front of a computer a valid reason to stay fit. I do exercise every day. It can be a gym workout, a walk or some jogging. Even skydiving during the weekends helps me stay fit!
~ Erik Emanuelli ~ NoPassiveIncome

Whenever I don’t get enough sleep I lose my discipline and I stop following my calendar properly. Most of the day goes to waste. That extra hour I stay awake at night to finish off something ends up ruining the next 24 hours of my day.

I don’t really have the best time for writing. As long as the place is quiet and I know what to write I can write.
~ Zak Mustapha ~ FoolishnessFile.Com

This is the topic I am an expert in…maybe even the expert! At the best of times, I have always had difficulty sleeping. But the past few months I’ve been working onsite at a client’s offices off in the big city, which has meant that my time for family, running the business and serving other clients has often kept me up late.

As it happens, yesterday was my daughters’ singing classes. Each one has an hour. And my wife had to stay late at her office. By the time I had picked her up and gotten home, it was Then we had to work on taxes past midnight because she was heading out of town. So at this moment, I am pretty fatigued.

How this affects my work can be described in one word: concentration. I have had to put off some brainstorming for a client because I just cannot concentrate well enough to him justice. And the client deserves nothing but the best!

Ironically, when I wrote about the ‘health risks faced by writers’, fatigue was not one of them. I mentioned sitting too much, eye strain, headaches, backache, repetitive strain injury, overeating, and depression, but somehow I left out too little sleep. In a few minutes, I’m heading to bed – a little earlier than usual. 🙂
~David Leonhardt ~ THGMwriters

First, let me say, that I am awesome at sleep.
It’s one of my best skills.
My head hits the pillow — and boom! — I am out for the count in seconds until my alarm goes, however, many hours later.
That said, I don’t always sleep as much as I should.
It isn’t because of blogging… my blogging is a secondary activity. My primary focus — as always — is on freelancing… running an online, service-based business.
In the early days, when I did longer hours for less money, it was quite common to sleep only 3-6 hours a night. Sometimes less. I’d try to “catch up” one day a week, but I was rarely successful. I can’t say it hurt my productivity any. I certainly got a lot done. But it wasn’t sustainable, and I often found myself stressed, with a headache, and limited patience. My mental health was affected more than anything.

The key, back then, was to do my writing first thing in the morning when I had the most energy for the day. Still, to this day, I do my best writing first thing in the morning. Then again, I work far fewer hours these days. I have better clients. I earn more. I have paid help. I don’t do it all on my own, so it’s pretty rare that I don’t get a full 7-8 hour of sleep each night.

~Brent Jones ~ BrentJonesOnline

Lack of sleep affects productivity to a greater extent because when you are feeling sleepy or didn’t sleep well last time, concentrating on the work is almost impossible. I have faced such situation many times in which I had to do some urgent work which was supposed to be completed by that time, and my eyes were not opening due to lack of sleep. I used to try a cup of tea to stay awake and complete the work, but to be honest; I was never got successful and ended up leaving that work in the middle.

Nowadays, I have changed the way of my working. When I feel sleepy, I don’t do any work and prefer to sleep because once I complete my sleep, I can work with more concentration and better productiveness. If I have not completed my sleep, I find tough to work. Even if I do some work with sleepy eyes, there is nothing like productivity. The work is done in an untidy manner which I don’t like so better I complete my sleep first and then work.

I work from home, so I have freedom to fix my schedule of work. I mostly work at night from 10 PM to 3 AM. In this period, I use to do the tasks that need more concentration such as writing, keyword research, backlink analysis, etc.

In the daytime, I work from 1 PM to 6 PM mostly. In this period, I check my emails, talk to clients, research, reading, and other tasks that need comparatively less concentration.

I would suggest everyone not to compromise with sleep because without proper sleep you cannot work well and there will be nothing like productivity.

Apart from all this, lack of sleep has many health dangers. So better, take a sleep of 7-8 hours and stay fit.
~ Atish Ranjan ~ TechTricksWorld

I sleep at least 6 hours at night and do power nap throughout the day whenever it’s needed. Getting sufficient sleep time maximizes my energy and helps my mind focus better, which in turn maximize my productivity in work. Morning (I usually start my day at 7am) is my best time to write.

~ Jerry Low ~ Web Hosting Secret Revealed (WHSR)

Having been in the online marketing space for 20 years now, I’ve made a lot of adjustments to my work schedule over the years. When I first started out, I was just a kid in high school and worked after class and into the night. Later on, I worked later in the day and throughout the night. These days I now work throughout the day and rarely into the night.

Point being… everyone has their own schedule for what works best. In terms of writing, I would have to say it’s all about “being in the zone”. Sometimes you feel like writing content, and other times you don’t. Those times that you are in the zone, you can pump out some great work in a short period of time!

Whether it’s writing content or working on ad campaigns, I would say that a lack of sleep is something you wouldn’t want to be trying to do your best work on. I don’t have a specific time that works best for me, but I do try and break the day up with different activities like walking my dog or playing basketball to keep the motivation and creativity flowing. Sitting in front of the computer for too long of a time can really put a drag on productivity.

~ Zac Johnson ~ Zac Johnson

Trying to be productive with the lack of sleep is like trying to jump on one leg in a straight line while fat leprechauns are trying to head-butt you.

In other words, getting enough sleep is VERY important regarding your productivity.

Studies have shown that the majority of people are the most productive the 2 first hours after they get out of bed. Those two hours are called The 2 Golden Hours. However, some people are more productive during the evening, while other at night.

The point is finding out when YOU are the most productive, and then block out those two hours for your most income generating tasks (read: writing) for your business.

I work on my most income generating tasks every single day from 8-11.30 am.

Being productive is what helped me to get featured on 158 blogs in my first 14 months of blogging.

~ Tor Refsland ~ TheTimeManagementChef

I had insomnia for many years. This issue was caused by stress and the sedentary lifestyle that I had been living. My sleep has started to improve a lot in the last few months because I started to have more confidence in myself and took more action in solving my problems, not just complaining about them. I used to spend every night lying in my bed for 2 hours, trying and hoping to fall asleep. I now sleep 8 hours a night, from 12 pm to 8 am.

I don’t work at night because I can’t focus well and I don’t feel productive. I prefer to wake up early in the morning with a clear mind and work on my projects.

Here are a few tips you must follow if you want to improve your productivity:

• Have a regular sleeping pattern of 6-8 hours per night
• Eliminate the stress by taking action towards fixing your problems
• Play sports
• Have a healthy diet (eat lots of fruits and vegetables, don’t smoke, don’t eat junk food and don’t drink alcohol)
• Figure out which time of the day you are most efficient
• Focus only on the daily tasks that you need to do and don’t let other concerns distract you.

~ Minuca Elena ~MinucaElena.com

When I write any content, I look for a peaceful place and I think night is the best time to sleep as well as write content because no one is there to disturb you, No phone calls or no sounds at night so it the best time for me to write content. And surely the lack of sleep sometimes affects my productivity too.

But I take care of health properly, whenever I sleep late in the night and then woke late in the morning and do all my physical exercises in the evening. I mean for a blogger it is more important to do exercise regularly for about an hour. Sitting day and night will affect the health.

So, I have made a schedule for doing different things at a different time, like Doing blog commenting and promoting the blog in the day time and writing content in the night when no one disturbs.”

~ Robin Khokhar ~ TrickyEnough

I’m actually able to function quite well with minimum sleep, however according to my Fit Bit, I do average around 7 hours sleep per night. I’m usually exhausted and mentally drained by the evenings. Running an online business and taking care of a family is pretty exhausting stuff.

I’m at my most productive from the moment I step into my home office in the mornings, after some serious coffee fix. Before I take a care of anything else in my business, I focus on blog writing. So from 9am to around 1pm, I’m just writing and doing nothing else.

I keep to that routine and it works wonders for me. My mind is fresh and alert, I can focus without procrastinating. I know I’m creating something of quality and not something half-baked because I’m too tired or have too many distractions to write.

~ Fabrizio Van Marciano ~ Magnet4Blogging

No Doubt, Sleep is essential for a healthy life. If I am not getting enough sleep, that means a minimum of 7 hours in the night the next day will be horrible and that will surely be a less productive day. That day, I can’t fully concentrate on the things I do, and make mistakes. So in most of the time, I keep this in mind and try to get enough sleep in the night. By any chance, if I miss that measure, I will try to compensate that with a quick cat nap in between. 🙂

Yes, I can very well say that these cat naps are really a wonderful medicine! LOL

Yes, in nutshell ‘a minus sleep will surely bring out a minus productivity’!

Coming to the second question, there is no fixed time as such, but whenever the idea comes in I jot it down on a piece of paper and later transfer it to the computer in the word format, though this is the case, often I make this into a shape in the early hours of the day say in between 4 AM to 5 or maximum of 6.
~ Ann Phil Verghese ~ AnnIsBlogging

Less sleep does not mean simply how short your sleep is. It equally means how uncomfortable or stressful sleep you take. A very deep and comfortable sleep of four to five hours is better than seven to eight hours sleep with a few breaks into it with the lack of comfort on your bed, body or mind.

So instead of lengthening the sleep hours it is better to comfort your sleep by taking proper diet on proper time, doing exercise or walk and thinking positive and doing more and better.

Yes, less sleep does affect our productivity but instead of worrying about it, we need to correct the basic fault that lies in taking an uncomfortable sleep. I pointed above how we can make our short sleep better than the one taken for quite long hours.

I do most of the productive work early in the morning but for doing this my age factor equally counts a lot. Usually, people above 40 gets so punctual of going to bed and rising from the bed but for teenagers, it is quite difficult to adopt a proper schedule because they equally have to enjoy more than an aging person.

So the best time for doing any productive work is after taking a very comfortable and deep sleep. It could be any time in the morning, evening or in late hours. Yes for doing any productive work never forget to do its homework before taking the sleep and you would see its miraculous impact while doing that work.
~ Mi Muba ~ BeAMoneyblogger

Luckily I work from home, so I have a bed near my studio. I start my day at 3am, a little private time to meditate and then straight into writing by 4am. My mind is always fresh early in the morning, brimming with ideas. At about noon, I hit a creative wall and my mind becomes foggy–so I take a nap for 30-90 minutes. When I wake up, I have new ideas and energy to continue on until evening.
So how does sleep influence my productivity? It’s my recharging process to assist my health AND my ideas!

~ Jaime Buckley ~ wantedhero

Lack of sleep is a big reason I have some days that I just feel blah, sluggish and unmotivated.

Plus getting the right amount of sleep for me keeps me happier and in a positive mindset that helps me write content, blog posts easier and at a higher level.

For me, mornings are best, everything is quiet, outside is quiet, I’m fresh and ready to start the day. All this helps me stay focused and to think clearer, which helps be more creative when I write.

~ John Paul ~ JohnPaulaguir

Sleep is essential for productivity. Lack of sleep reduces your creativity, focus, and your productivity. The best writing times for me are early in the morning when there are no distractions. I sit down with a cup of coffee and I find that’s when I write some of my best stuff in the least amount of time.
~ Syed Balkhi ~ Optinmonster

When you are deprived of sleep, your mind and body may not function at its best as proper sleep is essential for the normal metabolisms of your body in general. If you don’t have the necessary amount of sleep that is needed for a day, definitely, it will lead you to have a very less productive next day until you find time to cover up for the lost sleep. In my opinion, it is always better to maintain a proper schedule for sleeping in a way that it does not affect your productivity negatively. Keep in mind that lack of proper amount of sleep for the longer duration of time may lead you to many illnesses.

Regarding the second part of the question, I never felt any particular time is better for me to write. For me, I can write at any time of the day provided there is no loud noise disturbing me and the mind is not wandering somewhere. Frankly speaking, I choose my time for writing depending upon the amount of work that needs to be finished in a day. So, in effect, I try to choose any time that is available for me to write. No matter morning, evening, night or midnight.
~Reji Stephenson ~ DigitalDimensions4You

When I was starting out, I used to sleep quite late. In fact, with the numerous thing to learn, at times I sacrificed my sleep. I remember the days when by the mid-noon, due to lack of sleep I started slurring.

It’s really fun to work in the night as there is no disturbance & you can work on one thing for a longer period without distraction. This kind of work schedule worked out for me for years but eventually this made me lose a lot of stuff. Such as:

• Being social
• Skipping the meals
• Health was deteriorating

Eventually, I realized working in the night may look good but on an average, my productivity was down. It’s been about one & half years, I have become a morning person.

Usually, I write either in the morning until 11 A.M or between 4-7 P.M. Now, I have made a habit of putting my phone on airplane mode when I’m writing.

If you would ask me the same question after a year, I’m sure my favorite time for writing would be different. 🙂
~Harsh Agrawal ~ ShoutMeLoud

Sleep is extremely important for me. Ever since I finished my army service, I tried to make sure I wake up naturally because my body wants to, as opposed to when I have to. So basically, I wake up whenever my body is fully recharged 🙂 I think that’s the most healthy way to go about it.

When your body is well rested and energized, your productivity goes up the roof, and that’s a case I constantly try to maintain 🙂 I don’t have a preferred time of writing. In most cases it comes. 🙂

~Nadav Dakner ~ InboundJunction

SLEEP is often the most ignored parameter in productivity enhancement. And I consider it as essential to have higher productivity and greater focus. But when I started blogging, at that time I was working in a Top Corporate Job and running my blog so I was compromising heavily on sleeping. I used to sleep only 3 to 4 hours a day and I was writing most of the blog post at night. I believe all beginners follow this path only because most of them doubled up blogging with a full-time job or studies. But when you become a PRO you need to change your strategy for greater productivity and massive success.

After leaving my Corporate Job and turns into a Pro Blogger, now I write mostly in the MORNING. I sleep for 7 to 8 hours every night and it has increased my productivity, focus and success rate significantly. All these are vital for success when Blogging become your passion and profession. And Sleep is your essential tool. Try it and you will be surprised with the result.
~ Ajay Mishra ~ AwesomeAJ

Well, sleep is definitely hard to get as a blogger. Blogging may look like an easy to do home based job, but when you have to manage a blog and manage a home at the same time it takes a toll on you. Lack of sleep definitely affects my productivity. But from the very beginning, I’ve always practiced stringent time management to maintain a balance between my personal and professional life.

Generally, I work more during night time when there are fewer distractions and disturbances. As a mother of a toddling, it means a lot. However, I make sure to get at least 7 hours sleep a day. A fatigued mind is no good when you have to churn out interesting content for your readers. I also make sure to use all my unproductive time to do reading and research on various topics. This way I can dedicate my late night working hours for writing and managing my blogs.
~Nisha Pandey ~ SeoTechyWorld

I don’t take for granted recharging my body. In the past, I did take it for granted and would work round the clock and take little rest. This affected me greatly and I would fall sick for a week. So I had to change because my productivity and creativity were on the line.

My sleeping hours differ so much as I usually sleep for 4-7 hrs. When It comes to my best writing times, I am more of a morning person and I would wake as early as 3am to begin writing my posts. Sometimes during these hours, I could work till daybreak which is why I love taking short quick naps as, without it, I will be drained.

There are sometimes when my body decides that it needs to fully charge, then I just go to sleep and allow my body to wake me up.

~ Ikechi Awazie ~ AwazieIkechi

One of the best things about blogging is, we have the freedom to work when and where we want. Ironically, that’s one of the challenges too. Long hours of work give me a lot of satisfaction but such repeated long hours of work have a long-term impact on the health. When there are important events or product launches to cover, I keep blogging all day and night but the next few days are going to be unproductive due to the hangover of-of the lost sleep. On the other hand, a fresh morning after a very good sleep is probably the best time of productivity.

~ Tony John ~ IndiaTravelBlog

Lack of sleep is one of the main culprits for diminished productivity. Therefore, I take sleep very seriously indeed. Productivity happens to be a function of time, attention and energy. Lack of sleep equals a lack of energy and therefore lower productivity.

The trouble is, most people don’t realize how a lack of sleep affects them. Over time, people get used to sleeping less than the necessary 7-9 hours a day, and they don’t even feel physically fatigued for doing so. However, that has a negative impact on our IQ, our moods, and our decision-making capability – all of which lead to lower productivity, whether you are cognizant of it or not! Bottom line, more time does not equal more productivity, especially at the cost of sleep.

I personally find that the best time to write is early morning. That’s when my brain is sharpest and distractions are at a minimum. Besides, writing in the morning also gives me a sense of accomplishment which makes me more productive for the rest of the day.

~ Peter Banerjea ~ SuccessIsWhat

I hardly find 4-5 hours to sleep and that too in odd timings. Mostly I am awake in nights to work and grow my blog and my knowledge.

Talking about its effect on health, it has a bad effect on my health. Most often I am suffering from a cold or a cough. A headache is common.

I live on painkillers and that is the worst thing that has happened to me due to lack of sleep.

For writing, I am awake in night hours while office people are sleeping.
~ Vashishtha K Kapoor ~ ZedZoom

It is recommended that we as adults get between seven to nine hours of sleep per day. I find that if I do not get enough quality sleep, I find it harder to concentrate and I tend to get irritable. When this happens, I would sometimes take a short break and just have a “power-nap” of 10 – 15 minutes. After I have done this my energy levels are up, I’m focused and I get double the amount of work done.

As to the question of what is the best time for me to write; I try to do most of my writing first thing in the morning when I am still fresh and I find it easier to focus. But I have found, after spending some quality family time and relaxing in the evening and everybody went to bed, I feel relaxed and I can easily lose myself in the silence and this is often when I do some of my best posts.

In terms of the best time to get things done, first thing in the morning is not my best or most productive period. I prefer to warm up the day with a coffee and email or social media while my brain slowly gets up to top speed. Then, it gives me time to get ready for more weighty tasks such as client work (Website Design, SEO) or to write something for my blog or someone else’s!

~Jaco Alberts ~ YourMindRenewed.Com

Sleep is a natural phenomenon which must occur at pre-defined intervals. If you are disturbing your routine, you might see some unpredictable results.

Saints mastered this art by training their body in such a way that they could work for many days without taking proper sleep. But to reach that level, you need to put extra efforts and dedication.

And as you know we are in the fast tech world, where things are very fast. We want to see results as quickly as possible.

So disturbing this phenomenon can not only make your body more fatigue but you will see some unnoticed changes in your body which will cause a huge problem in future.

My writing time is between 8:00 PM to 12:00 AM. This is the time where you see less distraction around you, you feel more focused and your mind responds in a much better way.
~ Kulwant Nagi ~ BloggingCage.Com

Sleep massively impacts my productivity. If I’ve had very little sleep, the next day I’m usually less productive. The biggest issue is that with the lack of sleep, it’s difficult to focus, so I tend to procrastinate more.

And as a business owner, I have to make a lot of decisions every day, so decision fatigue usually kicks in at some point. With little sleep, it kicks in a lot sooner.

As for writing, I usually find that I’m more productive when I write in the mornings (within the first few hours after getting up). But, I also find that my writing comes across as slightly more inspired if I write in the evenings.
~ Adam Connell ~ BloggingWizard

True writers write. Whenever, wherever, and however they can. They cannot NOT write!

Writing is as essential to them as breathing, and they often forgo sleep in order to meet their goals.

Practicing meditation and taking power naps are often more useful than getting 6 or 8 hours of sleep.

My own personal productivity depends on a few factors: interest level, time constraints, and my desire to succeed in meeting my goals. I am highly motivated, and so I rest when I am tired and work when I’m not. I can easily work without sleep if I am working on my personal writing projects.

However, client work takes precedence in my life, as I pride myself in offering stellar services at superb rates. This is the main motto at Wording Well! When I am working on a particularly tough assignment, I make sure I am well-rested when doing so.

I generally am most productive when I first wake up. I am also productive late at night when it is quiet.

The fact that I can set my own hours is definitely a plus in my freelancing business!
~ Lorraine Reguly ~ Wording Well

In my opinion, one shouldn’t shun regular sleep for any cause which will indeed hamper the natural well-being, gradually making him/her less productive. Sleeping is an inimitable medication for psychological and physiological fitness. Writing activities may set some authors sleepless due to their pungent disquiet for right away reflecting the mind-blowing threads. Though this will help them to profoundly focus and jot down the timely precise feels in the writing, which is not at all recommendable if they used to sacrifice it.

In my past, I never ever preferred a specific time for my writings. Whenever I get a magnificent thirst for writing I won’t look for an ideal condition to draft it. I fear that I may lose the instantaneous imaginations and ideas if I delay to save it. On such times, I don’t bother even to hamper my sleep or any activities for a time in order to note it down so as to develop it conveniently but at the same time, I try to recompense the lost time through possible means. In the case of some strong desires, causing hindrance to our sleep, we may also find suitable times to recuperate the loss to keep us always fresh and healthy.
~Joy Guruvayoor ~ Koottukaar

I’ve always enjoyed 8 hours of sleep each night, hence, I’ve never really experienced a hit on my productivity due to a lack of sleep.

In spite of life’s pressures, (and who hasn’t those?), when I hit the pillows I sleep like a baby. I guess I’m blessed. I’ve been that way for all of the 65 years I’ve been around on this planet.

I do my best Blog post creation / writing work between 06:30am to 11:00am every day, six days a week.
~ Ivan Bayross ~ IvanBayross.Com

For some reason, I have never really been a person who sleeps a lot. Typically I get by on anywhere from 6-8 hours max. I find that if I sleep longer than that I end up dragging the next day. So. I tend to sleep right around the 8-hour mark.

Usually, I find that I am most productive keeping within this range.

If I get less than 6 hours, it doesn’t impact my work early in the day, but the later the day gets I can tell a difference in productivity.

As for the best time to write, oddly enough I don’t really have one. It can be first thing in the day or late at night. The key for me is to have at least 2 hours or so of uninterrupted time to work on a blog post.
~ Chris Makara ~ Bulk.Ly

I think sleeping habits differ from person to person but personally, my productivity drops significantly if I don’t sleep at least 7 – 8 hours a day. This basically means I won’t be able to concentrate for a long period of time to complete the tasks I set out to do.

As for the best time to write, mornings are the best. It’s when you feel the most rejuvenated, and I always try to finish the hardest things first (which is writing most of the time!), this boosts my overall confidence on a day to day basis. I don’t always follow a strict schedule, though, since writing is a creative work and sometimes you’ve just gotta let it flow.

~Anh Nguyen ~ BloggingThing

Sleeping is very important as it keep you refreshed and at least we should have it for 6 hours a day. But due to some busy work schedule, I am unable to complete this in one slot and so I prefer power naps. Anyhow we should do complete it as it helps you to focus on your work and help you to stay fit.

Regarding my writing work, I prefer late night for that. I sit down to write for my blog and ads with a cup of tea (yeah I prefer tea over coffeeJ) and by the time I complete my writing works, I usually finish 2-3 cups. But this is the time when I generate some of my best content.
~ Ashutosh Jha ~ TricksRoad.com

My time is managed by a few things.

• I create a to-do list of items that is hand-written and always stays with my computer. This lets me know what I have to accomplish.
• I have opened time that never changes on my calendar (I’m starting to use calend.ly as well). I only have work calls during these times to ensure I can accomplish my written to-do list.
• I take a break each day to work out or go outside. By ensuring I step away from my computer I can regain focus and re-energize to accomplish what I needed to that day.

By avoiding distractions and sticking to when I can have meetings, I rarely miss a deadline.
~ Adam Riemer ~ AdamRiemer

I normally sleep 4-5 hours a day and I think the lack of sleep doesn’t affect my productivity, but I agree that sometimes it causes a lot of harm and insecurity in our business.

It happens with me that if I sleep less than 4 hours, then I won’t able to write great content because at that time my mind is flushed and I don’t have any idea of my idea for writing new articles and the same thing happens if I sleep more than 7 hours a day.

I follow a great plan to publish articles on my blog, that’s why I need to be consistent about it.
I write 3 days a week and publish an article every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on my blog.

I usually write at night because it keeps me more productive.

The most important thing about writing is the place where you write your articles whether it’s home, office, park or public place you need to be satisfied. A humble recommendation: “Follow an epic schedule for writing your blog posts and be consistent.”

~ Rahul Sihmar ~ GrabContent

Time, space and quietness are some vital needs for a writer. Happy the writer who is blessed with a free access to these! But most of us, I guess, have to struggle to find them.

For me, the best time to write is late in the night, after the day’s works are done, when the TV is off and the family has gone to bed. I’m then free to concentrate on the stuff I’m writing. I may sit till the wee hours of the morning.

But then, one has to get up when the alarm goes off and get on with the new day. You’re so groggy with sleep deficiency you go about like a zombie. So that badly affects your productivity and efficiency. Well, who ever said ours is an ideal world?
~ Malsawmi Jacob ~ EmyStoryLand

Sleep is important. I do best at 7 hours minimum. I normally do not sleep more than 8 hours. If I get 7 to 8 hours I’m good. If I get less than 6 hours it can affect me. One night of 6 hours can still lead to a productive day. When I get only 6 hours or less for multiple nights in a row, that is when a lack of sleep can affect my productivity.

My writing time varies. I sometimes like to write first thing in the morning. Other times I’m a night owl and write after dark. This depends on my schedule. I like to take a break after 3 or four straight hours of writing. Go do something else, even if only for 30 minutes to an hour. Sometimes I may continue writing again after doing something different for a few hours. I’m not one who has to write first thing early in the morning like so many people do.
~ Matthew Kaboomis Loomis ~ Buildyourownblog

As far as my lifestyle is concerned, I can say maybe my body just got used to “not sleeping”, or I’ve not begun to see the effects of sleep deprivation yet as I’ve been doing this since I was 13.

I have a lot of “sleepless” nights, and yes the productivity the next day is decreased, while the night when I sleep tight, I feel more productive and concentrated around morning.

What feels “most” productive for me is “nap packets”. It’s like 5-15mins naps around 12-6Am. Those boost productivity a lot. And of course, can’t forget my couple cups of coffee which help me out throughout the night. The best time of writing :- 12-6am.
~ Evan Derek ~ VebbLabbs.

I would say that lack of sleep affects my mood, for certain. But even though counterintuitive, sleep deprivation may actually push me to be more productive, to just get the task done so I can finally rest. Right at this point I am in the middle of creating a Sexual Reawakening Virtual Summit for which I am interviewing about 36 of my professional sexology colleagues.

The technology piece is very time-consuming – downloading, processing, converting, and uploading files to a video storage site. This process takes 1 to2 hours for each video. My goal is to complete the video interviews and then quickly convert the files and upload them and be ready for the next interview.

But several of the videos have required editing – hours and hours of processing, downloading and uploading. The only variable under my control is the amount of sleep I get. In order to complete the day’s tasks and be able to focus on the next tasks to be done on the following day, I get less sleep. And I keep reminding myself that this is temporary.

~ Dr. Erica Goodstone ~ DrEricaGoodstone

Sleep – one of the most important yet most understated element of productivity. I have slowly started to realize how crucial it is to get a good night’s sleep. You will find many data over the web, which shows the productivity effect of a good sleep – or rather a deficiency of it. But without the stats also we can understand, how the lack of proper sleep can damage our efficiency.

Like many of my online peers, I too tend to work late nights, as I find that time totally chaos-free. But as you know, work is never ending and hence end up compromising my sleeping time. Being a full-time mom, I don’t have the luxury to cover up the time in the morning too 🙂 As a result, I used to loose few days in a month because of dizziness.

Gradually I am exploring other options like – working early mornings. I now allow my writings before starting the daily chores and keep other associated tasks like commenting, promoting etc. for the later hours. And to my delight, this is being demonstrated as my best productive time. Everyone may not have the same flexibility. However, we can surely mix and match our work time to give full respect to the Sleep Monster.
~Manidipa Bhaumik ~ WpBlogging360

Lack of sleep keeps me on edge; fueled up on caffeine and wrapped up in loungewear will keep me focused for hours. But only when I have a deadline. At this point, when my eyes are dry and my neck is weary, the only good hours for my writing are (very) early morning. It does two things for me; it gives me time to reorganize my head before the day and lets me establish a clearer message in my writing. During the day is the worst time – chances are my schedule is busier, fatigue has set in and time dedicated to writing, amongst the other lines on the to-do list, never get my full attention.

Flip that on its side; when I’m stocked up on good sleep, midday is the best time for me. Here, a fresh-faced me takes a lot less time to create a good piece of writing than me that’s running on three hours kip. So if I had to choose? It would definitely be the latter, I’m more productive, my work is better and I can correct the errors in the words I wrote whilst lacking in sleep.Lack of sleep keeps me on edge; fueled up on caffeine and wrapped up in lounge-wear will keep me focused for hours. But only when I have a deadline. At this point, when my eyes are dry and my neck is weary, the only good hours for my writing are (very) early morning. It does two things for me; it gives me time to reorganize my head before the day and lets me establish a clearer message in my writing. During the day is the worst time – chances are my schedule is busier, fatigue has set in and time dedicated to writing, amongst the other lines on the to-do list, never get my full attention.

Flip that on its side; when I’m stocked up on good sleep, midday is the best time for me. Here, a fresh-faced me takes a lot less time to create a good piece of writing than me that’s running on three hours kip. So if I had to choose? It would definitely be the latter, I’m more productive, my work is better and I can correct the errors in the words I wrote whilst lacking in sleep.
~ Dominique Croft ~ DominiqueCroft

For me personally, the amount and quality of sleep time directly translate into my productivity.

When I stick to a strict schedule of going to bed at 11PM and waking up at 7.30AM I’m in my best shape.

But when I try to “hack the system” and work till 1 AM then get up at 6AM for a morning run (like I’m some kind of bio-robot) that pretty much ruins the rest of the day. I feel sleepy and there’s a clear lack of energy, both physical and mental.

According to my observations, every person needs a different amount of sleep. Some can get away with 6-7 hours while others need at least 9. So my advice would be to A/B test sleeping different amount of hours and note when you feel best.

And of course, the best time for writing and for being creative is morning when the brains are fresh.

Here’s a cool hack for being more productive in the mornings – don’t check your emails until the evening.

If I get up in the morning and the first thing I do is check my email – my day is going to be ruined. I will not be able to focus on my own tasks because my brain will keep pinging me about a dozen people that are awaiting my response.

That is why I have installed a cool Chrome plugin for Gmail called “Inbox Pause” and configured it to deliver all emails once a day at 6PM. This way all my working day is free from distractions and I can accomplish a lot.

Here’s another cool hack: “Start your day as a producer, not a consumer” (can’t remember who said that though).

But if on my way to work I’ll start checking news sites, Reddit, Inbound.org and all that sort of stuff – I’m going to waste a lot of mental energy.

These sites fill my brains with new thoughts and ideas which eat my mental energy and distract me from my priorities.

But that’s just me. I know a lot of people who start their day with news sites and they are insanely productive.

So try both ways and figure out what works best for you.
~Tim Soulo ~ BloggerJet

Sometimes when I lack sleep it can make me lose focus and thereby have an effect on my productivity. If I get those days, even if I try to catch up, it won’t be sufficient. Sometimes I just have to let it go and use that day as an “off” day. Take a long walk or do something unrelated to business.

I don’t usually have this happening, but when I do I can see the difference of how I am able to keep up. Even if I have a client that day for an appointment, I would have to put them off to another day. Lack of sleep can really slow me down and I cannot give 100% to others. That’s why I need to just back away.
~Donna Merrill ~ DonnaMerrillTribe

As for the first part of your question. “How does sleep or lack of it, influence your productivity?”

I don’t like to waste a whole lot of time sleeping, as I think sleep is overrated!

But it is important to for me to get at least 6-7 hours a day for me to perform at mt best.

As for the second part of your question.

“What is the best time you use for your writings?”

For me late night seems to work best, I am not sure as to why it just works for me.

~ Chery Schmidt ~ SuccessCoach.Chery-Schmidt

Working with people in different time zones often sees me online well into the night or early mornings. I also do any major updates to Australian websites during our night.

I’m fortunate that I don’t have to work outside the home and my children are grown. I’m no longer a “taxi” mom. I fit in sleep when I need it, wake up and jump out of bed, ready for the day. It wasn’t the case when the alarm clock woke me. I’d always want to roll over and go back to sleep.

Power naps (and sometimes longer) are really beneficial. Apart from possible health problems, I’m not efficient or productive when I lack sleep. Normally a positive person, I can get (internally) grumpy and negative when overtired. A set routine really doesn’t suit me.
~ Sue Bride ~ SueBlimely

I must admit that I am a quite good sleeper and certainly cannot complain about that. However, if I do not get my normal 8 hours, I certainly notice the difference especially towards the end of the day. At that time, it is pointless doing anything important or significant.

In terms of the best time to get things done, first thing in the morning is not my best or most productive period. I prefer to warm up the day with a coffee and email or social media while my brain slowly gets up to top speed. Then, it gives me time to get ready for more weighty tasks such as client work (Website Design, SEO) or to write something for my blog or someone else’s!

I recommend that anyone working online (or offline) should know when they are most productive and make a habit of scheduling their most important tasks for the day during that period! The results can be amazing.
~ Ashley Faulkes ~ MadLemmings

For years, I have been trying to increase my productivity while working at the same time. There should not be any doubt when it comes to the importance of sleeping. Either you are a blogger or not, the sleep is going to impact you. It happened to me many times that whenever I sleep late and wake up early, I usually waste at least 1 to 2 hour in the morning, doing nothing and then the whole day goes slowly however when i take proper sleep, not only I wake up fresh but do twice the work if I compare it with a day when I don’t get enough sleep. As far as best time is concerned, there is no best time, it all comes to the idea.. whenever I get a great idea. I open my mobile and start writing.

As far as best time is concerned, there is no best time, it all comes to the idea.. whenever I get a great idea. I open my mobile and start writing.
~ Ali Raza ~ Aliraza

As someone who has sleep apnea, this subject is close to my heart. I understand that many bloggers have to work around a regular job and family commitments. However, sacrificing sleep and rest is detrimental to your ability to succeed. It was only after being treated for sleep apnea that I began to find the clarity and passion it took to recover from losing the family business and start my own online business. And yes I have worked way too many late nights for my own good. We all do it. So, the key is to make sure you allow for sleep, rest, and relaxation.

If you have started to lose interest in favorite activities, or are finding yourself more short tempered, or you are constantly feeling tired and run down; then it should be obvious you need more sleep. However, it could just be, you need more fun. I think it’s interesting that we give kids recess but only give ourselves coffee breaks. Make sure your sleep space is free of distractions to allow you the best chance to get the most out of the hours you do sleep. Address emotional upsets before even trying to fall asleep.

The old line about not going to bed angry is sound advice. Establish a routine. For example, I sleep much better after taking off my socks and folding them up. I live in an old house that isn’t always warm in the winter, so some nights this isn’t possible. I can tell the difference. Have a favorite movie, TV shows episode or song to fall asleep to. Have a sleepy time playlist just like you have an exercise or work playlist. In iron eagle, the wise old pilot said to be sure and play the right music. Very few of us in today’s world will get eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. Most of us won’t take time out for play or distraction. So, it’s critical that you get the most out of the time you do take away from the world. And if all else fails to lock your office door put your feet up and take a nap. Good Wishes.
~ Maxwell Ivey ~ TheBlindBlogger

Sleep is one of the most important aspects of keeping a business going, but in order to get enough sleep you have to reverse engineer your day. If you can have reasonable goals for yourself for each day, stay focused instead of stressed about them, you’ll manage your time well. The key is going into the flow of your projects so that work gets done without the extra cortisol of being overwhelmed by it all.

Then, when it is time to sleep, you sleep. Your body will be happy and calm and ready for getting a full 8 hours! This will overall change your life from a stress-out one to a happy one with more energy and vitality to enjoy this adventure!
~ Jodi Aman ~ JodiAman

Sleep is so important when it comes to your productivity. I know that being disabled and living with chronic pain that I sometimes don’t get enough sleep at night, which really affects my productivity the next day.

The brain tends to get muddled and the words for creating content just don’t come. It becomes a fruitless endeavor to create quality content when your brain is in a sleep fog.

I have found that if I wake up and eat a highly nutritious breakfast full of vitamins and fiber (fruits and wheat) that it really jumpstarts the brain and I am able to create content more efficiently!

My best time to write is in the morning before I get to work on client projects. But if I am having trouble with writing in the morning I will wait until that evening when I am more awake from my day’s activities.
~Todd Worley ~ ToddWorley

Having suffered from insomnia my whole life, it’s clear to me that the amount of sleep you get can have a huge effect on productivity and the quality of work you can accomplish.After a night of little sleep, I find myself less motivated, less creative, and more impatient. Needless to say, it requires a lot more mental strength to get the same amount of work done.

I try to combat this by structuring my work so I’m doing the most intensive, creative work during the times of the day where I’m most awake and alert, and saving the monotonous work that doesn’t require much thought for right before bed, or right after I wake up.

By doing this, I’m able to be sure my best work is put out where it’s needed most, and everything else still gets done as it’s supposed to.
~ James McAllister ~ HelpStartMySite

I find that lack of sleep does cause me to make more mistakes in my writing, such as leaving words out or putting a wrong word somewhere.

I do my best writing during the morning hours but since I am a caregiver to Mom with Alzheimer’s Disease, I have to adjust my schedule around her.

Before becoming a caregiver, I could edit my writing as I wrote. Now I find it best to let whatever I have written sit until the next day and then I will read it again a few more times to check for errors.

I don’t have as much time online these days as I would like to but I have resolved to use my phone to record any ideas for blog posts or new books I want to write. Many times a post can be dictated to my phone, I email it to myself and then I can edit and post when I am able to work on my laptop. ~Monna Ellithorpe ~ MonnaEllithorpe

I have always needed plenty of sleep! Honestly, I’m totally ineffective next day if I don’t at least eight hours of sleep. Yes, I can function after a poor night of sleep, but I tend just to go through the motions of writing more slowly.

Providing I’ve had a good sleep then I tend to work better in the morning. I have a timetable, a framework, which I stick to most days. From 10 am to 1 pm I’m focused on my One Thing – the most important task that I need to complete that day. I’ll take some coffee breaks in that 3-hour period, but otherwise, there are no distractions – just focus.
~ David Hartshorne ~ Byte of Data

I wish I could say that I get the perfect amount of sleep, get up every morning to drink green juice and meditate… sadly, that’s not true. Sometimes I’ll stay up until 3am writing, sometimes I get to bed by midnight. I haven’t noticed a difference in my writing either way. I will say, though, that the mornings are always the most productive (probably because my kids are at school and they’re not crawling all over me at that time!)
~Brittany Bullen ~ BrittanyBullen

Lack of sleep definitely affects my work and productivity. If I don’t get at least 8 hours, my mind is slower to process things and I just move at a slower pace overall during the day. I also find that when I sleep well consistently, it’s easier to stick with my good habits like eating right and exercising.

To answer your second question, the best time for me to write is either mid morning or late at night. My brain needs a bit of time (and coffee!) to get going most mornings. The afternoon is usually a lost cause and I plan that time for less consuming tasks. Since I know when’s my best time to write, I plan my time accordingly.

~ Andréa Jones ~ SociallySavvySchool

I sleep when I am tired and rise when I wake up. Some days I nap, some days I don’t.

I usually do my best writing at dawn, mainly because ideas tend to come to me in my sleep.

~ Barry Kort ~ MoultonLava

I am a morning person; I like to jump in and start work after my morning cup of coffee.

When I don’t get enough sleep, and it happens more often now that I am caring for a sick husband I will get up later than I like. This makes me feel that I have wasted my most productive time of the day.

So I am finding by getting up early every day regardless of the time I have slept. I do have ample energy in the morning to write my articles as well as accomplish some social media engagement.

On those nights when I have slept very little, I will write articles then wait until I have a good night’s sleep to review.
~ Pamela Jacob ~ ArtistaDesign

Social media and the way content is produced and distributed now, truly never does sleep but what I find is that social media is very reactive. You have to put out to get back so at some point, usually late at night, you simply have to put a hard stop in place. That is hard for me since I am a prolific content producer on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat… and since I think in 140 characters, and images naturally, I am always spitting out content. Since I have come to realize that I can survive on 5-6 hours sleep for many nights in a row when necessary, but anything less than that does not work, I know I cannot carve any more time out of the day, so 2am is usually my hard stop when I find myself going overboard.

Order and consistency are all in how you perceive what you are doing and how you maintain your connection to what is important. My personal brand, and who I am, is all about being responsive and creating trust and relationships. So I find the social media world, and all the connectivity it affords, a perfect medium for maintaining connection and consistency.
~Ted Rubin ~ TedRubin.Com

When I first started blogging I was a crazy mess. I kept erratic hours working on my blog. I used to sleep late and attempt to wake up early. I was exhausted, snappy and completely defeated. I was getting nowhere. Then something clicked for me. I asked myself:

How much time and energy do you really have? When are you most productive and what tasks do you want to do in those particular hours?

That’s what I had to work with. The faster I acknowledged that and came to terms with it, the better it was.

When you know the size of your energy basket and the size of your tasks, you find it easier to choose what to do and what not to do. I had only 3 blocks in the day to work with. 2 hours in the day when my daughter was in school. Another 2 hours in the afternoon during her nap. Maybe an hour after she goes to bed.

I also learned to tune into my own body and figured that I worked best in the mornings. Knowing this, I now schedule tasks that grow my blog such as writing during the most productive hours of my day. I’ve experienced greater traction with my blog by having a deeper understanding of what makes and keeps me most productive.
~Meera Kothandaraman ~ MeeraKothand

Sleep is important but at the same time so is our online reputation and keeping it optimized. Even if sleep must be sacrificed, cause us to work long hours, over weekends or into the wee hours of the evening what matters is persistence and making it happen. Don’t get me wrong, I like to sleep just like the next guy but as long as I get 5 hours of shut eye I can always make it up during a cat nap or over the weekend.

Most of my writings are technical in nature being that I’m a Google Rising Star, Google Small Business Advisor in the Google Small Business Community and Google Partners Badged Agency and Ambassador in the En Advertiser Community among an assorted number of projects. My objective with my writings is to translate something difficult into something that can be understood. The best time of the day where I write best is late evening after all the daily distractions are gone and can focus on my writing. What separates those who want from those who do is a person with persistence, focus, and the ability to being uncomfortable including lack of sleep.
~Molly Youngblood Geiger ~ DesignRight4U

I am the type of blogger that needs my rest. I sleep 7-8 hours a night and wake up early in the morning, I first work on my income-producing activities after I wake up. Then I work on writing and other blogging activities. Only then do I check email and do lesser-important activities.

Jim Edwards taught me this method. He calls it the “Golden Hours” – 2 hours spent in the morning on the most important activities that bring me in money. It works and even if the rest of the day gets away from you, you know you have had a profitable day.
~ Sue Anne Dunlevie ~ Successful Blogging

I’m one of those that turns into a ferocious bear when I’m sleep deprived. My productivity plummets, my focus fades, and my creativity tanks. Sooooo, it’s essential that I make time to get sleep every night, or at the very least only go a couple nights with less than 6 hours of sleep in a row.

My most productive hours are those in the late morning and late evening, so I use those wisely. I make sure my most critical tasks are scheduled during those times so I optimize my ‘sweet spots’ on the clock. When I don’t have the luxury of being well rested I try to stick to the ‘busy’ work and more mindless tasks, by getting myself quite a bit ahead on those so I can buy myself more time when I AM rested to work on the tasks that require my full brain power.

It’s all about knowing yourself, your habits, and how and when you work best and using that information to set yourself up for success.

~Andrea Beltrami ~ TheBrandedSolopreneur

For part 2 click here.

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