I keep reading articles like this one on Entrepreneur.com today telling me all these things that successful people do before breakfast, or how successful people are up every day before the sun working etc, etc. But I am very definitely not a morning person! Waking up at 5am every day would, I am certain, shorten my life (and perhaps it is also shortening theirs).

Currently, the days when I am going in to the office start around 7:30am. My goal is to be out of the house at 8am and to walk to the ferry terminal (about 10-15 minutes walking). The 20 minute ride to San Francisco is mostly social time for me – chatting with the other regulars on the boat. My 30 minute BART ride from San Francisco down to San Bruno is my time to read emails and catch up on overnight Facebook, Twitter etc. My walk to the office is usually time for a phone call (yay for bluetooth headphones!), but it also gets me some more walking time.

A full day at the office, leaving at 5:30pm for the return commute (BART & ferry again most days, with the walk home) getting me home at 7pm. Dinner, some playtime and bedtime for the toddler takes a while. So by midnight I am just getting ready to start work on my personal apps business. My goal is 2-3 hours on that before getting to bed at 3am. Only manage that a couple of times a week these days though 🙁

After reading Timothy Ferriss’ Four Hour Work Week and listening to a few podcasts in a similar vein (e.g. Solopreneur Hour), I am thinking that anybody working the sorts of hours these articles suggest is missing the point somewhat. I notice that a few did mention spending time with their families, but it didn’t seem like much time (45 minutes over breakfast, or some time in the evening).

If I could afford it, I would love to be at home all day with my kids; or, for the one in pre-school, be there to drop him off and pick him up every day. I guess success is measured in different ways. To me, not having to work for somebody else would be success enough!