Are all superstars early risers?

photo by davekellam

When they were handing out "morning person genes", I must have been absent that day.  It's not so much that I hate the morning, it's that I love staying up late at night.  I find the quiet hours of the night are a great time to get work done and gather my thoughts.

The problem is that most of the successful people I know are early risers.  I am referring to many personal role-models that you wouldn't know, but many prominent figures are also early risers: Fred Wilson and Brad Feld (All-star Venture Capitalists), Barrack Obama, and Jack Welch (former CEO of GE) to name a few.  It seems that there is a correlation between rising early and success.

So I've been trying to adapt.  I now go to sleep earlier and get up earlier.  So far I'm liking it, but I do miss those quiet late night hours.

What about you?  Are you an owl or a lark?

In reading some more I found that Thomas Edison was a night owl, and this british study that states night owls live longer make more money than early risers.  I'm moving to England.