Normalcy in 2020 and working in darkness

Welp… when 2020 couldn’t be more 2020, the wildfires in California has clouded San Francisco in dust and smoke. I woke up this morning thinking that my phone was somehow on Eastern time because it was pitch dark. Confusingly, I took a quick peak outside to find a dark orange sky.

It was a bit surreal and apocalyptic. We’ve had some bad wildfires in the past few years, but in my 20 years of living in San Francisco, I have never seen anything like it. I imagine that this is what it’s going to look like when nuclear war breaks out later this year (hopefully not.. but well 2020).

My friend mentioned that he didn’t know what to do. It felt like night, but it was clearly morning and his work schedule was all thrown off. I could feel that as the sun never broke through once today. It was like I was living in winter in Alaska.

From a work standpoint, I was much more productive today. This is likely just attributed to the fact that I am a night owl and perhaps my body thought I was burning the midnight oil cranking out work. I found it a little funny to think about. Maybe if the sun didn’t come out ever I would be the most productive human being on the planet. Depression would surely hit at some point however so not a great trade off.

My most productive hours normally are from 7-10pm for some reason. Unfortunately, societal norms doesn’t always allow me to work these odd hours, but I like to save my biggest and most important tasks for these hours. Fortunately, my job at Secfi allows me to do this. I can take 3 hours off during the day for a workout and lunch and make up for in the evening most days.

Others on my team are real night owls (10pm+) and others really enjoy the mornings. I always encourage everyone to adapt to their work styles especially during this period of work from home. This is obviously a double edged sword. Not everyone can handle the flexibility and freedom as well.

Flexibility goes both ways. You have the privilege of being flexible in choosing how you work, but you also need to be flexible for the company as well. We’ll continue to hire people who fit this work style at Secfi.