How to Stay Productive When Time-change Messes with Your Schedule
Summer is here. Sunshine, lighter jackets—life feels good… until you remember that little thing where we all pretend an hour disappeared. Yep, daylight saving time.
By Little Chilean
https://littlechilean.medium.com/
On paper, it sounds great. Longer days! More light! Instagrammable sunsets at 8 p.m.! But for those of us working remotely—especially with teams in another hemisphere—it’s chaos in a calendar invite. My productivity? It didn’t exactly spring forward.
I’m based in Europe, working with people on the other side of the world. We were four hours apart. Then the clocks changed, and boom—six hours difference. Which means instead of starting at 11 a.m., I’m now logging in at 1 p.m. and finishing at 10 p.m. My evening is gone. My brain is gone. My mood? Also gone.
And here’s the kicker: I’ve always considered myself a morning person. Not the kind who does sunrise yoga and drinks kale smoothies, but someone who gets their best work done before late afternoon. So what happens when I need to sound smart and cheerful on Zoom at 9:45 p.m.? Spoiler: nothing brilliant.
Why the Clock Change Wrecks Your Brain
Turns out, there’s actual science behind why this feels so awful. Our bodies run on a 24-hour cycle called the circadian rhythm. It regulates everything from alertness to body temperature to hormones like cortisol (the one that helps you focus) and melatonin (the one that tells you it’s bedtime).
When you mess with the clock, you mess with your body’s programming. You think you’re just “starting later,” but your brain is still screaming, “It’s nighttime—where’s my wine and Netflix?” Meanwhile, your colleagues are still bright and perky on their end, and you’re sitting there wondering why forming sentences feels like solving calculus.
I delved into a research rabbit hole. After a few too many late-night Google sessions (oh, the irony), here’s what I learned. We all have a natural peak time for energy and focus. Daylight saving just bulldozes over this rhythm. Which is why, by 8 p.m., I’m mentally clocked out, and my cat is the only one getting my full attention.
How I’m Coping (Barely)
After some trial and error, I’ve figured out a few survival strategies. A quiz told me I’m a “bear” (don’t ask). Do they make me love working until 10 p.m.? No. Do they stop me from crying into my keyboard? Mostly.
- Push the fun stuff later. Leave easy or enjoyable tasks for the end of your shift. If I try to tackle a big creative project at 9 p.m., it’s a crime scene.
- Take an actual break. Sounds obvious, but working from home makes it way too easy to skip lunch. Don’t. Step away from your desk. Breathe air that isn’t recycled by your laptop fan.
- Nap without shame. A 20-minute power nap in the afternoon feels like hitting the refresh button. Yes, you might wake up slightly confused about what year it is, but it works.
- Go outside every single day. Even five minutes. The world feels less like a spreadsheet when you’ve seen a tree.
- Eat like you still have work to do. Huge dinners + wine + a looming three-hour shift = disaster. Save the feast for your actual evening.
And my personal favourite hack? Stop calling yourself unproductive. Seriously. No one is doing Pulitzer-level work every hour. If you wrote a decent email and didn’t rage-quit Zoom, you’re doing great.
Daylight saving time might give us golden hours for Instagram. However, for remote workers in multiple time zones, it’s a logistical nightmare. So, if you see me sending slightly incoherent emails at 9:58 p.m., just know: I’m doing my best, and so is my circadian rhythm.
This article was originally published on April 2022. It’s been edited in August 2025 to stay up to date.
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