Larks, Owls, and Third Birds

Ricky Ketchum

Mar 29, 2026

Wake Up, Sleepyhead

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Do not love sleep, lest you become impoverished; open your eyes so that you might be satisfied with food.

Proverbs 20:13 (NET)

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You know what?

Sometimes the advice from the Bible is really simple and…

Frustrating!

Which almost always means it’s some issue I struggle with, has an easy solution, I just need to be better about acting on it.

There are quite a few other similar proverbs sprinkled throughout this book that say more or less the same thing.

Probably the most famous one talks about how poverty creeps up on the lazy, robbing them of potential wealth. What makes both that passage and this verse frustrating for me is my own struggle with laziness.

Most of us probably do our best work in the mornings.

I’m not exactly an early bird but I have found my mind is most active between 9 and 11.

That’s when I schedule my most important work because it’s when I know I’m rocking the most mental power.

Early birds -- larks -- might do better in the 7 to 9 timeline.

And then there are the night owls.

They might wake up at 10 am but their best work is 10 pm (I don’t know, that’s not my world).

Whatever rhythm your body has, optimize around it.

I stopped trying to be the guy that gets up at 5am.

I can’t do it.

I can’t do much quality work after 8 pm (if I do, it’s takes like four times as long).

But I can be the 6:30 guy who starts working at 7 and really finds his groove at 9.

I’m a third bird.

That works for me.

What works for you?

— Ricky Ketchum

Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from the ESV®Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright© 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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