I don’t know about you but I have unusual sleep patterns. In fact, I cannot remember the last time I was in bed by 10pm and had a full eight hours.  Quite often I feel at my best and most alert at 4 or 5 am and find myself producing my best work then to.  For me, there is something quite special about those few hours first thing in the morning before the rest of the world is awake. 

Why then, do I feel that I need to hide my early morning starts from my working life?  I have a fear that if I send someone an email at 4.23am then it may be seen as unprofessional, bordering on insane.  So, I quite often find myself typing away in these early hours and saving my emails to draft ready to press send at what I deem to be a more acceptable time of day, i.e. from 8.30 onwards.  I have been known to send the occasional email before 8am but if I am honest, only to someone who I know really well!

We live in a society where depending on where you live, you can shop at 3am and drink in pubs around the clock, yet it is frowned upon to send work emails after 8.00pm and before 8.00am.  Or is it?  Maybe it is just my own perception?  As a culture we are bound by the 9 to 5, Monday to Friday working life although I cannot help but feel that the introduction of  flexible working hours in many organisations and the emphasis on work life balance, are slowly changing the look of the 9 to 5 working life.  It may however, be quite some time before I feel comfortable sending an email at 4.23am!

Three months ago, my husband and I started renovating our home to prepare for the arrival of our twins.  The downstairs of our house has been completely re-modelled, a new kitchen/living area has been created and I am now the proud owner of a utility room as well….bonus!   “Project twins” as it has been referred to is nearly completed (thank goodness) and hopefully carpets, flooring and decorating will be done before babies arrive.
I have to say though that the whole home renovation experience has been somewhat of an eye opener for me in terms of how tradesmen work and run their businesses.  I was under the impression (perhaps naively so) that the principles of running a business were the same whether it was Management Consultancy or Plumbing, Graphic Design or Building.   When clients ask me to do things – I do them, on time and to what I like to think is of a high standard. I provide updates and communicate my availability.  I certainly don’t disappear half way through a project or fail to provide proposals and information when requested to.   Whilst I cannot fault the quality of the work that I have had from our electricians, plasterers, builders and plumbers, what has amazed me is that except for our plasterer (who did what he said he was going to do, on time and for a good price), I am struggling to understand how the rest of my motley crew are surviving in this recession.  Our first plumber started the job and then went on holiday for three weeks without telling us, our second plumber promised he would come round one evening last week to finish the work – guess what, still no sign,  and our electrician and builder – well, don’t even get me started!
What really intrigues me,  is why all of these people that I have employed (or at least attempted to) to help me with my house have been so blasé about supplying quotes, booking in days to carry out the work and finishing the job. Those of you reading this may be thinking that I am stating the obvious, that my rantings are nothing new and that this is why television programmes such as Rogue Traders exist.  I had just assumed (perhaps wrongly so) that running a plumbing or building business (or indeed any business) particularly in a recession was tough, and to secure work required more effort than in recent years when industry was booming.  If I conducted my working life with the same laid back, carefree and unreliable approach that I have been witness to over the last few months, then I would be in serious trouble and probably heading straight for the dole queue.

Nearly two weeks into Big Brother 10, I cannot help but notice that the contestants that we saw enter the house on opening night are in fact behaving quite differently now that the initial excitement of the first few days has worn off. In previous years I have been known to dismiss entire series of the reality TV show based on first night antics, that is, if they act like complete morons then I make an executive decision not to watch another episode – it’s a wonder I have seen any I hear you think!

This year, if I had stuck to my gut feeling,  which incidentally was that the Big Brother producers had really outdone themselves this time in choosing a bunch of fame seeking, narcissistic, screaming wannabes ,then I would not be sitting here writing this, or indeed actually starting to enjoy watching the characters in the house unfold.

Yes, there is still a huge amount of fame seeking narcissism going on but certain individuals are showing a depth of character and a side to them which on the first night I could never imagine existed.

This to me says a huge amount about first impressions.  Generally speaking, a person will make assumptions about an individual within the first 30 seconds of meeting them.  If this is in an interview or assessment centre then there is a period of time that follows that allows said person to get to know said individual a little better. However, this is often not long enough and the importance of first impressions is not to be underestimated. This  does not mean that first impressions are always correct - in fact I always like to put my first impression of someone to one side until I have had a chance to get to know them a little better – situation permitting.

Whilst first impressions are a crucial component of human behaviour, there is also a lot to be said for not judging on first impressions alone, whether that be meeting a potential partner on a night out with friends, in a job interview, on meeting a new colleague on their first day of work, in fact on meeting anyone for the first time, Big Brother contestants included!!