If you’re a “morning person,” you’re more likely to undermine your performance on a stressful task early in the day, research suggests. The same goes for “night owls” and performance in the evening. The seemingly counterintuitive results are based on an investigation into the connection between people’s circadian rhythm and risk of “self-handicapping,” or self-sabotage. But rather than trying to protect against possible failure more at “off-peak” times, the study found, people actually engage in this behavior more at their peak times. Psychologists define self-handicapping as when an individual seeks to protect their ego against potential failure in advance by creating circumstances—real or imagined—that harm their ability to carry out a stressful task. A classic example is failing to study or staying out too late the night before an important test or job interview. The behavior also extends to mere claims of debilitating circumstances, such as imagined illness, fatigue, or stress. Other studies have linked self-handicapping to other self-destructive behaviors, such as aggression, overeating, and drug or alcohol addiction. The study also found that people chronically prone to making excuses reported the same stress levels at “off-peak” hours as peers who do not engage in this behavior. Only at peak hours did these individuals report higher levels of stress as an excuse for poor performance. http://www.futurity.org/self-sabotage-time-of-day-1237082-2/ Study: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103116304577
