You might think you’re being productive. You might think it’ll impress the boss. You might be trying to cure your insomnia. Yes, you might. BUT – You might be messing with your career.
Not convinced? How do you feel when you see the time sent of a received email as some ungodly hour! 
The boss could wonder…
• Why is Jim up at 4:00AM, regularly? Is he getting enough sleep? Is he in control? Is he stressed out? Is he out of balance?
• Is Rebecca just trying to impress me? Does she think that I value this behavior? Doesn’t she know how to delay the sending of the email to a “normal” hour?
• What part of “have a balanced life” didn’t he understand?
Your co-workers might say…
• There Avish goes again, trying to impress the boss. What a manipulator.
• No wonder Sally isn’t with it during the day. She’s not getting enough sleep.
• How can he be thinking clearly at 2:00 AM?
• Does this mean I hafta get up and check my email, since Harry does it?
And from your direct reports…
• Yikes. My boss is emailing me at 3:00 AM! I wonder if he expects me to do that too?!
• I better check my email first thing in the morning; the boss may have sent me something again in the middle of the night. How’s that for wake up stress?
• Whasssamatter with her? Is she losing it? Why can’t my boss get a good night’s sleep?
• Does this mean I have to have my blackberry wake me in the middle of the night?
• Since he’s working 24/7, I assume he wants me to also. Gad, I hate my job.
The risk. In addition to these unhealthy perceptions, you’re taking a real risk emailing when you create an email message when you haven’t had a full night’s sleep. You may not be running on all cylinders. We’ve all regretted sending an email when we were awake and functioning during the day. Sending in a sleepy state increases the potential for misconstrued messages.
If you HAVE to… If you are a true night owl, or on the occasion that you are at your computer in the early AM, if you must, compose a message, then save it. Don’t send it till you’ve had a chance to review it in the light of day. We can almost guarantee that you’ll make changes that you’re glad you had the opportunity to make.
Your best strategy is to give it a rest. Make it a rule to NEVER send an email message when you should be sleeping. Your career, your co-workers, and your employees will be all the better for it.
For this and other great tips, check out our book, “Inbox Detox and the Habit of Email Excellence” available in paperback and digital format.
