Ever since I can remember, I have been a night owl. This often gives me challenges. Most corporations, especially in the USA, are set up around the "morning lark" model. I have encountered the chill wind of disapproval from morning larks many times in the past when I roll into work and the larks have been working for 2-3 hours already. The fact that I am still working when they are flaked out on a couch somewhere is something that they seem to have a large capacity to ignore.
This is an entry to a collection of discussions around the morning lark vs. night owl differences.
It is possible to form symbiotic working relationships with somebody who is opposite to you on the sleep and work spectrum. Many years ago in the UK, I had an extremely productive working relationship with a fellow project leader. She was a classic morning lark, she was in the office by 6am nearly every morning, but left by 4pm, and, by her own admission, her brain ceased to fire on all cylinders around 3pm. We would meet together to work issues and set direction from 11am until 2pm, after which time I stayed away from her, since she would be winding down and not at her best. She would stay away from me until 11am, since before that time my brain was not firing on all cylinders. This worked well for our time together.
One comment that I will make is that having a partner who is the opposite to you is probably going to require some sensitive management skills...
UPDATE - Thanks to David Rendall for passing on a link to this article in the New York Times that discusses the larks vs. owls issue and its relationship to the circadian rhythm, which is the body's own internal clock. I remember that a university in Europe conducted research on circadian rhythms many years ago, using college students who were studying for end of year exams. This was a great example of a symbiotic relationship; the students needed a place free from distractions to study, and the research group needed a group of subjects who were prepared to be placed in a secure environment where they could not determine what the time was. The findings of the study were that most people, deprived of time reset cues based on clocks or the appearance/disappearance of daylight, tended to freewheel on a longer day length than 24 hours. In some cases, the students were 2 days behind the actual date.
In my own personal case, I wake up when exposed to daylight. My bedroom has to be very dark (we have blackout curtains). I have concluded that I cannot live in Alaska or Scandinavia, because if I do I will be awake (and miserable) 20 hours a day in the Summer and in virtual hibernation in the Winter. Most likely I will spend 6 months a year in therapy for SAD (Seasonally Adjusted Depression).