I Thought the “No Meetings Before 10 a.m.” Rule Was Silly. I Was Wrong.
It’s not about laziness. It’s about cortisol, chronotypes, and when our brains actually do their best work.
For years, I treated meetings like jury duty. If they were scheduled, I showed up, whether it was 8 a.m. or 8 p.m. It didn’t matter how disruptive it felt. That was simply the cost of doing business on Zoom, Teams, or the old speakerphone in the middle of the table.
Then I started at the American Press Institute, and one of the first things I heard was: we don’t have meetings before 10 a.m.
At first, I thought it was silly. I had been holding and attending meetings before 10 for most of my career. If it was good enough for every newsroom and nonprofit I’d worked in, why not here?
As it turns out, this wasn’t unique to API. Jeff Bezos has the same rule. In his 2021 book Invent & Wander, he explained why his first meeting is always at 10:00:
“I like to putter in the morning… coffee, newspaper, breakfast with my kids. My puttering time is very important to me. That’s why I set my first meeting for ten o’clock.”
Now, I’m no Jeff Bezos. My mornings involve more wrestling with the coffee pot than scanning the Wall Street Journal. But his rule got me curious. Was this just a rich-guy productivity gimmick, or something real?
The science is clear. And it hinges on a stress hormone and our internal clocks.
Cortisol and the Boot-Up Problem
When you first wake up, your body floods itself with cortisol. Think of it like a natural double-shot of espresso. Scientists call this the “cortisol awakening response,” and it’s meant to get you ready for the day. The problem is, it’s a solo act.
That spike is your brain running its own boot sequence. It’s like your computer loading its operating system. Try to collaborate during that window and it’s like asking the machine to run three apps while it’s still starting up. You’ll get a response, but not a very good one.
So when you stumble into an 8:30 meeting feeling foggy, it’s not your laziness. It’s your biology.
Chronotypes and Misaligned Schedules
Your productivity window depends on your chronotype. That’s the science-speak for whether you’re a Lion, a Wolf, or a Bear.
Most of us are Bears. About 55 percent of the population. We do our best work between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Experts estimate that as many as 80 percent of us have schedules completely out of sync with our natural clocks.
Which means those early meetings aren’t just inconvenient. They are scheduled at the very moment most people are least equipped to do good work.
The Culture of Early Meetings
I can remember one particular 8 a.m. meeting back in my newsroom days. Everyone sat around the table with notebooks open and eyes half-shut. The editor talked, we nodded, but the room had all the energy of a bus station at dawn. We walked out with assignments, but I doubt anyone felt inspired.
Contrast that with what I’ve seen at API. Protecting the morning doesn’t mean less gets done. It means that when we finally come together at 10 a.m., people are sharper, more prepared, and actually listening.
It also changes the culture. Parents have time to get kids off to school. Night owls don’t start the day in a fog. Caregivers have breathing room. And the people who are wired for early mornings? They get a quiet block of deep work before the noise begins.
What Happens When You Work With, Not Against, Your Body
This isn’t about being soft or indulging personal preferences. It’s about aligning the rhythm of the workplace with the rhythm of our bodies. That shift may be small, but it pays dividends in focus, collaboration, and creativity.
And it makes me wonder. How many good ideas have been lost to the bleary haze of an 8 a.m. status call?
What about you? Does your organization set rules about when meetings can start? Or are you still running your best ideas while the operating system is booting up? Share in the comments.
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