hah! i have that today. couldn't sleep 'in' til 7, so got up and got a few things off my 'to do' list that are niggling little things i never seem to have time for.

as for leaving early... i don't know about that. i wish i'd slept later for my body. my brain appreciates the extra hour of morning quiet, though.

Yes, I always have that balance when I wake up unusually early -- liking the morning quiet, but wishing for the sleep.

At my work you write that down as banked flex time: so I wouldn't necessarily leave early on the same day, but then some other day I could leave early without digging into my PTO. I love it.

Yes, this. Or show up late some other day when I'm feeling particularly lazy in the morning...

When I counted hours at work, that's pretty much what happened (unofficially: there wasn't a system or anything). I'd email my boss, tell hir I was in early, and it would be understood that either I would leave early that day, or I could have that hour some other time if there wasn't anything urgent going on.

These days, I both take my work home and work inconsistent hours. There are almost certainly weeks when I don't work a full 40 hours, but nobody cares as long as the work gets done—and the weeks when I work on evenings and weekends make it all even out in the end. I personally prefer this arrangement, but it gets harder if you're paid hourly (I'm not).

We do this also, for small amounts (say, 1-2 hrs/month). More than that and we should work it out with our boss.

How It Works In Practice: if you're a good worker with quality output, no one pays close attention to your hours; you're trusted to make it work out right. If you're not a good worker or your output is not up to snuff, you get closer examination.

I don't usually have the problem because my workday starts 7.30-8 am, and I don't see my kids in the morning if I leave for work early.

When I do find myself in your circumstance, I do what you did. Actually I need to do that on normal days also or I don't leave myself enough time to wrap up, then I get caught up in "one more thing" and suddenly it's another hour and I still haven't left.

I've had that problem once or twice in my life, and loved it both times.

My issue's on the falling asleep side, which I find far trixier to deal with...

What is it that makes you not want to leave early?

I've successfully used alarms for "yikes, how did it get to be 5:15?!" and have specifically negotiated with my boss about my hours for "I feel like a schmuck walking out while you're all still working." In my current office, it's also common to email out changes of schedule, just so others know, and then I feel slightly accountable to my email about it, weirdly!