Why You Are Motivated at Night But Not in the Morning • The Disciplined Rebel

This article is going to help you figure out WHY you are motivated at night but not in the morning.

And how to BREAK the cycle!

Table of Contents

1) What is Happening When You Feel “Motivated at Night But Not in the Morning”

2) Reasons You Get Motivated at Night

3) Why You Lose Your Motivation in the Morning

4) How to Break the Cycle and Follow Through with Your Goals

5) Conclusion

6) Free Cheat Sheet on “Why You Are Motivated at Night But Not in the Morning”

What is Happening When You Feel “Motivated at Night But Not in the Morning”

Whenever someone says “why am I motivated at night but not in the morning,” I always ask them:

What do you MEAN when you say you are motivated at night?

Do you mean you are:

(A) Doing lots of productive things at night.
OR (B) Staying up at night, THINKING about all the really exciting things you WANT to do, but not actively doing those things.

And they almost always mean option B.

Here is what you are probably experiencing when you feel motivated at night but not in the morning:

At night, you dream up things you want to get done the next day.
The next morning, you wake up unmotivated, and don’t follow through with your goals.

Even when you do get SOME things done at night, you are still dissatisfied.

That’s because you lose motivation the next morning and don’t keep that momentum going.

The underlying problem here is that you are having trouble following through with your goals.

So, to answer the question “why am I motivated at night but not in the morning,” and figure out how to fix things, I have to discuss the following:

Reasons you get motivated at night: Why is it that a lot of us tend to excitedly plan out things to do the next day right before bed?
Why you lose motivation in the morning: Why do so many people have trouble following through with their plans when they wake up?
How to break the cycle: What can you do to stop going through this endless cycle of nighttime motivation and morning inaction?

Reasons You Get Motivated at Night

First, let’s dive deeper into why people often are motivated and have lots of great ideas at night.

Reason #1: You Are More Relaxed

Unless you work the night shift, you are likely done with all the responsibilities you have to do by the end of the day.

And even if you didn’t get your responsibilities done, it’s likely you’ve told yourself “well, it’s too late today, I’ll get to it tomorrow.”

So now, you enter a state of relaxation.

You kick back and unwind. Maybe you do something fun with friends.

Even if you are stressed out from the day’s activities, you are likely decompressing before bed, at least to some extent.

Now, you stop focusing on all those daily chores that occupy your mind during the day.

And you start getting pumped up about the things you want to get done.

Reason #2: It is Fun to Think of Ideas When You Don’t Have to Do Them Until Later

When you are close to going to bed, you are likely to give yourself permission to get to it tomorrow.

This mentality frees your mind up to THINK of ideas, without giving any thought as to how to EXECUTE those ideas.

You stop worrying as much as you would worry during the day about the work, effort, and obstacles involved.

And you start to just freely think about all the possibilities out there.

And it’s a TON of fun to imagine things.

Especially if you aren’t paying much attention to the hard work and challenges involved to make your goals a reality.

Reason #3: You Bias Your Present Self Over Your Future Self

This next reason is somewhat like the previous one, but from a different perspective.

At night, sometimes you create this distance between these two versions of yourself:

Your Present Self: Who is currently living in the night
Your Future Self: Who will be born the next morning

Your Present Self doesn’t have to do ANY work. It just gets the FUN of coming up with all these cool plans.

Your Future Self has to do ALL the work.

But your Present Self doesn’t care, because it won’t have to worry about that version of you for a long time.

So, there is no need to take the ridiculous amount of work you are making your Future Self do into consideration.

This biasing of your Present Self over your Future Self is known as present bias. And is something that most people experience to some extent or another.

Most people end up favoring their Present Self over their Future Self, and they end up planning way more than they can possibly handle.

Why You Lose Your Motivation in the Morning

Now, let’s take a look at why people tend to lose motivation to follow through with the previous night’s plans when they wake up in the morning.

Reason #1: Thinking is Easier Than Doing

It’s one thing to say you are going to do something.

It’s another matter entirely to ACTUALLY do it.

When you wake up in the morning after a night of thinking of all these plans, you suddenly face the reality of following through with them.

And you realize just how much more difficult it’s going to be than you initially anticipated.

Reason #2: Your Night Plans Overwhelm You the Next Day

Let’s say the night before you have all these elaborate plans.

“Tomorrow I’m going to study, start meditating, clean my room, work out, do several errands, learn how to cook, and read a book!”

But then you wake up the next morning and realize how unrealistic getting all those plans done in the same day is.

And once you get overwhelmed, ALL your motivation goes out the window.

Reason #3: You Like the Idea of the Plan but Not the Details

A lot of the time, during the Planning Phase of a goal, people are not specific on the details.

And because you aren’t thinking closely about the particular steps involved, the IDEA often seems more doable than it really is.

Imagine two moments in time:

First, on Tuesday night, you decide you want to learn to play guitar.

You think, “I should learn to play guitar. I’m going to practice every day!

Your idea is great, but there aren’t any details involved as to how to execute it.

So now, on Wednesday morning, you wake up and aren’t sure what to do.

“Hmmm I want to play guitar but I’m not sure where to start.”

Do I get lessons?
Do I self-teach?
What guitar should I buy?
Should I learn acoustic or electric?
What do I learn first?”

After thinking about all those details, things either seem overwhelming or highlight just how much work is involved.

And often, once you realize how hard something really is, you procrastinate or give up entirely.

The night before, you just thought about the awesome OUTCOMES of the idea, but not about all the DETAILS of everything you would have to do to pull it off.

How to Break the Cycle and Follow Through with Your Goals

So how do you break this cycle of being motivated at night but not in the morning?

Tip #1: Think Through the Details When Planning Your Goals

Thinking through the SPECIFIC details of HOW to carry out your goals will help in two ways:

At night, when you are making the plans, it will help you more accurately determine what ideas you really want to commit to.
The next morning, it will help you transition more easily into executing those plans, since you will be prepared for the specific steps involved.

Recommended Article: How to Break Down Goals Into Steps

Tip #2: Prioritize Your Goals

What’s the point of having a million plans if you never follow through with them?

You are much better off prioritizing your goals, and focusing on one thing at a time.

This will help prevent you from getting overwhelmed when you wake up in the morning.

Tip #3: Form Habits Instead of Relying on Motivation

Motivation is unreliable.

There is no way to hack it so that you are motivated all the time.

There are going to be days you wake up and just feel like eating candy and watching YouTube all day.

But if you instead focus on forming habits, you will find yourself getting things done EVEN when you aren’t motivated.

Things will simply start to become part of your routine.

And then you won’t have to worry about being motivated in the morning at all.

Since you will just do the things you need to do out of habit.

Recommended Article: 11 Secrets to Forming Good Habits That Stick

Tip #4: Focus More on Intrinsic Rewards

Intrinsic rewards are benefits you receive in return for the work you do which come from within.

They are often intangible things like:

The joy of learning
Creative expression
Or an internal sense of satisfaction

Whereas, extrinsic rewards are tangible benefits you receive that come from external sources.

For example:

Money
Fame
Or status

While there is nothing wrong with having some extrinsic rewards you care about, intrinsic rewards are often overlooked.

And they can be extremely beneficial.

This is because, you receive intrinsic rewards directly from the PROCESS of pursuing a goal.

Which provides a constant stream of positive reinforcement.

Tip #5: Don’t Put Pressure on Yourself to be Motivated All The Time

Know that if you find yourself frequently getting motivated at night and losing that motivation the next morning, that is perfectly natural.

Think about your nighttime ideas as a kind of brainstorming session.

Not everything you brainstorm needs to be put into action.

The key is just to make progress on some of your ideas, as often as you can.

Over time, your progress will add up, and you can achieve incredible things.

New Bonus Tip: Try Listening to Positive Affirmations in the Morning

This is an optional one, but can be highly effective for some people.

Affirmations have been proven to help you view things in a more positive light.

And if you listen to them in the morning, they can prepare you to take on the tasks that lie ahead that day.

Furthermore, affirmations help you challenge self-defeating thoughts that can hold you back.

Which I’ve found for some, tend to happen a lot in the morning.

Read more about the benefits of affirmations and get over 50 positive affirmations for self-discipline & focus.

Conclusion

When you are motivated at night but not in the morning, what is really going on, is you are having difficulty following through with your goals.

Hopefully the tips outlined in this article can help you STOP losing motivation when you wake up in the morning and START getting things done!

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