Night Owl Lies
Find Out How They're Fooling Themselves
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Don't worry, I'm not writing a poem here, just telling it the way it was. To get out of a series of bad habits I basically had to transform my life.
My only tool: Becoming an early riser.
I have seen both sides of the coin and have now come to a couple of conclusions how I was fooling myself. Now, don't take this personally if you're a night owl or evening person yourself, but these are the 5 major lies I used to tell myself. It might not apply to you, but it sure as hell kept me stuck for a while.
5 Lies Night Owls Like To Tell
Lie 1 - "I'm more productive in the evening"
Stress, distractions and exhaustion is usually not the ingredients we want in order to create high productivity. As you think about those times you actually had something you needed to produce before the next day, you might be able to recognize the problems with being really focused.
In the evening, there are so many distractions out there - TV, chatting, phone calls, going out - that it can be incredibly hard to get something done.
This was the major problem I had with trying to produce results in my life during late evenings. It was just so easy to procrastinate, and it didn't get any easier with all that stress and tiredness I brought home from a long day working.
So in general, I was unable to be very productive in the evenings.
Lie 2 - "I'm too tired to wake up early in the morning"
This can of course be true, but not if you manage to transform completely. You might experience tiredness during the change period, but as you get used to waking up early you're gonna feel the exact opposite in the evening instead.
When the time approaches 10 you're really gonna look forward to getting into bed! So persevere and you will be able to form a powerful new habit that will improve your life in ways you can't even imagine.
Lie 3 - "I have to finish this right now"
It's very rare that you actually have to finish something by a certain time in the evening. Unless you're in school and you have a paper to hand in at 12pm, you are probably working for something coming up the next day. So, how about if you instead just relax, go to bed and wake up early to get a couple of hours of high productivity before heading off to work?
You see, if you just take it easier and do your tasks when you're most productive instead of "right now" you might come up with a better solution. So just remember that there's usually a choice between right now this evening and tomorrow morning.
Lie 4 - "It's much more fun to stay up late in the evening"
Perhaps you think you have to be a night owl in order to have a social life. And not to mention all the good TV shows you can watch in the evening.
Well, just think back to how you usually spend your evenings. Isn't it true that you most often just end up in the sofa in front of some lame old TV-show while your brain totally shuts off?
Is that how you really want to spend your life?
The early mornings can be great fun - a time when you can choose yourself what to do and then put all of your fresh energy into it.
Lie 5 - "If I'll wake up early, I'll be tired all day"
That's just not true. If you wake up really early, then you might become more tired in the evening, but definitely not in the day. And it's good that you start to feel sleepy at around 9-10 p.m. so you can fall asleep as soon as you hit the bed.
If you wake up at, say, 5 a.m. in the morning and start your day the right way with some activity and doing what you like, then there's no reason whatsoever why you would feel sleepy during the day.
It's all about forming a powerful habit.
There is a fantastic guest post about changing from a night owl to being an early bird by Nancie Ox that you should check out if you are interested in how to turn your life around.
Through these lies that night owls like to tell, I have realized much about myself. Knowing this has made me stronger and I am now more and more confident about the benefits of waking up early every single morning. I hope you can see it too.
Early Riser > How To Wake Up > Night Owl Lies
Thanks for reading! By Matthew M. McEwan
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