Good News for People Who Struggle with Mornings: The Story of a Night Crawler Embracing the Morning
I’ll never forget the morning I walked into the marketing department at PrintingForLess.com, where I worked at the time, smiling, joking around, and handing a couple of co-workers a coffee before our morning meeting and one of them asking me, “How are you always so happy in the mornings?”
Now that was funny. I am absolutely, positively, not a morning person. I was thrown by the question. But as I thought about it, I realized it appeared that way because I usually came in ready to rock the day.
It dawned on me what a huge benefit my half hour drive through one of the most beautiful valleys in America really was. Sometimes I would watch the snow-capped mountains and just meditate thankfully all the way to work, or like the morning in this scenario, I had blasted my favorite, high-energy 80’s rock music the whole way.
I chuckled and responded, “Because, I have such a long drive to work that I have rocked out a guitar solo, performed for screaming, adoring fans, and signed my name on bulging biceps before I even get here.” My imagination had fully engaged and I was delighted with the pretend world it created, and believe it or not, it actually worked to pull me from my morning funk and infused genuine excitement about my day, the real one. Regardless of the fact that I’m over 40, a little chubby, and can’t play the guitar to save my life, a fun jaunt into pure fiction can be energizing.
You're probably like me and subscribe to many motivational and business blogs. Inevitably, every single one of them has multiple posts like, “Why all successful people start their day at 5:30am” or “Five things you must do before 6:00am to have a successful life” or “How to become a morning person” – you know the drill. I have tried. I mean really tried and I have discovered, for better or worse, I’m a bit of a night crawler, and I’m finally ok with that. I have discovered I rock the hours from 11:00pm to 4:00am, accomplishing more than many people do during a full 8-hour work day because I am laser-focused, I have no interruptions, and I am fully alert.
Now, here are the facts, mornings still must happen and I am simply wired for nights. So, do I bemoan every morning and attempt to express my dislike to all and sundry? No, I am thankful for every day, even though mornings are a struggle, and that’s ok as long as I take control of my response. As a mom and business professional, I still have to get up and function at a decent level in the morning hours, which is why I am, un-apologetically, an advocate for a 20 or 30 minute nap around 3:00pm every day.
Good news night crawlers, you can be successful and adapt your life to accommodate your best production hours. Even though mornings are also a legitimate time to get focused and many successful folks do like to start their day before the sun rises, that doesn’t mean you are relegated to failure and never getting ahead if you don’t.
Know yourself, manage your time, and have the self-discipline to maintain a positive outlook. My humble advice? Take at least 10-15 minutes to meditate, pray, rock out, or zone out every morning. Get a hold of that outlook and attitude, and you’re going to be good-to-go and yes, it is more than fine if you hit snooze 3 times and didn’t get up before the sun, you can still be super-successful. Go get ‘em champ!
