It’s not uncommon to hear people ponder why they only get motivated at night compared to other hours of the day. It can be quite surprising to lay in bed for a good night’s rest and suddenly feel a jolt of motivation. The real question here is – why does this happen?

You always get so motivated at night because, at that time, you’re the most relaxed. Garnering motivation becomes much easier when you’re free from most daytime responsibilities and your body is in the process of unwinding and reaching mental repose.

Continue reading to find out other reasons why you get more motivated at night and how to channel this motivation to work in your favor.

The Reasons Why You Get So Motivated at Night 

The reasons for nocturnal motivation are numerous and happen to each person differently. Here are some of the most popular causes:

1. You’re Under Less Pressure at Night

One of the major reasons for sudden motivation at night is the lack of pressure that exists at that time compared to the early hours of the day. Some studies have shown that too much of any type of pressure is a leading factor in killing motivation. 

Most people wake up to their jobs and other responsibilities, and we continuously work through these challenges in the daytime. Activities such as phone calls, work duties, and even interaction with others require significant brain focus. Through these activities, you experience a constant stream of stimulation during the day.

Since the brain is programmed to active mode during this time, it prioritizes attending to this type of stimulation. This leaves little or no time to garner motivation about the things you’d like to do, such as staying creative.

Contrastingly, nighttime leaves more room for relaxation and unwinding. During these hours, you don’t have the obligations or responsibilities from the earlier hours. There’s time for you to decompress and think less rigidly. Once your brain relaxes and de-stresses, nighttime motivation tends to come on a lot more.

2. Getting Motivated Is Easier Than Doing the Actual Work

It’s usually a lot of fun to get motivated and come up with ideas when you don’t have to execute them until much later. Being able to feel motivated without worrying about implementing work based on it is one of the perks of nighttime motivation. 

Getting into bed at night or staying up late frees your mind to wander off to anywhere and think of as many things as you want to. There are no restrictions to the amount of motivation you can harness at that time.

This form of nighttime thinking opens up your mind to come up with spontaneous, amazing ideas, but usually with no plan of execution. A plausible explanation for this could be that, at night, there is a high enough probability to feel somewhat distanced from the day’s pressure till it’s a new morning.

This distance gives you the innate confidence to be motivated without considering the work to be done to make your motivation feasible.

Another explanation could be that you simply place a higher value on your present self than your future self. This causes you to prioritize your present self–who is having fun and getting motivated– over your future self, who has to do the work of executing these ideas.

It’s a no-brainer that anyone would choose the present self who simply has to get motivated and think of amazing ideas over having to wake up worrying about how to implement your thought-out ideas. We all just want to dream!

If you’re stuck in the phase where you can’t get anything done, we have some tips for you: What to do when you can’t get any work done.

3. You Feel the Need To Be Engaged While You’re Awake

Human nature works in very diverse ways. It’s not uncommon to observe that for certain people, once they lie awake at night, they feel a need to make good use of that time. These people feel obligated to keep their bodies and minds occupied as long as they haven’t shut their eyes to sleep.

This sort of sleep habit is very likely to propel nighttime motivation. People who exhibit sleep patterns like this allow their minds to wander and garner motivation simply because it keeps their minds busy.

Also, most humans have been conditioned to feel guilty about getting a complete sleep cycle of eight hours or more. Sometimes, we feel the need to keep our minds busy and motivated just for the sake of doing it, and not because we want to.

4. You Feel Lonely

A lot of people have claimed that loneliness triggers their nighttime motivation. Being in a lonely state can make a person stay peaceful and calm enough to reflect, meditate, and plan. Doing any of these at night can cause you to get motivated.

Other popular theories claim that the more lonely you are, the more depressed you get. The more depressed you get, the greater the psychological pain it causes. In the quest to get rid of this pain, motivation starts to stir up. In this instance, the greater the urge to cure loneliness, the more intense and frequent motivation becomes. 

However, this approach doesn’t apply to everyone experiencing loneliness, but it may prove present in most people’s lives.

5. You Have Fewer Distractions

Distractions are a major hindrance to getting motivated. We often get so consumed with work, peer pressure, family matters, social media, and general lifestyle that we don’t realize that they constitute major distractions that obstruct our motivation. 

In bed, there are usually no existing plans, and with the absence of the distractions mentioned above, you can create more space and time to get motivated. At night, you don’t receive as many calls and texts as you do during the day. You also may not have many plans to think about or places to go to. 

This peaceful and less-distracting nature of the night makes garnering motivation much easier. 

How To Channel Your Nighttime Motivation for Good

Having this high motivation at night allows you to work comfortably and in your own time. There are fewer distractions in your space; therefore, you have better focus. This will help you to produce even better results than you normally would during the day. 

Aside from your regular work, you also have the opportunity to comfortably engage in other activities because you’re the only one awake. These can yield very productive results if you utilize the motivation properly.

Here are eight ways you can channel your nighttime motivation for good:

• Meditate 
• Prepare for the next day
• Read a book
• Clear your mailbox
• Tidy the house 
• Engage in your hobbies
• Review your finances
• Finish up on leftover work

I’ll go over each of these in more detail in the following sections.

1. Take Up Late Night Meditation

When you’re up at night wondering what to do to keep yourself occupied, meditation is an excellent activity. Pick out a quiet spot in the house or your room, sit down, and stay there for some time. In that time, you get a sense of calm and peace in your body and mind.

Channeling your nighttime motivation into meditation can be very good for your mental and emotional health. A scientific investigation in 2013 discovered that mindfulness training improved assimilation and memory capacity among those who engaged in it. Participants who were once very prone to distractions had also developed better focus through meditation.

You can regularly meditate when you want to get productive in the nighttime and enjoy all of its advantages. 

2. Prepare for the Next Day

Mental preparation is beneficial if you have an important presentation or meeting the next day. Now that you have the motivation at night, work on preparing yourself. Go over your points, plan your time and fine-tune everything else to deliver a spectacular presentation. This will keep your mind fresh and focused on the task ahead of you.

Planning from the previous night reduces the stress you’re under through the next day. You can begin to visualize your day already. Preparing yourself for the day ahead has been proven to prevent a lot of time wasting during the daytime.

3. Read a Book

Picking up a book to read a few pages is another activity to channel your nighttime motivation. It’s especially helpful if your daily job involves staring at screens for hours because you may have reduced melatonin levels. Reading a book is a good stress reliever because it takes you away from reality for some time.

It’s also intellectually stimulating when you read for at least 20 minutes every day. Take one of those books you’ve promised to read for years and start reading it. You get all the health benefits that it brings and also entertainment when everyone else is asleep.

4. Clear Your Mailbox

You should check and sort out your mailbox regularly, especially when you receive important messages. During the day, you barely have enough time to complete your workload, and checking emails is trivial to you.

You need your mailbox to help you keep up with some important things in your life. Be consistent towards checking your mailbox, so you don’t miss out on any of them!

You can dedicate the nighttime when you’re up to taking this off your desk. When you’re up at night, open your mail and get to work. 

5. Clean the House

Taking time out of an already tight schedule to clean up the house can easily disrupt your day. It’s easy to fall into a slump where you have everything planned, but your house is a mess because you can’t spare the time! 

While you’re up at night and want to be productive, spend the time cleaning up. Most daily schedules don’t account for your night hours, so it’s free time for you.

Take out a couple of hours to get your house tidy once again. My favorite advantage of cleaning up at night is that nobody is awake to stain the clean house or disturb you!

6. Engage in Hobbies

Hobbies are essential to living a wholesome life. They’re one of the few chances that many people get to do something they love. Engaging in a hobby is a great way to disconnect from the daily stress that your everyday life brings.

While enjoying a hobby, you’re honing a skill and socializing with people who share the same passion as you. A hobby is an excellent way to channel your nighttime motivation because it’s a good means of mental escape.

You get to improve yourself while doing what you love in the quiet of the night. If you can’t seem to find a hobby for yourself, you can try a variety of hobbies and pick out one you like. Here are some examples of hobbies you can engage in at nighttime:

• Crocheting 
• Painting and drawing
• Yoga
• Coloring
• Listening to music
• Scrapbooking
• Baking and cooking

7. Review Your Finances

Finances are a major cause of stress and worry because it affects many other parts of your life. You can give yourself some peace of mind by checking how you’re doing financially, and the quiet of the night is a better environment to do this.

You can give it your full attention and hence, avoid any mistakes. Regular personal financial reviews are important to building your wealth and getting financial freedom.

When you get late night motivation, take out some time to check your expenditure and income in the latest period. If you have investments, this is also an excellent time to see how your money is doing. 

8. Finish Up on Leftover Work

There’s a sense of uneasiness when you wake up and remember you have pending work on your desk. If you have some unsettled work, use the motivation you have at that moment to complete them. It will definitely take the burden off your shoulders for the next day. 

Conclusion

It’s common to feel a surge of motivation at night and a need to be productive. The main reason many people get this motivation late at night is simply because they’re in their most relaxed state. 

Nighttime motivation isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and there are many ways you can direct that motivation and yield something positive from it, including meditating, preparing for the next day, or even just participating in hobbies you enjoy, such as reading a book.