Why I Choose to Be a Morning Person

(And Why It Might Save and Create More Time Than You Believe)

I am a morning person and that is not because it sounds disciplined or because I cannot sleep. It is not because it is the opposite of being trendy by staying up late or because I think everyone else should be getting up earlier…

I am a morning person because I do not ever want to waste daylight!

My View on the Hidden Cost of “Just Lying in Bed”

I have noticed that many convince themselves that staying in bed a little longer is harmless:

  • “Just fifteen more minutes”
  • “I deserve the rest”
  • “I didn’t go to sleep until 2:00 AM”
  • “Nothing urgent is happening yet”
  • “I’m still tired”
  • “I’m just scrolling”
  • “I can miss the appointment”
  • “The trash can go out next week”

Hey, those extra few minutes add up over the days, weeks, months, or even years. Even more importantly, they set the tone for how we live that day and our life. I notice when people stay in bed without a defined purpose, it is not about recovering or resting, it is about delaying and avoiding. That individual is telling their mind that starting later is acceptable, it is normal, and that time has no urgency associated with it.

What I see here is the key reality: People will already have energy the moment they wake up, if they have aligned themselves to receive rest the evening before. Sleep is not just rest; it is stored potential from the seven-to-nine hours that someone allows themselves to enjoy the night before. When one wakes up, that potential is fully charged from sleep, like your cell phone should be fully charged. Choosing not to use sleep is like having a full tank of gas and deciding to keep the car parked anyway.

Old Adages That Reinforce the Value of Waking Early

The idea of getting up early is not new… in fact, it has been repeated across generations in simple phrases that still hold value at their core today. These “old adages” exist because people have observed the same patterns I see today, that time, energy, and opportunity favor those who start early.

Here are a few old adages that capture these ideas clearly:

  1. “The early bird catches the worm.”
    This is perhaps the most well-known example, emphasizing that those who act early gain the advantage. You can read more about it here:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_early_bird_catches_the_worm
  2. “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”
    Often attributed to Benjamin Franklin, this connects early routines directly with well-being, success, and clarity.
    https://www.benfranklinvirtues.com/blog/early-to-bed-early-to-rise-meaning
  3. “Well begun is half done.”
    Starting early, and starting right, puts you ahead before others even begin.
    https://www.socratic-method.com/philosophy-quote-meanings/aristotle-well-begun-is-half-done
  4. “He who rises late must trot all day.”
    A reminder that starting late forces you to rush and react instead of move with intention.
    https://tilleyproverbs.com/proverbs/D110
  5. “Lose an hour in the morning and you will spend all day looking for it.”
    This one perfectly reflects the compounding cost of a slow, delayed start.
    https://www.socratic-method.com/quote-meanings/richard-whately-lose-an-hour-in-the-morning-and-you-will-spend-all-day-looking-for-it

These sayings are simple, but they align directly with a consistent truth: When you start early, you are not just gaining time, you are gaining control over how that time is used.

The Myth of Being a “Night Person”

I hear many people proudly say they are night owls. To be clear, I certainly get that some are genuinely wired that way. For many others, the behavior is not biological… it is cultural or a trend.          

Eight hours of sleep could be any of these examples and more…

  • Sleep from 8 PM – 4 AM = 8 hours
  • Sleep from 10 PM – 6 AM = 8 hours
  • Sleep from 12 AM – 8 AM = 8 hours
  • Sleep from 2 AM – 10 AM = 8 hours

Shifting one’s hours chosen to sleep will gain daylight time and still ensure enough sleep is captured by them. I get it… breaking the trendiness and coolness of staying up late is difficult and something I have personally struggled with. One may think they do not look as cool or trendy to their friends or classmates, if they do not go to bed after 11:00 PM… or if they wake up before 8:00 AM.

What I am suggesting is that individuals simply shift their sleep times.

  • So, what changes? The daylight you experience.

When you wake up late you do the following and for what reason?

  • You miss the most productive quiet hours of the day
  • You are creating a habit of lying in bed, not sleeping is okay
  • You compress your usable daylight window
  • You often carry a slower start into everything that follows

Often, it is not about necessity, it is about perception.

  • Stay up watching content
  • Appear busy or “important”
  • Align with others who are also staying up late
  • You are not tired, because you got up late meaning you could stay up late without being tired

My Rule: Use Energy When You Have It

One of my core principles is simple: If you are awake and have energy, use it.

Morning is the best time for that because:

  • Your mind is clear
  • Your distractions are minimal
  • Your energy is freshly restored
  • Offices and work expect you to start your day
  • Business and services open and are available to visit/use

The morning is the closest thing you will get to a “free productivity boost”, every single day. So why are you actively choosing to ignore and waste that?

Routines Are Not About Restriction, They Are About Optimization

This ties into a broader concept, I have written about before: routines are not meant to limit you; they are meant to remove inefficiencies from the process. Being a morning person is not focused on forcing yourself into rigid schedules. They are about aligning your habits with realities. If you reverse those conditions, you are working against yourself.

A Question: The conversation is not actually about whether you are a morning person or a night person.

The Real Question is: Are you using your daytime and energy when they are most valuable… or are you letting them drift to a time when they are not? Once the daytime is gone, it is not recoverable and cannot be recycled. You cannot “make up” daylight later, just because you stayed up late and missed your alarm.

  • You cannot “reclaim” a slow start and can only decide how you use the next hour at that point.

The Difference Between Rest and Idling

There is a difference between intentional rest and passive idling. Rest is planned, purposeful, and tied to recovery. Idling is unstructured, indefinite, and often filled with quiet avoidance.

If you truly need rest, take it deliberately and without guilt. But if you are simply lying awake, scrolling, or delaying your start, that is not rest… that is lost time disguised as comfort. Knowing the difference is what keeps discipline from turning into burnout and prevents comfort from turning into stagnation.

What I found on the web about this topic: Science of “rest vs. just lying there”

A Practical Starting Point

If the idea of waking up earlier feels unrealistic, do not overcomplicate it for yourself because it is not. Start by shifting your go to sleep time by 10-15 minutes, which in turn allows you to wake-up 10–15 minutes earlier and then get out of bed a minute or two after your alarm goes off. Pair that with one clear purpose for your morning like a workout, making coffee, a walk, planning your day, or checking your email.

Then you can repeat the 10-15 minute earlier cycle every week, so in a month you are getting up 1 full hour earlier. Small adjustments compound quickly. The goal is not to overhaul your life overnight, but to prove to yourself that time can be reclaimed and used with intention, one morning at a time.

What I found on the web about this topic: Benefits of waking earlier / using morning hours

The Hidden Financial Cost of Late Nights

There is also a broader financial impact that keeps “tapping me on the shoulder” and others rarely consider it. If a locale or neighborhood operates later into the night, that requires businesses to extend hours beyond the natural daylight window. That means the spots that stay open to adapt incur extra labor costs, extended utility usage, additional security, and other operational overhead. Stores, restaurants, and services are not absorbing those costs, they are pricing them into everything they sell day or night. The expectation of late-night availability contributes to higher prices for everyone, even those who do not use those hours. In a practical sense, the habit of staying up late does not just affect individual productivity, it quietly drives up the cost of living and “the basics” across the entire system for all.

  1. Costs increase when stores extend hours (labor + utilities + overhead)
    https://savvyshopkeeper.com/cost-benefit-analysis-of-extending-store-hours/
  2. Night/extended operations require higher labor and operational expenses
    https://www.myshyft.com/blog/shift-work-economics/

Final Thought

You do not have to wake up early (4:00 AM or 5:00 AM) to be successful. Just wake up at a traditional or universally accepted time (6:30 AM or 7:30 AM) to get more productivity and usable time in your life… For me, that means getting out of bed, starting the day, and using the energy I already have, while the sun is up, rather than pretending I need more sleep or more time.

The biggest waste of a day is not lack of sleep, it is waking up late… and doing nothing the day (or in the future) to gain that back.

Let’s break it down logically, because that is how my brain works: If one is to or needs to get eight hours of sleep, then get eight hours of sleep! Period, end of conversation.You are not gaining sleep by staying in bed longer, just lying there.

Leave a Reply