My Morning Motivation Theory and the Most Important Decision of the Day

It's been a while since I've written about something that isn't about my relationship status or alcohol and therefore something needs to change. I've also not given a lot of thought to my last 4 or 5 posts for whatever reason - I'm going to say that they 'came from the heart'. Today's post has required thought though and it is something that I'm looking forward to sharing with you this evening. I hope that I've whetted your appetite with the title; although it doesn't roll off the tongue, it should get the punters in over the next few days. It has also been a while since I've used the word 'theory' in my blogging escapades and so it excites me to be able to bring you my 'Morning Motivation Theory' tonight! The rest will be explained in due course...

The best thing to do when you're laying down a theory is to keep it snappy and keep your audience interested for as long as possible. That way you either generate debate, support or ridicule - the lifeblood of healthy theorising. My theory therefore is this: based on personal experience (and the fact that I've discovered through this blog that such experiences are often not unique to me) I find myself to be most motivated at night, especially when I'm going to bed. Some of the best ideas (and enthusiasm for such ideas) that I have only ever seem to come at a time when I'm not going to be able to act on them. A recent example would be when I'm lying in bed thinking about the various exciting and fruitful things that I could be doing with my (4 month) summer and then only having the motivation to do them there and then. Of course when I wake up the next morning that passion for something that seemed so easy and close has gone and, in a flash, it leaves my contemplation. Allow this diagram (how very exciting!) to illustrate:

I'm not here to insult anyone's intelligence here but the chance to visualize my blog posts never really comes along all that often - plus I did the draft for that diagram in the steam on the shower door at the weekend so any excuse really. I would be interested to know how prevalent this thing is amongst people, especially like-minded students. I'm generally a well motivated guy with enough drive to see myself through plenty of things, but this problem is one that I can't quite shift. I sometimes wonder if I could carry over that motivation from night to morning, if I would be a better person because of it - a more successful person even. It (ironically) doesn't keep me awake at night and I don't generally worry about it but I'm starting to think that sleep is holding me back.

Being the clever cookie that I am, I have an answer to this plight. In the title of this post I have classed this as the 'Most Important Decision of the Day' (MIDD) and it is something that I think could really help people. When you wake up in the morning you feel groggy, your bones are a bit stiff and you generally just want to stay in bed for as long as possible. When you finally swing those lead weights to the side and set your feet down on the (in my case cold) floor you still aren't quite right but you're getting there. After showering and waking yourself up to a conscious state that is when the MIDD comes into play. The decision that I'm talking about it what type of person you are going to be on that given day. The chance to decide usually comes when you first encounter another person or when you first look at yourself in the mirror. So many times have I made the wrong choice that I wondered what I could do to fix it and that is what's lead me to this post today.

It's very easy to not make the decision at all and remain in neutral throughout the day. It's (arguably) easier to decide to be 'tired' or not to 'feel that great' because that way you have a justification for being in a mood or even snapping at someone. That 'negative' decision is one that most people take when they are hungover which is why the morning after always seems to be so bad. The tricky choice however, is to decide to be a happy person, a well motivated person or a mixture of both. Right from that first 'good morning' or 'hi' of the day, you set the precedent that will most likely see you through to night time again. If you decide that today you are going to be happy and busy then you will be both of those things for the rest of the day, thus defeating the Morning Motivation Theory:

I've made the right choice so many times recently after this dawned on me and it turns out that it becomes a habit that you can't budge. As a result of such MIDDs, I've started to exercise more, I get more university work done and I even manage to have more time to blog as well. Life is easy when you make the right decisions and this is one of the easiest that you can make.

Thanks for reading tonight and enjoy the rest of your evening. I'll be back on Wednesday with my first 'World on Wednesday' post for a while but until then, start (or continue) to make the right decision!

Martin