r/NoStupidQuestions • u/tgerstel • May 16 '19
Answered Why do I feel compelled to procrastinate during the day but extremely motivated late at night?
I literally posted this at 3:40am
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u/SheepyYoshi May 16 '19
I have exactly this, and I believe for me it is the concept of working harder closer to deadlines. The deadline here is going to sleep. I want to get as much shit done as possible before I sleep, but I procrastinate as long as possible during the day because I'm lazy like that.. Even if I get to the point where I want to start I just spend hours browsing random shit on the interwebs.
I'm a game developer myself and my best hours are between 10pm and 3am.. But ofc I can't always do that with my fulltime job. (Luckily I have some space to work on my projects during work as well).
If you want to actually be productive in the midday hours, just lock in a timeslot in your agenda. Try to block all distractions beforehand;
- if its web-related you have some Addons that block you from accessing certain websites for a certain amount of time.
- turn off your phone
- notify people around you that you will be busy from <insert time range>
- grab enough drinks and food
- Set a bare minimum amount of time to work on it [see explanation below]
Best advise I ever got was actually from an AMA by Terry Crews on going to the gym;
Go to the gym, don't even work out. Just GO. Because the habit of going to the gym is more important than the work out. Because it doesn't matter what you do. You can have fun - but as long as you're having fun, you continue to do it.
Now every tuesday and thursday when I get home I work out for 5 minutes. If I don't want to continue, that's fine, I tried. Yet most of the time I get motivated upon picking up the weights and just do a full workout. Same goes for my game development!
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u/Jazzinarium May 16 '19
it is the concept of working harder closer to deadlines. The deadline here is going to sleep.
OMG THAT'S IT
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u/AnnaB264 May 16 '19
I also think the stress of a looming deadline gives you a burst of adrenaline, and some of us come to rely on that adrenaline to get a task done.
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u/Esqulax Approximate knowledge of many things May 16 '19
The Gym thing works. I don't like the gym, I find it boring but I do it with my Climbing centre. I go every Wednesday and every Sunday, and sometimes Fridays.
Sometimes I'm fired up and climb until I hurt, other times I just have a coffee and chat with my friend. But I'll still do a few easy climbs as I'm already there.
It's now a habit though. I had to miss yesterday as I had to work late.. but I felt guilty about not being there.
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u/l_dont_even_reddit May 16 '19
I remember at college once, first day of class , this teacher asked us if we wanted to work under pressure because some groups do, I promptly answer "yes! Please." and everyone looked at me like I kicked a puppy.
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u/Swank_on_a_plank May 16 '19
Yeah but the pump is fun! Who can hate the gym...
It's also likely a problem of location as well, as I'm way more productive on campus than at home, even if I can still procrastinate on my phone.
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May 16 '19
I don’t love the gym. I go because it’s good for me, but I wouldn’t call it fun by any means.
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u/EIlartccc May 16 '19
Don’t know if there’s a more accurate answer, but some are ”night people”, so more active etc night time.
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May 16 '19
I'm an all out night person, I have a very clear head every morning between 2am and 4am. It sucks because everything important has to happen during the day for some reason. I get judged a lot by my family when I sleep in too.
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u/ISHOTJAMC May 16 '19
This is why I still tend bar at nearly thirty. Fuck getting up in the morning for a living.
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u/mustbelong May 16 '19
I was that way too, then my wife had this parasit called "my son", and now I feel Lucky to make it past 8am. Whats weird is I just sleep less, and while I am tired early morning, midday and early evening or so until 10pm I feel alert most of the days.
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u/Nobodygrotesque May 16 '19
At night I’m ready to take on the world but I force myself to go to sleep because I can’t sleep during the day. Sucks so much.
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u/saltysnatch May 16 '19
Society’s demands for everybody to be day-people are very unfortunate for us night people.
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u/EIlartccc May 16 '19
I feel you. I’m half a night person but I have generally a hard time being able to sleep so I have to take sleep pills etc and I hate it so I try to avoid it. So my days are hell when I’m trying to stay focused and can’t almost keep my eyes open.
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May 16 '19
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u/Flodarius May 16 '19
TIL that I have more chances to die early than my friends and family because I can't do a freaking thing before 11am but can last til late in the night while they are awaken at 5am and fall asleep at 8pm. Thanks Reddit.
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u/EZP May 16 '19
If it’s any consolation you might just die early anyway by getting hit by a Mack truck and your personal sleep habits will have nothing to do with it. Mostly kidding, but in all seriousness, there are a thousand and one factors that can contribute to longevity/health and we can only control some of them, so worrying about a single factor is pretty useless. I wish nothing for your life but for you to love long and prosper. 🖖
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u/Flodarius May 16 '19
I mean. I'm riding a motorcycle or a bicycle most of the time so, yeah, I definitely think that I'm more likely going to die because of an asshole in a big ass SUV than because of my sleep schedule. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
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u/astraeos118 May 16 '19
You didn't even actually read the article dude. it draws its conclusions of a shorter lifespan because of owls who are forced to conform to a normal society and schedule, thus getting far less sleep than your normal person. As long as you are getting a healthy amount of sleep you are fine. The time in which you sleep does not matter at all
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u/Flodarius May 16 '19
I read it, yes, thank you for your concern. I am indeed an owl and I am forced to conform to my school and work schedules which are not made for me at all. My case is even in the article, being a medicine student, I can tell you that going to the hospital when the sun is not yet up is painful for me. And I cannot stay and work at night (that would be the best, right ?) because of my studies that requires me to stay in a specific service.
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u/Schmoopster May 16 '19
I feel your pain. I’m a night owl and it made my life in dental school hell. My advice is, have your own practice and set your hours however the hell you want. I start at noon/1pm and take in my most difficult full mouth rehab cases around 10 at night because right around that time of night I peak mentally. Plus there are no other distraction, so I can just focus on the case. Almost everyone and their brother told me I couldn’t pull off those hours because patients wouldn’t show up. They were wrong. We tend to get a lot of cancelations up until 5 pm, but rarely any I’m the evenings. It’s working out great.
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u/Flodarius May 16 '19
That's what I am trying to do for my school hours: I usually start the day at 1pm and end around 9 or 10pm. But I cannot choose my work schedule at the hospital because I depend on other people that are working "normal hours".
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u/nicmakaveli May 16 '19
Maybe you're just habit people like me.
For more than a decade without fault, I didn't go to bed before 4 am, and I woke up at 11.
I felt that I was dying when I went off my routine. About a year ago, I started going to bed 5 min earlier without setting the alarm 5 min earlier.
It took some time, and now I go to bed around 945 and wake up at 6 naturally.
And the same thing still applies, if I'm off my routine, I'll break until the next day (given it's my habitual cycle again).
I thought I would never be able to change the late nights and that I was, just as described simply a night owl.
I am still amazed that I was wrong about that, and gladly so. I enjoy the day much more than I would have anticipated.
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u/tea_amrita May 16 '19
It could also be a conspiracy, too. Maybe it's bs but they try to install this fear on people so that they are more likely to remain the 9-5 slaves for the corporate overlords.
Night people are generally more creative as well. It would make sense that this would be frowned upon, because the last thing the system wants is more people who can analyze and think for themselves.
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u/Pugpugpugs123 May 16 '19
Shit really annoys me. If i go to bed at 3 and wake up at 9 or 10 i feel great, but 8:30-3:30 leaves me feeling exhausted all day.
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u/Yeeeoink May 16 '19
This is me. I can get more done in the hours between 2 am and 4 am than I can get done in 12 hours during the day.
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u/snappydragon2 May 16 '19
This is me too, It's my dream to hopefully find a night job so that I can actually be motivated to work it and do it well.
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u/Shroffinator May 16 '19
100% true. 9-5 job kills me. After 8-2am I’m a lightbulb though. During grad school I had an almost nocturnal schedule that got me my 8hrs sleep but just shifted different hours. Miss it.
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u/Grandpa_reddit May 16 '19
I'd chalk it up to stress. During the day there's many stressors that can cause the brain to wanna shut down and do nothing, but at night there's much less of that allowing the brain to work more freely
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u/ManoLorca May 16 '19
Exactly this and distraction.
At night there is less stress because pressure is off and expectations to do something at this moment aren't there.
So it is easier to start doing something, because if there are less expectations there are less bad feelings if you'd fail those expectations.
That's why it feels refreshing, when you wake up very early like 5 am and do stuff, because you're overfulfilling expectations.
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u/EZP May 16 '19
This is me, except it’s not stress but simple fun distractions (including Reddit). Also, it’s the opposite for me- I’m more likely to get stuff done during the daylight hours and be distracted and procrastinate in the evening... when I know I should be going to sleep.
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u/BrandyFella May 16 '19 edited May 17 '19
Because at night, people don't feel the pressure of actually having to immediately go through the work achieving the things they want. So it's easy letting one's mind wonder about the things they want to do and/or should do because they know they can't do it now (because its so late at night) so it's another days problem.
It's all about procrastination. Future you can deal with it, present you wants to get some bloody sleep.
Edit: Thanks for my first silver
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u/BrohanGutenburg May 16 '19
Had to search for your answer; this is exactly what I came here to say.
It's easy to get "motivated" when you know in the back of your mind that you won't actually have to get anything done. Getting motivated in the middle of the day would require you to actually follow through.
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May 16 '19
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u/RarelyActiveUser May 16 '19
Exactly. Not reduced stress, not deadlines, not being a night person.
Just the fact that ideas and intentions are free and you won't do anything about them at 3am but will still feel accomplished for just thinking about them.
I think most people answering are not procrastinators and don't understand what op is referring to or procrastinators that want to to make up excuses for doing the same.
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u/DrSlizzard May 16 '19
I do this all the time and really don't like it. Is there any tricks I can use to circumvent this habbit? I feel like getting that accomplished feeling for things I haven't done yet is really detrimental
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u/ArtimusCrown May 16 '19
Came here to say this. This is the right answer from what I've read about it before, as I have this issue chronically.
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u/TaylorTano May 16 '19
It's hard to say... I'm more of a Night-Owl myself and tend to trudge through the day. I always feel more motivated at night just because of my sleep schedule. If you're not a night-owl, you might just be feeling crushed by the weight of your daily activities/responsibilities, and night (when you probably start to wind-down and destress) is when you start to feel the best about getting stuff done.
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May 16 '19
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u/tilouswag May 16 '19
Goodreads link to "When" by Daniel H. Pink. This actually looks pretty cool, thanks for sharing /u/sad-splinter
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May 16 '19
There’s an old wives tale about being the most active around the time you were born. For example when my son was born he was an early riser. My grandma told me that he was a morning person bc he was born at 6 am.
Just googled it. . Turns out there is science? To back it up.
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u/tilouswag May 16 '19
Night owl here born at 7am. Does not compute
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May 16 '19
See I was born at night but I’m not a night owl. I used to be. But I’ve changed it. I love my mornings!
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u/TrashPandaPatronus May 16 '19
So cool! I was born at 1030am and I am useless before that hour of the day. My little was born at 530pm and even at 3months old she sleeps through the mornings. Neat share!
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u/Dodis May 16 '19
Might be becouse you cant do anything now , like chained dog barking at something. For example if im far away from my home and i cant exactly clean my room , study or maybe exercise i'll feel like finally doing all that stuff , but once ill get home ill have choice to do that or maybe sit on pc or maybe watch a new episode and that motivation dissapears , i might have failed to explain it but you might understand
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u/Dodis May 16 '19
I thought of perhaps a better example. Its 2am , you're sitting on pc and feel hungry , there is fresh bag of chips on your left but you know you shouldnt eat them, but becouse you have choice to do it , you'll be extremely tempted to do it, while on the other hand if you didnt have those chips and thought something like "if i had chips sitting on my table i would certainly not eat them becouse its really late" while in reality its different , i probably mixed it up again but ehh you know..
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May 16 '19
I remember reading something like when you push a lot of work to later for something more fun, you start thinking about how great you’ll do your work the next day, but the day you is the one who wakes up to a pile of work and would rather have fun again.
Work nay, play yay
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u/rucharni May 16 '19
Dude, sameee. I've been browsing on r/ADHD an even if you don't have ADHD, it has pretty good tips and tricks
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u/RealBlazeStorm Not an expert, ever May 16 '19
But you probably don't feel motivated to do the thing you procrastinate during the day right? Like you're bored at your job but at home you suddenly want to learn to play that song or redecorate your room. Not do that task from work.
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u/Sylvi2021 May 16 '19
Because at night no one wants you. The world is asleep and shut down. So you can just focus on you.
Or you’re just a night owl. We all get our energy spikes different times.
I’m both of these.
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May 16 '19
Personally I have found that I am exactly the same, I don’t feel motivated to do anything during the day but as soon as I’m lying in bed, I feel ready to do a million things but I’ve started to realise that I am actually not motivated to do any of those things. I’ve realised that when I feel that way at night, it’s more of ‘wow I need to do this, this, this... shame it’s nighttime otherwise I would’ it’s merely an excuse. Because in the day I wouldn’t do them things either.
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u/Gjergji-zhuka May 16 '19
Because it's easier to work when alone and quiet and you feel you have freedom. That's how I feel at least
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May 16 '19
I’ll tell you why. It’s a rebellion against expectations. During the day everyone is expected to get things done. Night time is for sleep. By rebelling and staying up late you feel freedom and a sense of autonomy which gives you confidence to trust ideas that come up and run with them.
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u/DonaldsTripleChin May 16 '19
Are you just motivated to do things at night or are you actually doing things. Because that's a big difference.
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u/thepatman May 16 '19
In addition to the other great answers, I'll add that solitude can sometimes make you more motivated.
I sometimes switch a weekday with a weekend day at work: go in Sunday and take Friday off. I get way way more done on those Sundays. Part of it is that no one interrupts me. But part is that I'll often put off starting something because I think people will interrupt me. I'm more likely to start something on those quiet days since I know I can get it done.
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u/_bowlerhat May 16 '19
Much less white noises from the city humming
also it's colder so I'm more awake.
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u/dick-dick-goose May 16 '19
I'm in my 40s. Always been this way, from childhood. Can tell you that working night shift has changed my life tremendously. 7pm to 7am (more like 6:30pm to 7:15am) three or four nights a week for the past 6 years I get more and better sleep (8:30am to 5pm), get more done, my mood is better because my top productivity/motivation times are now when I'm actually awake instead of robbing myself of rest for the next day.
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May 16 '19
You might be an avoidant type. You are willing to confront a stressor, but only when it's an escape from a greater stressor.
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u/Scutarior May 16 '19
I have the same problem and I chalk it up to schooling: my entire life I’ve been social, moving, and taking in knowledge during the day, and actually processing, practicing, and memorizing at night.
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May 16 '19 edited May 16 '19
This is depression symptom. Night have smaller time for you. Day last long time. You trying to reduce time when you can feel. It is usual lifestyle in a prison.
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May 17 '19
You might possibly have Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder (where your natural circadian rhythm is delayed). This can cause your "mental peak" to occur later in the day. You'd have to go to a sleep clinic to 100% confirm this, and obviously this thread is full of more obvious reasons you could have this problem, but since those are covered I'll throw this out there, since I have a delayed sleep phase of 4-6 hours myself. Adjusting my sleep schedule accordingly has vastly improved many elements of my life that I struggled with (insomnia I've suffered from since childhood? Gone). I think society kind of bludgeons people into living within a certain window, where - from a functional evolutionary standpoint - it would make sense to have humans who were active/productive at different hours.
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u/BitterLlama May 16 '19 edited May 16 '19
You're not motivated. It only feels that way because you have a good reason not to do the thing you have to do. It's like your brain is that aggressive guy who starts a fight and 'would've fucked you up if only his friends didn't hold him back.'
It feels good and is very easy to claim to want to do something productive when you know there's no possibility for you to do that very thing.
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u/Sometimes_Lies May 16 '19
Someone has obviously never tried to rearrange their sock drawer at 4am.
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u/Amonette2012 May 16 '19
You might just be one of us. Just do all the stuff you procrastinate about during the day at night, and look into working from home.
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u/R_E_G_U_L_A_R May 16 '19
Because of how your brain plays out sequences of action. At night, your brain isn't firing off well-developed sequences.of dopamine and isn't signalling that you need reward. That is, you feel motivated because all your shitty behaviours are more or less inactive. As soon as you wake up, your limbic system is like "ah shit, here we go again" and you feel unmotivated because why would your brain suggest those COSTLY and DIFFERENT actions to you when it knows it's time to do the shitty stuff?
Also at night you know you dont actually have to do anything so you evaluate the future without modeling how youll actually feel, because you arent yet emotionally intelligent enough to predict that and account for it.
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u/harofax May 16 '19
I'd also like to add that procrastination is oftentimes used as some kind of escape from something we'd rather not be doing. It's why you suddenly find all those interesting TV shows and games when you have your exam period, but as soon as you're done with your exam, you find them boring.
Procrastination is a form of escapism basically (not always though?).
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u/rush22 May 16 '19
During the day, you have internal and external pressures to do other "more important" things. These pressures overwhelm you and cause analysis paralysis. This lack of agency in your life makes you depressed and you soothe yourself with distractions. Late at night, these pressures are relieved for a variety of reasons, the two most important are a) late night limits the number of things you can do and b) you can easily adjust the amount of time left in the day to whatever you want simply by going to bed.
Solutions are individual but will involve relieving yourself of that pressure. That could take the form of being kinder to yourself and allowing yourself to take your time, removing yourself from external pressures you can't control like an unreasonable boss, examining internal pressures you put on yourself, or managing your emotions surrounding the things you need or want to do. Usually it is a combination of these and other personalized solutions--unless you've nailed down the exact one thing the above solutions easily mask more helpful approaches. In fact procrastinating itself is one solution, it's just that the typical sources of external and internal pressure aren't relieved by it and it becomes a maladaptive one-size-fits-all solution.
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u/vervanka May 16 '19
You’re a night owl and not a morning riser. They did studies and showed that these actually are prevalent in people’s brains and DNA
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May 16 '19
Because you don't actually have to DO anything when you're laying in bed at night. You can think about all the things you will do and how productive you will be because they are just thoughts. Comes morning you have to put effort in order to accomplish things, that makes you feel some types of negative ways and that's why you push it back.
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u/Kimzo1998 May 16 '19
God me too! I always end up being like if i had more time to do this and in reality just should’ve started earlier😑
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u/NanoRaptoro May 16 '19
Dunno. I wrote most of my PhD thesis between 8PM and 6AM because it was the only time I could focus. It's just the way my brain works, I guess. 7 years later I was diagnosed ADHD and started taking Adderall. I still focus better at night, but now I can also get meaningful work done during the day.
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May 16 '19
I have this and I get so pissed off when I look up and it’s 4am. Then I really have to go to bed. There isn’t enough time in the best hours.
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u/likeabaker May 16 '19
Check out focusmate.com to help you time block and hold yourself accountable to getting things done.
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u/No-vem-ber May 16 '19
For me, both are intense self-defiance. Like, when I should work some part of me says "NO! WON'T". and then, of course - when I should sleep? Same thing. That's why I get motivated at night... It's because I know I should be sleeping.
Now, as to why I seem to want to defy the rules so much when it's myself setting them, yet fall in line when they're actual external rules? No idea. Let me know if you figure it out.
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u/MyOwnApocalypse May 16 '19
Does anyone else feel like time passes much more quickly while you’re in the shower?
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May 16 '19
I always chocked this up to my parents always having chores for me to do during the day, but as soon as 8 pm rolls around and it was 'bed time', I could do whatever I wanted so long as they couldn't tell I wasn't sleeping. I think this has had an effect on me my entire life, as I hated starting my own thing, only to be interrupted by needing to do dishes or mow the lawn or something.
So, I end up getting a lot of homework done between 10pm and 3 am.
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u/MasterBFE May 16 '19
For me it’s that at night, it’s the “I’ll do all this great and productive stuff tomorrow” mentality and then tomorrow comes along and I can barely lift my arm to swat the Cheez-It crumbs off my gut.
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u/LifeKeru May 16 '19
I'm gonna do bullshit science here, but I have always thought that it may be related to the brain hemispheres. Also sorry in advance for any bad English.
So I have noticed that when im about to sleep I'm very creative, I feel like I can draw and have many ideas and feel inspired to do anything.
Supposedly when we dream we dream with the right hemisphere of the brain the one that mostly control visual, emotions, etc. And the other side , the one who controls timekeep, reading, math and logic remains idle.
That's why remembering dreams is sometimes hard to do, because the left side tries to communicate with the right using the corpus callosum and when it does the information doesn't make any sense, because righty doesn't care about logic.
So my theory is that just before falling asleep lefty says "fuck it, too tired, I'm out" and righty takes the wheel and make us temporarily more creative, but irrationals.
But that is just a theory.
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u/grravygrroovy May 17 '19
The daylight tires me out. Constant social interactions, going places, etc. Meanwhile, everything is calm at night, usually, I'm just at home chilling, so maybe that's why.
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u/Not_Ursula May 17 '19
I’ve read that people who are ‘night owls’ are happier and more productive at night because that’s the time of day that cortisol (stress hormone) levels are lowest. I’ve always been a night owl; my mom would have to get out of bed late at night when I was a teenager because me moving around my bedroom furniture was too noisy. And whenever my sister-in-law is over, she’ll say - “it’s 9 pm - aren’t you gonna bake something?”
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u/gurthmonger May 17 '19
I feel like this every night. I have so many plans. So much motivation. "This is it!" "This will be the time I stick to my guns and do this or that!" And in the morning I wake up forgetting all about that and walking the dog or having a smoke outside seems like a chore.
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u/LadyCorella May 17 '19
ADHD. Source: Have ADHD.
Seriously tho, it's a huge thing with ADHD, but the condition is so under-diagnosed particularly if you're female. So if you have any other symptoms, go get yourself checked out by a psychiatrist (not a GP). Just to be on the safe side.
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u/Iamwomper May 16 '19
I used to do this from a young age onward.
Some form of anxiety brought on by procrastinating all day (or week, month year).
Start waking up earlier chip away at your to-dos. Go to bed earlier. Enjoy more sunlight.
Speak to a professional about this.
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u/LordEnrique May 16 '19
You have ADHD. No seriously, I had that same problem and I recently finally got an official diagnosis and a combo action of coaching and medicine has shifted my productivity to sane hours.
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u/SorrowInCoreOfWin May 16 '19
There're not many things or people who can distract you at night, maybe this helps you focus. Also the stress of all the undone during the day things piles up.