The Lie We Tell Ourselves: ‘I’m Not a Morning Person’

It’s six in the morning and I’m yawning out of bed again. I’m not smiling, I’m not energized, and I’m not one of those people who wants to wake up early. I’m just someone who decided a productive morning isn’t optional. I drink a glass of water, hit the floor for twenty pushups, and the fog starts to lift like I just took five shots of espresso. Ever since I started waking up early, people have called me a morning person. The truth is I’m just disciplined and built habits that make getting up early a lot easier.

Around 60 to 70 percent of people insist they aren’t built for mornings, but only about 15 percent of the population are true night owls. For the rest, it’s usually an easy excuse to be lazy, and people don’t realize the damage it does throughout their whole existence. Staying up late and dragging through the morning feels harmless, but research says otherwise. A study of more than 433,000 adults found that self-identified night owls face significantly higher health risks in diabetes, psychological disorders, respiratory disease, and almost every major health metric. And the impact doesn’t end there. In a study by YuLife of 846 people, early risers reported about 10 percent higher workplace productivity than night owls.

So ask yourself: are you really built for late nights, or have you just slipped into a routine that feels normal but is quietly costing you your wellbeing and focus?

The real reason people think they aren’t morning people

Most people who say they’re night owls aren’t actually wired that way. They’ve just built habits that make staying up late feel natural. When you’re scrolling, gaming, or watching something at night, your brain gets small hits of dopamine that keep you awake longer than you should be. Add in social habits, inconsistent sleep times, and bright screens right before bed, and your body never gets a clean signal to wind down. After a while, that late-night routine starts to feel like part of your personality, so you label yourself as someone who functions better at night. But it’s not biology. It’s a behavior pattern you’ve repeated long enough to feel real. The hardest part for me was that all my peers stayed up late and woke up at noon. They truly believed that was normal teenage behavior.

Mornings feel brutal not because you’re genetically not a morning person, but because you’re stuck in a broken sleep loop. You stay up too late, your brain never fully powers down, and you wake up feeling like you barely slept. Screens, bright lights, and inconsistent bedtimes throw your circadian rhythm out of rhythm, so your body isn’t ready to be awake when the alarm rings. After enough groggy mornings, it’s easy to assume you’re not meant for early starts, but really you’re just dealing with the consequences of yesterday’s choices. When your sleep is misaligned, every morning feels like climbing out of quicksand. You’d be shocked at how easily a bad bedtime routine can wreck your mornings.

What happens when you break the cycle

You’re not doomed. When you fix a broken sleep cycle, the changes hit faster than most people expect. Within a week, you start getting naturally tired earlier instead of forcing yourself to settle down. You wake up more alert instead of fighting through heavy fog. Your mood evens out, your workouts feel sharper, and your focus lasts longer because your brain isn’t constantly playing catch-up. Even stress feels lower, not because life magically gets easier, but because you’re finally starting the day with a full battery. It’s one of those shifts where you don’t realize how bad things were until they stop being bad. I couldn’t believe how quickly I stopped dreading school once waking up in the morning was no longer a struggle.

Why mornings matter

I’ve realized mornings are the most valuable part of the day. Research shows that your brain is at its peak for focus, self-control, and learning during the morning hours. Your prefrontal cortex is fresh, decision fatigue is zero, and cortisol levels naturally rise to boost alertness. Studies consistently show that people who use their early hours intentionally tend to be more productive and make better decisions throughout the day. I like to use my mornings to take a run when the roads are peaceful and the world is quiet. Once I warm up, my energy is at its peak and my brain starts firing ideas. Then I eat a healthy meal to fuel a productive day.

How to master the morning

Becoming a morning person isn’t about forcing yourself to enjoy sunrise. It’s about giving your brain a predictable system to follow. The easiest way to start is choosing one wake-up time and sticking to it, even on weekends. Your body loves consistency. Then build a simple nighttime cutoff: shut things down at the same time each night, dim the lights, and put your phone away at least half an hour before sleep so your brain gets the signal to power down. And in the morning, don’t overthink it. Have a tiny routine you do right away. I like to hydrate with some water and get the blood flowing with a few pushups. You don’t need motivation for mornings. You just need a system that removes the decision-making.

A big part of this is dropping the story you’ve been telling yourself. When you keep repeating “I’m not a morning person,” it eventually becomes true, not because it’s who you are, but because you act in ways that match the identity you keep reinforcing. Identity works the other way too. If you decide you’re someone who gets up early because it makes you sharper, healthier, and more in control, your habits start lining up with that. You stop relying on how you feel when the alarm goes off and start relying on what you decided the night before. That’s how the shift happens. Not through willpower, but through choosing a different story and backing it with small actions.

Challenge

So here’s the simple challenge: give this seven days. Wake up at the same time, follow a basic nighttime cutoff, and start your mornings with one tiny habit. Just a week. You’ll be shocked at how quickly your energy changes and even more shocked at how fast the “I’m not a morning person” identity falls apart when your life stops matching it. Once you master the morning, you’ll probably start taking control of other areas of your life like diet and exercise too. Come back to this post once your week is up and share your results. If you give it a full week, chances are you’ll never go back to your old routine.

After I mastered my morning, I started a business, published ten articles, and finally ran a 17-minute 5K. So comment below if you think you’re really one of the 15 percent who are true night owls.