There are two types of people in this world: Early Birds and Night Owls. Early birds, of course, are the ones up at the crack of dawn, ready to carpe diem and get work done. Night Owls, on the other hand, stay up late and burn the midnight oil to accomplish their tasks.

When it comes to the creative process, both are great options because both satisfy the muse within. Whether you are getting up early or staying up late, as long as you are executing and making your art every single day, we can consider that to be far more successful than doing nothing.

However, the Early Bird has a distinct advantage over the Night Owl. This advantage is know as potentiality.

Properly defined, potentially means the ability to develop or come into existence. Your potentiality to create something awesome is far more likely if you begin the process right out of the morning gate. Here are seven reasons why this is so:

1) Your mind is at its peak of operation after you have slept well during the night.

Studies show that your brain clears up toxins and unwanted cells during sleep. The longer the resting period, the more detox that occurs. When these bits are removed, your brain is more capable of creating synapse connections and produce creative thought. Your greatest moment to be creative is when you first rise from your bed. Seize that moment.

2) Your brain solves problems on its own when you are asleep.

Have you ever laid in the silence of your bed and, just before you felt yourself drifting off to sleep, you came to came up with a solution to a problem you had be mulling over all day? Our problem solving abilities can work much like our physiological abilities in that we need not exude a willful effort to complete them. For example, we don’t often think about breathing because our brain automates that. The same can be said for our decision making if we invest in sleep consistency.

3) You are more satisfied when you accomplish your personal desires first thing in the morning.

When we pursue our passions and accomplish their ends, we experience a sense of satisfaction that is unique. Work cannot supply it and our own loved ones cannot understand it, yet it drives us because we know that if we don’t complete it, we will feel less completed. Work and family responsibilities fulfill your needs for security and love, but doing what you feel called to do gives you a satisfaction so intense it eclipses the monotony of the same ole’ same ole’. It gives you life. Why wouldn’t you start out your day with that?

4) You are more motivated to wake up.

As a direct consequence of the satisfaction you feel by waking up early to accomplish your passionate cravings, you’ll find that you are more motivated to wake up each morning. If it means you can do the things you love to do, the snooze button has no power over you. In fact, you’ll be willing to burn both ends of the rope if needed and be both an Early Bird AND an Night Owl if it means you can participate in your work freely. This is a liberating feeling.

5) You don’t have to sacrifice time with your loved ones.

The most important thing in your life are the ones you love. Spending time with them is the most essential investment you can make. Without them, you have no joy and no foundation to pursue your passions. You need them more than you need yourself and as such, you must dedicate as much time as possible with them. Waking up early to do your work frees up more time to be with them. This way, you can give them your full focus, your all, without being distracted by your work.

6) You schedule yourself into a successful mindset.

When we wake up early on a consistent basis, we start forming a habit that all successful people have. We break free from a scarcity mindset and begin focusing on the big picture. In other words, we start planning for our future. This mode of thinking effects our every decision- we no longer immediately say “Yes” to all of our own projects and outside work, but we learn to say “No” so that we can take full advantage of the little time we have in our morning block to get things done. 

7) You are imitating Jesus.

Jesus woke up early. In fact, God the Father was up before space and time even existed. And if you are Christian, than your life is not your own- it is God’s, which means that you too can do the things Jesus did (like wake up early to climb mountains and pray), if not greater! But it won’t happen unless you begin waking up early to connect with Him in deep, contemplative prayer and by doing the creative work He has called you to do.

Now, this doesn’t mean that Night Owls don’t share these aspects in the creative process, but after a long day’s work, the possibility of them attaining regularity and clarity in their craft diminish due to physical fatigue and clouded thought. The spirit might be willing, but the flesh is weak.

That’s why you need to become a morning person, because your Night Owl tendencies can be used as an insurance, an added block of time to complete your tasks in the event that you were unable to do so in the morning. As an Early Bird, you have the option of finishing work in the evening, but if you are a Night Owl, you rarely have the option to wake up earlier to finish what you started the night before.

What about you, do you consider yourself a Night Owl or an Early Bird? Let me know in the comments!