The Reason You Feel Motivated at Night But Lose It By Morning

It was May in 1930. A man with a fabulous mustache sat upright in his favorite chair, seconds away from dozing off.

Just as his head dipped into dream world, the ball bearings plummeted from his hand and onto a metal plate, where the clatter shook the man back into reality.

He then stood up, walked across the room, and began to paint.

The man’s name was Salvador Dali.

He painted “The Persistence of Memory.” You have probably seen it before I put it at the top of this post. It’s typically called something like “The One with the Weird Melting Clocks.”

Dali believed the stuff of our dreams was literally located on the cusp of sleeping and waking. He would often nap for only a few seconds because he wanted to capture that sensation.

You know this feeling, don’t you?

It’s late at night. You are drifting away, and for a moment you see your life as it could be. You see the success. You see the recognition you deserve. You see fulfillment. This is the “could be.”

It’s gone in a moment. Lost in Dreamland.

The next morning you wake up and have no time for the dream. There are important things to do. Adult things! URGENT things! Productive things!

The reason you don’t feel as motivated in the morning to chase you dreams is this:

Life.

Life interrupts the “could be” with the “is” on a daily basis. You could be a great musician, but class is starting in five minutes.

You could be a better person, but your temper is often unchecked.

Here is one thing we know:

The “is” will always become the “was.”

Luckily, you get to decide whether or not the “could be” becomes the “could have been.”

(For more on mitigating The Life Effect, see also — How to Ignore Absolutely Everything)

— TB