Go almost anywhere on the internet and you’re likely to see articles about the most successful morning routines and how to create one, or why you should try one from an insanely productive person. While morning routines are important to a successful day, what about the evening routines the night before that help set us up for that successful day? Lately, I’ve been really trying to fine tune mine, so today I want to talk about why you need an evening routine.
Much like a morning routine, you probably have an evening routine without realizing it – but is it really all that productive to you? The key with these routines is you need to be intentional and build the smart habits, which is why I turned to Todoist.
It sounds silly, adding all the parts of your evening routine to a to-do list app, but being able to check that off keeps me on track for a productive evening. When it came to being intentional with my nightly habits, Todoist also allowed me to map out what I needed or wanted in my evening. I realized that after spending a day at work (where I work at a computer all day) along with my own content creation, I craved something that wasn’t so…. screen-based.
As work gets busier and busier in preparation for the holidays, I’m losing some solid reading time – so I carved it out into my evening routine. The only screen I might sneak in during my time is a quick check of my phone or some TV time. Since starting my morning shift, I’ve cut back on TV because I’d stay up late to watch it at night. Now that I’m going to bed before 10 p.m. every night, I’m not focused on TV shows as much.
When it comes to planning your own evening routine out, think about what you want to do to relax and wind down for a good night’s sleep.
Everyone talks about a morning routine, but you also need an evening one. Click To TweetNow, how do you actually build this thing?
Start backward.
Getting the same amount of sleep every night is such a critical part of being a happy, healthy, and productive human being. Set a bedtime and go to sleep. If you have an iPhone, the Clock app has a section called “Bedtime” that allows you to set a bedtime and it’ll give you a notification an hour beforehand, or half an hour – you get to choose. You can even set which nights you want to abide by this so if you want to stay up a little bit later on your weekend, you can.
If you’re worried about the quality of your sleep, there’s an app called “Pillow” that does a great job of monitoring the amount of noise in your atmosphere when you sleep – sounds like wrestling around.
Now that you’ve determined a bedtime, what is the last thing you need to do at night before you go to sleep?
Focus on Relaxing and winding-down
If you watch TV shows, watch something more funny, not suspenseful. You want to be relaxed to go to sleep. Maybe you want to read a good book, but the point is, with an evening routine – relax. Wind down. Focus on getting to a point where you can fall asleep.
It’s okay if it takes you a while to settle into a routine, but remember intentions are important. Intentions and adaptation are important keys to staying with your new evening routine. Your routine doesn’t need to be perfect either, we’re all human, so being perfect is overrated, but trying is important.
Give yourself a month or so to find a rhythm that works for you, and if it works for you, you’ll naturally find yourself making it habit.
Do you have an evening routine set up?
