Yesterday, I talked about the importance of a morning routine… It’s a great way to integrate your goals into each day and organize from the beginning giving you the opportunity you need make your day a success. When you wake up early with a purpose, it gives you the edge you need and while all is quiet and the world sleeps, you are off and running, ahead of the pack.
But there’s another part of the day that I love, and that can have great benefits for you at a cost of only 10-30 minutes each day: the time right before you go to sleep. When you wake up, the goal is to bring all your systems online as quickly and efficiently as possible. To maximize the speed to awaken refreshed, with the ability to focus, solid sleep is critical. Like waking up has stages, going to bed at night and falling asleep easily also has stages. After dinner, I usually practice guitar as my last task for The 90 Day Life Change Challenge and that starts my prep for finishing my day. After guitar, I start my morning prep by setting up my workout area, laying out my workout clothes, laying out my work clothes, prepping for either work from home or onsite working depending on the day. Next is any small chores I have like a load of laundry or vacuum, empty the trash, and make sure the house is relatively straightened. No one wants to wake up to shit that needs done…Then I mix my workout drinks, fill my water for bedtime and then turn out all the overhead lights and turn on my dim, evening lights.
About two hours before bed, I shower, and start purposely winding down. Some reading and writing, a little music or spend some time with my wife watching a documentary or just talking. This routine signals my brain that it is nearing time for shut down. So like my morning when I wake up in stages, at night I shut down in stages and allow my brain time to slowly go offline rather than racing through my evening and laying down at night with an anxious mind, I am climbing into bed knowing that I can sleep because I accomplished my goals for the day and set myself up to succeed the next morning. Our brains do not have on and off switches and like anything else, we need time to gear up and gear down… Think of it like an object in motion and how the object starts from a point (morning) and gradually comes up to speed and then begins to slow and slowly comes to a stop (sleep)… This will ensure a calm and focused life…
Why do we do this you might ask… For those of you with children, one of the most important things we try to instill in our children is a sense of routine. Routines are soothing for a child... Think about that for a second. If we get our kids into a routine, our lives are calmer, and we can get things done rather than the chaos for “I don’t know when they will go to sleep…” If that same approach is taken with our lives, we can get more done, have less stress, less worry about tomorrow and meet goals as well as have that unstructured free time we all crave. Unstructured free time that you are stressed about is not free time…
Now from an outside perspective, a person might look at my life and see the schedules, the data gathering on my workouts, the structured challenges, the blogs, the podcasts, meal prepping and to do lists and think that my life is a chaotic whirlwind of never ending tasks and no free time… On the contrary, my life may be highly structured, but my days are filled with completed goals, learning, holistic health including my mental and physical body and I have to say it, my life is filled with a deep sense of satisfaction now. Yes, I have my moments, but I consider those “unfortunate emotions” as nothing more than ripples on the surface of a lake, because deep down I can breathe whenever I want. This last 45 days has taught me that there can be joy in the midst of the storm of a demanding life. Humans under pressure perform miracles, humans on the couch worried about all the shit they’re not getting done coupled with all the angst about what they would like to be doing grow continuously more worried.
If you’ve decided to follow my advice and try to become an early riser, good job! So take just 10-30 minutes sometime before you start to wind down your day or use it to signal your brain that the day is ending because this is “my last task” before I start to get ready for sleep, try going through an evening routine that can make a huge difference for your morning.
Of course each person’s routine will be different, some will work out, some will rise and relax while some are students and others take care of their children. Waking up to a prepped morning is a joy and you don’t have to run around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to remember all the shit you need to get done to start the day… Instead, wake up to a prepped life, some beautiful, quiet time to mindfully experience the birth of a new day and you can greet not only the day with a calm mind, but your family will wake up and experience and internalize your peacefulness.
I have my routine and here is a small list of some things that may give you some ideas that most people can use:
• begin to be mindful of the “last tasks” of the day
• get your clothes (and other gear) laid out and get ready to workout in the morning
• pack lunch (for yourself and the kids if necessary)
• check your calendar
• plan your MITs (Most Important Tasks)
• review your day
• wash any dishes, clean the counters
• pick up so that you’re greeted with a clean house in the morning
• set your alarm
• dim the lights
• limit use of electronics
• spend quality time with your family
• read or listen to music to ease yourself to sleep
You will of course modify this to fit your needs, but you can see some of the most important elements: you’re cleaning up so that the house is straightened when you awake, you are reviewing your upcoming day and planning for it, and you are prepping your gear for the next day, so you don’t have to do it in the morning. Nothing stops a workout faster than not being ready for it...
Create a personal evening routine today and get a jump start on tomorrow, you will not regret it!
Love ya, mean it!!!! Why else would I do this?!?!?
Now go get to work!
See you tomorrow, as if I had a choice…
The 90 Day Life Change Challenge update… Followed my own advice and shut down my day last night, woke up to a prepped and organized morning… Exercised, meditated, wrote for a half hour and then showered and was ready for work when my house began to wake up… I am struggling with looking forward to my next big 90 day challenges… I need to return focus to this challenge and be mindful of the moment rather than keep looking ahead…
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