The evening routine – end the day the right way

​Are you somebody who goes to bed and lies there for a long time; sometimes hours, waiting to fall asleep? Your mind is a hive of activity as a wide range of thoughts race through your head. You think about all the things which went wrong that day, arguments you may have had and the full day you have ahead tomorrow. The more you think, the less likely you are to sleep. The problem here is usually that you haven’t shut your mind down for the day so; it stays working. An evening routine is a fantastic way to signal to your mind and body that it is time to go to sleep. With the right evening routine; one that meets your needs; you will find that you fall asleep ​relatively quickly and, enjoy a deeper sleep.

The importance of the evening routine is to help bring the day to a natural close whereby your body and mind realise that it is time for sleep. Sleep is one of the most critical but often overlooked components of success. Sleep helps you to recover from the stress and strains you have experienced; thus, allowing you to fill up your energy reserves for the following day. If you want to hit the ground running when morning arrives, you must have enjoyed good quality sleep. An evening routine helps you to improve the quality of your sleep.

It is also important to note the importance of quality sleep in preventing stress and maintaining good health. Everything you do during the day will put strain on your body or mind or, both. If you are to keep performing at your optimum level, you must recover from this strain during your available recovery time. The main recovery time is when you sleep. If you go into the next day without recovering fully, you are likely to increase the strain and tension that you are experience. The longer you go without getting the rest and recovery you need; the more likely you are to experience stress and suffer some issues with your health.  An effective evening routine does not in itself prevent stress, but it does improve the quality of your sleep which improves your recovery and so, helps to prevent stress.

​The main purposes of an evening routine are bringing the evening to a natural close and ensuring that you are adequately prepared for the following day. The following are just some of the things which you might consider including in your evening routine:

It will be easier to hit the ground running the next morning if you already have a plan for the day. Take the time to decide what your most important tasks will be for tomorrow. Select the 1-3 most important tasks which absolutely must be completed.

Include the next most important tasks so that you will have alternative tasks if, for a genuine reason, you cannot complete one of your most important tasks. These additional tasks will also be available if you are ahead of schedule and have extra time to kill.

Ensure that you have everything you need to complete all these tasks so that you don’t have to waste time searching for them tomorrow.

​​There is no need to plan every minute of your day. Just make sure you have enough of your most important tasks to keep you busy.

​To be able to determine the most important tasks to complete, you need to be properly organised. Read Why you need an effective organisational system.

​Check your calendar for any appointments which are due tomorrow. Ensure that you have your preparation done and that you have everything you need for these appointments.

For your calendar to be truly effective, you must be using it in the right manner. It must only contain time and date specific appointments. Anything else only serves as a distraction and, when you need to move things around; it becomes an absolute nightmare to ensure you stay on top of everything. The more stuff you have packed into your calendar, the more likely it is that something will slip through the cracks when something important and unplanned pops up out of the blue.

Of course, using a calendar effectively requires that you check it regularly, to avoid any last-minute surprises. And, when you see that you have an appointment coming up, you want to be able to quickly recall what the appointment is about so, when putting the appointment in your calendar, make some notes to remind you of the purpose of the email.

​A lot of people put everything in the calendar because they believe the old saying ‘What gets scheduled, gets done’. There is a lot of truth in that saying but remember that if you schedule unimportant work, you end up doing unimportant work. So, only schedule what really needs to be scheduled.

​
For more advice on using calendars, read Use your calendar effectively.

You may have a lot of things on your mind such as work which needs to be done. Usually, the reason that this stuff is on your mind is that you have failed to capture it anywhere. Take out a pen and paper and get all this stuff out of your mind and on to paper. Put that paper somewhere that you will see it in the morning e.g. your briefcase.

This should free up your mind because you now know that you have this stuff captured. ​You must then make time tomorrow to determine what you need to do about each item on that list and add that action to your task list.

Your mind is the greatest tool you have available to you in your battle to remain productive. If you want to stay on top of everything and, make steady progress towards your goals, you need to be able to make quick and effective decisions.

But is your mind available to you? Because if your mind is busy trying to remember everything you need to do, you are wasting most of your mental energy on something that doesn’t move your forward. An effective organisation system allows you to get that stuff out of your head and into a system which frees up your mind to work on what is truly important.

That is why an evening routine is so valuable. It allows you to end the day in a way that gives you confidence that you are prepared for tomorrow.

​A brain dump is a simple but powerful tool to include in your evening routine.

​Improve the effectiveness of your mind with The Organised Mind.

Rather than deciding in the morning, when you are tired, what you will wear. Decide the night before and set those clothes aside. That way, when you are getting dressed in the morning, there are no decisions to be made or time to be wasted. You just grab the clothes you have already selected and put them on.

Of course, if you need gym gear, training gear or any other type of clothing; that should also be prepared.

Choice is wonderful but if there is too much choice, it can put a strain on you mentally. It can take a great deal of energy to evaluate the pros and cons of each potential choice. In the end, it has been shown repeatedly, too much choice can lead to you making no choice at all. This is a phenomenon called decision-making fatigue whereby your mind becomes tired from having to make too many decisions, regardless of how unimportant some of the decisions may be.

One area where you can reduce the amount of decisions you have to make is your work clothes.  Some simple ways of doing ​this include:

​It may seem like a small thing but having to decide what to wear, first thing in the morning, can waste a lot of time and cause unnecessary stress for some people. If your outfit is already prepared; that is one less decision to make.

Preparing ahead of time eliminates unnecessary stress in the morning.

To understand the benefit of reducing the number of decisions you must make, read Decision-making fatigue – the problem of too much choice.

​Again, you can empty your mind by just using a pen and paper. Record your thoughts about the day and how you are feeling etc. There are many ​ways to use a journal so just choose the option that works for you. The process of writing your journal entry will become a signal to your mind and body that you are switching off for the night.

Different people use a journal in different ways. There is no right way; only what works best for you. What I have found most useful about a journal is it helps me to process and deal with all​ the unimportant stuff that is going on in my mind and, in my life. By processing the unimportant, and letting it go, I am left with the few things which are really important to me.

On most occasions, the simple process of writing down the unimportant stuff is enough to deal with it and free up my mind for better use. I don’t need to take action, just thinking about it and writing it down gives me the clarity I need.

​There are many ​ways to use a journal, but each gives you a way of emptying your mind and, unwinding at the end of the day. When you go to bed with an empty mind, you sleep better and as you sleep, your subconscious mind can work on what is really important.

​For one idea of how to use a journal, read – Keeping a journal to help you stay on track for your goals.

​Meditation is another fantastic way of emptying your mind and casting aside the worries of the day. I meditate for 20 minutes in the morning and in the evening and I find that when I do; I sleep better and experience less stress and worry.

In a world that is getting busier and more manic by the day, it may seem ridiculous to take time to sit still and do nothing. But what is all the busyness really achieving? When you are constantly busy, you cannot find the time to make the right decisions about where you should invest your time, money, energy and other resources.

Your decisions are totally dictated by urgency rather than importance. As Benjamin Franklin said:

‘What is urgent is seldom important and, what is important is seldom urgent.’

Meditation is a wonderful way to create the space between thought and action which allows you to differentiate between urgent and important.

Again, there are many different types of meditation. I practice Transcendental Meditation. Try making meditation part of your evening routine and you will experience greater clarity.

The screens on mobile devices, laptops and televisions all have a form of light which mimics sunlight. This convinces your brain that it is day time, so your brain resists its natural urge to wind down as the evening progresses. Try to spend a half hour before bed without any screens or, anything which is too stimulating. You want to relax your mind; not arouse it.

You need to remember that sleeping is rarely a case of climbing into bed, putting your head on the pillow and immediately drifting off. Sure, it happens sometimes but it is rare. Instead, you often need to signal to your mind and body that it is time to go to sleep. You then start to wind down and after a little while, gently drift away.

So, know what time you would like to be asleep by and, at least half an hour beforehand switch off the screens. Though it may sound strange, treat sleep as you would any other appointment. Prepare for it so that ​you will get the best result from the appointment.

​Sleep is one of the most important things you do each day as it gives you the chance to recover from your daily exertions. Treat it with the importance it deserves by preparing for it. Switch off the screens and start winding down.

To learn more great organisation strategies, check out The Organised Mind.

​The purpose of an evening routine is to encourage your mind and body to wind down and prepare for sleep. You are also trying to make sure that you are prepared for the next day so that you can start the next day without any stress or worries. You can choose what to include in your evening routine, but it can take as little as 30 minutes. However, with the extra energy that you will get from the improved sleep and preparation for the next day; you will save far more than that 30 minutes. In addition, you will experience less stress and health problems. Give it a try for yourself.