Evening Routines that Will Set Up Each Day for Success

6 Evening Routines that Will Set Up Each Day for Success

You wake up an hour before work and rush to get ready. You shower at lightning speed and grab an energy bar and coffee before running out the door. Still, work leaves you feeling discombobulated and overwhelmed. Long before the week is over, you’re burned out and know you won't hit this week's goals.

How do you get out of this miserable rut? One word: Routines.

Actually, evening routines prime you for success. They help you achieve more, think clearly, and do work that actually matters. They keep you from stumbling through your day and make sure you get the most important things done.

All it takes is a bit of discipline, along with routines that will set you up for success. Here are the what and why of routines, along with six favourite evening routines you can implement to create more perfect days.

The Science of Habits and Creating Routines

First, let’s define what routine means: A routine is a sequence of actions that you do repeatedly.

Brushing your teeth nightly and getting ready for bed is a routine. Reading the news before you head to work or class every morning is a routine. Even eating your snacks while watching Netflix (or YouTube, if Netflix should be out of your reach) is a routine. They’re all actions that happen again and again, a rhythm in your daily life.

That doesn't make them all good routines—they're simply routines by virtue of being done regularly. Helpful or not, every routine is powerful.

Routines Create High Achievers

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."- Aristotle

In his book Daily Rituals: How Artists Work, Mason Currey writes about the habits, routines, and rituals of hundreds of artists, including Fryderyk Chopin, Benjamin Franklin, Karl Marx, and others. Even though their routines varied wildly, each individual had steps they followed to put them in an optimal state of mind.

After studying the great artists, Currey came to this conclusion:

In the right hands, [a routine] can be a finely calibrated mechanism for taking advantage of a range of limited resources: time (the most limited resource of all) as well as willpower, self-discipline, optimism. A solid routine fosters a well-worn groove for one’s mental energies and helps stave off the tyranny of moods.

High achievers tend to find routines that work for them and then stick to them—it's typically something they credit as a core to their success.

Habits vs. Routines vs. Rituals: Wondering what the difference is between habits, routines, and rituals? Habits are things that we do automatically–things like checking your email first thing in the morning or putting your keys in a specific spot when you get home. Routines are usually a collection of habits or actions you do on a regular basis to bring order to your day—checking your email, then writing your day's to-do list, then checking your team's project management tool as a way of getting the day started. Rituals are like routines. The main difference is the attitude behind the actions: Taking a walk everyday at lunchtime could be considered a routine if you think of it as something you need to do for your productivity. Or it could be a ritual if you think of it as a way to break out of the mundane and enjoy nature. While we're focusing on habits and routines here, most routines could be turned into rituals with a change of perspective.

Routines Put Our Brains on Autopilot

But what makes the routines of high achievers so powerful? As it turns out, we're creatures of habit and can use that to accomplish whatever we want. In The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do In Life and Business, Charles Duhigg details how habits put our brains into an automatic state where little or no willpower is required.

It works like this:

• Step 1: Something happens that serves as a cue to your brain, putting it into "automatic" mode. A simple example is waking up. When I wake up, my brain immediately knows that it’s time to turn on the coffee machine. This habit has been ingrained in my brain over years.
• Step 2: Execute the routine. This is where I actually turn on the kettle, wait for it to brew, pour it into my favorite mug, sit in a chair by the kitchen window, and finally drink the coffee.
• Step #3: Reap the rewards of the routine. The delicious flavor and high-octane caffeine reinforce the routine so that the next morning I repeat it again.

Making coffee is just one small routine, but the daily consistency of it helps keep me going. Imagine if other, more powerful tasks that can empower you to accomplish big things came as easy as making coffee?

This is the power of routines. The small repeated actions can have an exponential effect. By implementing routines in the evening, you can prime yourself for maximum productivity each day.

Evening Routines That Set the Tone for the Next Day

The close of each day is just as important as the start. By implementing evening routines, you ready yourself for the next day, recharge with a restful night, and minimize the resistance you encounter in getting things done.

Prepare goals for the next day

Determining your objectives for the coming day does two things. First, it allows you to identify your most important tasks in advance—before all the pressures of the next day arrive on your doorstep. Ideally, the first few hours of each day should be spent conquering your most challenging task. This idea has been given various names, such as "eating the frog" and “slaying the dragon.” 

Second, it allows your brain to begin thinking about those tasks as you fall asleep. In their book Organize Tomorrow Today: 8 Ways to Retrain Your Mind to Optimize Performance at Work and in Life, authors Jason Selk, Tom Bartow, and Rudy Matthew say:

Identifying daily priorities might seem like an obvious or insignificant step to take, but writing your most important tasks down the previous night turns your subconscious mind loose while you sleep and frees you from worrying about being unprepared. You’ll probably find that you wake up with great ideas related to the tasks or conversations that you hadn’t even considered!

Reflect on the day's achievements

It can be easy to lose sight of victories after a long day. Taking just a few moments at the end of the day to reflect on and celebrate your wins puts things into the proper perspective and gives you encouragement for the coming day. It helps you overcome the discouragement that often comes with setbacks.

In addition to asking at the start of his day "What good shall I do this day?", Benjamin Franklin asked every evening "What good have I done today?".

Benjamin Franklin's daily routine

Zen Habits author Leo Babauta puts it this way:

If you reflect on the things you did right, on your successes, that allows you to celebrate every little success. It allows you to realize how much you’ve done right, the good things you’ve done in your life.

You can do this in a variety of ways, including jotting things down in a blank notebook, a gratitude journal, or an app on your phone. You can automatically track your productivity with RescueTime as well:

Clear your head

It’s easy to take your work to bed, making it difficult to fall asleep as you mull over job- or study-related problems. Clearing your head before sleep allows you to put aside the challenges of the day and ready your mind to shut down. There are numerous ways to do this, including:

• Meditation
• Light reading
• Playing Tetris or Emoji Blitz WITH THE NIGHT MODE ON (for productivity!)
• Watching a peaceful television show (The Walking Dead or Game of Thrones probably isn’t your best bet)
• Doing a "brain dump" of all the thoughts in your head in a journal before you go to bed

Buffer CEO Joel Gascoigne describes his disengagement this way:

For me, this is going for a 20-minute walk every evening at 9:30 p.m. This is a wind-down period, and allows me to evaluate the day’s work, think about the greater challenges, gradually stop thinking about work and reach a state of tiredness.

Your goal is to engage your mind in something completely non-work related.

Prepare for the next morning

In order to minimize the amount of thinking you need to do in the next morning, take time to prepare things. Pick out the clothes you’ll wear, prepare the food you’ll eat, prep the coffeemaker, and organize any work- or study-related materials you need to bring. If you’ll be going to the gym or burn some rubber, lay out your workout clothes, towels, soaps, and drinking water.

The less time and mental energy you expend on inconsequential things, the more you’ll have for the things that matter.

Tidy up

Waking up to a messy home isn't the most motivating way to start your day. Without regular sessions cleaning up and putting things away, you'll find your place quickly in disarray.

Thankfully, spending just 10 to 20 minutes a night tidying up will help reduce stress in the mornings and help you avoid marathon cleaning sessions on the weekends. If there's only one thing you do, clean and shine your bathroom sink. This one task will give you a sense of accomplishment. Housekeeping guru FlyLady says:

This is your first household chore. Many of you can’t understand why I want you to empty your sink and clean and shine it when there is so much more to do. It is so simple; I want you to have a sense of accomplishment! […] When you get up the next morning, your sink will greet you, and a smile will come across your lovely face. I can’t be there to give you a big hug, but I know how good it feels to see yourself in your bathroom or maybe even your kitchen sink. […]

Go shine your sink!

Also, if you have children or parents/guardians, you know the importance of setting up solid routines. They can help out too!

Practice proper sleep hygiene

Very few people practice proper sleep hygiene and their sleep suffers as a result. Generally speaking, you should:

• Stick to the same sleep and wake schedule.
• Minimize blue light from screens (this can be done using "Night Mode" on your mobile device).
• Set the temperature in your room to between 15-18°C.
• Make your room as dark as possible.

It can be easy to minimize the importance of sleep, but it’s absolutely essential for optimum performance. In fact, sleep is so crucial that Arianna Huffington devoted an entire Ted Talk to it.

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It can be really tough to build routines into your life. It takes intention and discipline. Sometimes it feels simpler to just get the day started and then after a long workday --or, now in summer, after a long pastime-day-- crash into bed.

But the good thing about routines and habits is that the more you do them, the easier they become. They become ingrained in your day to the point where you find it harder to not do them.

So stick with it. You may find it tedious at first, but you’ll find your days will flow much more smoothly when you've bookended them with quality evening routines.

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To create your own evening routines, you can write up a checklist that you can walk through every day until it becomes ingrained in you or set up a schedule, à la Ben Franklin. For example:

6 pm sharp: dinner
7:30: tidy up
8 pm sharp: time with family, TV, or other form of relaxation and entertainment
9:30: journalling or meditation
10 pm sharp: bedtime

What's your daily routine like?

How to Create an Evening Routine

I am not perfect, and I make mistakes often! But the way I manage to have the success I have is by living intentionally in the evenings.

The key is to understand that you do have a morning routine and you can shape it to get anything done you want.

WHAT IS AN EVENING ROUTINE?

Your evening routine is what you do in between your work or studies and when you go to sleep. Your evening routine may include anything from cooking and eating dinner to reading a book or watching TV.

It’s easy to let your evening routine just happen. But the more you plan your evening routine, the more you will be in control of your time (which is something you probably wish you had more of).

HOW TO CREATE A BETTER EVENING ROUTINE

To get more time back and live intentionally (with meaning and purpose), you need to plan your morning and evening routines.

Here’s how you can plan your own evening routines.

1. Write down what your ideal evening would look like.

The first step to reworking your evening routines is to know what your “ideal” looks like.

Ask yourself important questions, like whether you want to use this time for 1) personal growth and development, 2) cleaning and doing house work, 3) rest and relaxation, 4) health and wellness (or something else).

Think hard about what you want out of this time. Decide what habits you would like in place that would make you happy to have done them. It’s up to you what you want to use this time for in the evening. The point is to be very intentional about it so the days don’t pass you by without you noticing. Also, make sure you actually write down these visions – it’s not enough to think about it alone.

I recommend using the following resources for this:

• Use a journal and planner from this list of 8 amazing journals and planners (or look for similar journals in book shops)

2. Evaluate what your current evenings look like now.

Write down what you do during your evening routines right now (summer makes your inner clock go out of joint). List your activities hour by hour (or in even small increments like half hour by half hour).

Once you know what you’re up against, you’ll have an easier time changing your current routine to match what your ideal routine is.

3. Create an outline of what you want your evenings to be like in the future.

Write out an ideal schedule for yourself. Humans work really well on a scheduled routine, so make it easy for yourself and plan it out ahead of time. This won’t be realistic for you to do every day, but it will keep you on track most days. It will also keep you away from easy temptations and time sucks like TV and social media! 🙂

For example, it might look something like this:

Evening routine:

• 6:00pm: Get home, change, pack lunch for next day
• 7:00pm: Eat dinner
• 8:00pm: Clean and do other housework (if you are, like yours truly, not of the cleaning persuasion, at least clean your sinks!)
• 9:00pm: Journal (or colouring in)
• 10:00pm: Bed

Decide on a plan that works for you. Everyone will have different wants and needs. The key is to plan ahead of time so you’re prepared and following a schedule.

You can use Dream Year to figure out exactly how you want to set goals for your own morning and evening routine if you don’t know how to set goals yet.

4. Implement your plan and monitor how it’s going.

Once you know where you are now and where you want to be in the future, the key to successful habits is implementation. You planned, you prepared, now it’s time to implement. I like starting cold turkey and just going for it. Otherwise, you will fall into the “trying trap” of saying you’ll “try to do this tomorrow”. There is no try, there is only do and do not. So, don’t try it. Just do it! Also, it’s really important that you evaluate how it’s going for you after some time. Is it meeting the expectations that you set for yourself? Are you happier, more fulfilled, and better off? If not, then adjust your plan.

When you create a plan for your evening routines, you will accomplish more of your goals and live a life in line with what you want.

WHY PLANNING EVENING ROUTINES IS A GAME CHANGER

If you want to change your life, start by changing your day. It’s the little habits repeated over time that will be the difference between failure and success.

Your evening routines are perfect times for you to implement habits to promote your success.

For example, if you plan to read for 2 hours tomorrow night, you will be much more likely to do it if you plan it ahead of time. If you don’t plan it, you could easily get side tracked and end up watching two hours of T.V. instead.

No matter what stage in life you’re in, improving a small thing like your evening routines can be enough to reenergize you and help you accomplish your goals. I know you can do it!! 🙂

A FINAL NOTE!

Creating a solid evening routine, especially now in summer, can change the course of your life. You can become happier, less stressed, and live better.

It’s all about the plan!! 🙂

10 Evening Routines That Will Make You Productive at Work and Life

“The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.” Norman Schwarzkopf

The sound of the alarm fills the room. But the warmth of the blanket and comfort of the bed are so inviting.

You know you need to get up. Yet, the most satisfying decision to make is to hit up the snooze button and reward yourself with few more minutes of sleep.

There you go — wandering in the dreamland. Forgetting all the worries the day might bring. Ignoring all negativities that linger around. Dismissing all procrastination that might come next. Savoring every second of comfort that snooze can give.

Then, reality kicks in. You wait until the last second to get out of bed. You have no energy to start the day.

In turn, you missed having your breakfast. You forgot some important things at home as you rush to work or school. You procrastinate. You feel sick up to your stomach.

Stress starts to creep in. And before you knew it, your energy level depletes. You have no desire to continue the day. Therefore, affecting the quality of work you do.

You have tried setting up your morning routine. You experimented on all tips shared to you. Yet, you still find yourself struggling to get up and stop hitting the snooze button.

Maybe you are like me. Establishing a grand morning routine is unachievable for you. But tweaking some habits before you sleep creates a huge difference.

It’s Time to Get Real With Yourself

Humans are wired differently — what works for others may not work for you.

Some people wake up each morning without difficulties and seem to have the high level of energy to do things.

Then, there’s another side of the spectrum — those who struggle to find the energy needed to face the morning.

You are not like dolphins that could go without full sleep for 15 days but still stay alert.

Or unlike an albatross who can still perform their work such as flying thousands of miles while sleeping.

In fact, animal studies suggest that being a morning or evening person may be built into genes. It explains why some of us have difficulty tackling up tasks early next morning or perform best during evening.

If you have perfected nailing every hour of your early day, then this post is not for you.

But if you’ve been stuck trying to work on your morning routine, welcome to the club!

You are not alone. You probably belong to my tribe.

The key is taking some baby steps as you try to knock out every milestone you wish to accomplish.

You have to be honest with yourself and accept the truth that some things may not work for you.

The best thing is when you acknowledge that truth, you open yourself to more possibilities of other things that may work extremely best for you.

The following evening routines are based on examples given by people who performed well in their areas.

They recognize the need to take advantage of the energy they have at night. They embraced the opportunity that only night time can give. They took advantage of the power darkness can provide.

You too can benefit from it. Choose one or two that you want to implement.

In turn, a tremendous difference can help you the next day. You won’t feel guilty on not achieving the morning and daily routine others expect from you.

It might even lead to a greater productivity the next day.

So here you go:

1. Avoid Randomness

“We’re all part of one big machine, whether we are conscious of that or not. And if we can’t unplug from that machine, eventually we’re going to become mindless.” — Alan Lightman

Let me guess…you have so many activities lined up during the day. Therefore, your mind is overwhelmed on which one you should prioritize.

It even comes to the point that you bring them to sleep. This creates an even great deal of challenge to have a satisfying sleep.

Brendon Burchard encourages to avoid randomness when you are ready to wind down your day. This includes not getting stuck in front of screens, social media or even doing a marathon of our favorite show. He says that the brain is firing up dopamine when you have so many random things that run in your mind — in turn, causing you to struggle to sleep.

Arianna Huffington, the founder of Thrive Global, likewise shares the same view when she made a decision to keep her bedroom screen-free zone. She opts to leave her electronics outside her bedroom and keep the atmosphere a conducive place for sleeping. She is likewise an advocate of getting proper sleep after her fainting experience from exhaustion.

I know, I know. This can be quite challenging. Not ready for this yet?

Okay, give yourself some love and move on to the other ways below.

2. Eliminate Negativity

“Protect your enthusiasm from the negativity of others.” — H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

So you dread night time because of negative thoughts lingering in your mind?

The moment you hit the bed, they all start racing inside your minds. Thinking of the first debt to pay, the paper to submit, the meetings to attend, the pimples to eliminate, oh, and the list goes on and on.

It’s been increasingly difficult to sleep when you are stressed out. The brain is continuously working and getting confused whether it’s time to rest or work.

Negative emotions can lower your immunity.

It affects every part of your body. Carrying it up to sleep will all the more affect your health causing you to lack the necessary rest your body needs.

Shut off negativity from your system, at least during the time to rest. It has no space in your life and should never be given.

Doing something that lights you up can help shift the mood. Force your mind to think of good thoughts. Kill those unwanted thoughts that try to dominate your mind.

Michael Hyatt, a former CEO of Thomas Nelson Publisher, made a decision to eliminate negative inputs every night. He tries to filter his mind from negativities by avoiding negative news and conversations. He also gets to bed at a designated time which he claims to help him be productive the next day.

3. Do One Thing You Love

“A hobby a day keeps the doldrums away.” — Phyllis McGinley

Your brain relaxes when you do something that is delightful. The brain is stimulated when you are happy which improves your cognitive alertness and productivity.

It puts you in a safe zone where you can enjoy yourself for the time being. Doing it just before going to bed is the best time because it helps to seal the positive energy that will condition your mind the next day.

So why for pity’s sake you’re not giving it chance to enjoy?

Oprah Winfrey and other known people proudly confess their love for reading just before bed time. Oprah reads about whatever interest she has at the moment. Just a few minutes before she lands on the bed, she writes down things she is extremely grateful for.

I personally read fiction stories before bed time. I save serious readings during the day because I feel the need to take down notes. I unleash my imagination every night and revel in the beauty that fiction stories provide.

Oh, please don’t ask me how many times I have read Anne of Green Gables.

Malcolm Gladwell prefers having a long run or watching sports for his nighttime routine. He claims that he belongs to the fortunate tribe that does not struggle to sleep.

I must be reading inside the house when Heaven poured out that blessing.

So whether it’s crocheting, reading, listening to music, podcasts, colouring in, or whatever you like doing, take advantage doing it every night. Let yourself enjoy on things that bring the spark. Do something heroic for yourself and let time be your friend by allotting it to something that lets you escape the busy life.

Just make sure it doesn’t require too much cleaning so you can easily doze off when those eyelids feel heavy.

4. Plan Out the Next Day

“Failing to plan is planning to fail.” — Allan Lakein

Nothing can be so frustrating than welcoming a new day without a clear plan of action. It leads to more distractions and decrease in productivity.

Investor, Marcus Lemonis, shared one of his key secrets to success. Before going to bed every night, he makes a quick list of the things he will deal with the next day. He sets them up as his priorities before noon arrives the next day to make sure they will get done right away.

Jack Canfield, a personal coach on Success, provides two important reasons for doing this:

a. It gives you a clear idea of what you intend to do the next day.

It will also help you steer toward the things you need to accomplish instead of responding to everyone’s needs.

b. You can decide what time of the day you can do the activities.

It will give you a clear view of which one should you tackle first.

By planning the night before, the unconscious and subconscious mind will be working to generate ideas and solutions and pull information in the past memory to apply in the situation.

5. Read Goals Before Sleeping

“Review your goals twice every day in order to be focused on achieving them.”— Les Brown

I’m sure you know the power of goals by now. I won’t deliberate them here. But in case you want me, another post will be allotted for that.

Just like travelling without knowing the exact destination, you wouldn’t know the right directions to go.

Power of Broke author and one of the Sharks, Daymond John, read through his goals before going to sleep and the moment he wakes up. By doing so, it reminds him that he has things to fulfill and conditions his mind to be productive the next day.

Brian Tracy, a personal coach, shares the same principle because he believes that:

“You become what you think about most of the time. You achieve what you think about most of the time.”

So even in sleep, train your mind to think of the things you want to become. Thinking is free, so don’t limit yourself.

6. Allot a Moment of Reflection

“When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.” — Gilbert K. Chesterton

There are so many things to learn from Benjamin Franklin. My most favorite is his emphasis on moral virtues. He has a list of virtues he tries to adhere every day and evaluates whether he improves.

One notable thing he does every night before sleeping is asking himself: “What good have I done today?”

A question we should all be asking. Knowing that quality of life isn’t just all about us but what good have we all contributed to our friends in need.

Setting aside a moment for gratitude will help to set the mood right.

To be reminded that there are things to be thankful for the day you just had. To appreciate you arrived safely at home and enjoy the sweet atmosphere of the room. To know that you have a chance to enjoy the comfort you have that other people are longing for.

7. Set Things For Tomorrow

“The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.” — H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

There’s nothing more stressing than rushing early morning. Finding out you missed your alarm. Hurrying to make up for the lost time. Missing out on breakfast. Whining on your self, spouse or children. Therefore, ruining the rest of your day.

A simple way to solve it is by preparing the night before. This takes time to develop but once you get used to it, it feels like a part of your system.

We come back home exhausted only to be welcomed by a chaotic room. Everyone complains but nobody has a desire to clean because it will still be the same scenario the next day. It gets fixed when one of us feels the guilt.

That’s the time I learned the importance of preparing the night before. One girly girl, for instance, takes around two hours to dress up and prepare herself. We could also prepare our breakfast the night before and just reheat it.

I know my weakness. I am not good at procrastinating. My sisters hate it when I cry if I don’t find something I need when it’s time for school (even when I was in college, but I’m a changed woman now :) ).

I am not definitely wired to work quickly the moment I wake up. I make adjustments the night before to make my morning a little smoother.

I prepare my clothes and things I need the next day. That only takes around 15 minutes as compared to the time I would be wasting the next day on searching for a pair of stockings only to find out they’re all dirty.

Agh, life! Oh please don’t judge me.

Making small adjustments during night time on your greatest struggle each morning can help you be more productive the next day. It can be preparing breakfast or lunch or deciding on your outfit — be kind and help yourself tonight.

8. Set Exclusive Family Ritual Routine

“The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other’s life.” — Richard Bach

You do want to travel down the memory lane looking back on the happy times, right?

After dinner is the perfect time to mellow down a little bit and share some quality time with the people you value. Taking advantage on the bonding time that will be remembered for decades.

Erin Freschi, a Californian mom, has replaced her storytelling time ritual with her son by watching and listening to TED talks. She reveals it strengthened the bond with her son while learning at the same time. Later on, her husband joins them too, so now, it is a family ritual they do before they end the night.

Former President Barack Obama and his wife have a different routine too that I think families or couples can relate. First Lady Michelle Obama reveals their family routine is tucking-in each other during bedtime. It is also the time they do their personal talk which strengthened their bond as a couple and as family parents.

Remember the very reason why you are working very hard. Share some precious time to people you value — whether it’s your spouse, kids, parents or even yourself.

Work can be done later. But the lost time you should be spending with people you love will never be able to replenish.

Nothing is definite tomorrow. Today they’re here and tomorrow is always unexpected.

9. Say Your Personal Evening Conviction

“It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.” — Muhammad Ali

Don’t ever try to sleep with those heavy thoughts in your mind. Please spare yourself of a headache.

Remind yourself of the positive thoughts before going to sleep to help you bid the day goodbye in a great shape.

Dr. Wayne Dyer likes to program himself by saying his personal declaration or daily reminder before going to sleep. He reiterates all his “I ams” statement to condition his mind of the positive things that will aid the subconscious to comply.

He has a huge sign hanging on his headboard to remind him of that mantra. A powerful trigger that helps him close the previous day positively.

Think of that powerful verse or quote you like. Repeat it in your mind, or out loud if you prefer. Own it. Feel it in your spirit. Let it settle in your brain. And leave it to the wonders of dreams and subconscious to convert them into positive things.

10. Unleash Your Imagination

“Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.” — George Bernard Shaw

Darkness provides a melancholic effect to daydream. Coupled with an inspirational instrumental music, let your imagination explore. Let it wander on the possibilities daydreaming can give. Visit places and create stories inside your mind. Visualize the dream you secretly obsess.

Visualization is a mental exercise that has brought positive results to many people in history.

Research also shows that mental exercises are likewise as effective as physical exercise, and doing both at the same time increase the effectiveness.

In fact, Olympians use their imagination widely as a preparation to their incoming performance. They try to imagine the perfect routine by clearly imagining how it should turn out. They imagine the results they are aiming for, so they don’t feel as if they are starting in square one during the competition.

Nicole Detling, a sports psychologist, said:

“The more an athlete can imagine the entire package, the better it’s going to be.”

There are so many places to visit and dreams to see if only you let the scope of your imagination run wild.

And who knows? You will develop the determination to bring those to reality.

Conclusion

Implementing one or two of these can help you. It will save you from unnecessary stress that busy mornings give.

You won’t find yourself cramming. You won’t feel like your head is exploding. You won’t need to scream out loud to people you love.

You won’t feel sorry for not having the grandest routine.

Instead, you find yourself working on what’s best for you. You don’t pressure yourself to perform on the time your body is not wired to.

Your brain will rest positively at night. You have a clear direction of tomorrow. You are willing to embrace the new morning ahead.

You will see greater opportunities and productivity coming your way. You will feel more positive energy entering your system.

All because you prepared the night before.