Evening Routine : Do you have one ?

We are all aware of the importance of the best morning routines to get ourselves ready for the day ahead and get most out of it to achieve our most important tasks and goals. But most people may not know that the evening routines are equally important too.

As important as it is to start your day right, it’s equally important to end each day with intention. An evening routine not only honors the day you had, it prepares you for the tomorrow by generating massive momentum, productivity, focus, creativity, and energy .

Highly successful people not only take care of their morning habits but they also pay equal attention to their evening habits to finish their day right.

These 7 routines act like bookends for the day, providing your mind with valuable constants. These then act as triggers for what to do when you get out of bed in the morning and when you return to bed at night.

• Disconnect to Connect :

“Being connected to everything has disconnected us from ourselves and the preciousness of this present moment.”

This is perhaps one of the most important evening habits. At the end of each day just disconnect all your electronic devices and specifically yourself from all the distractions including social media, email, messaging etc. and spend your time in doing things you love to do.

I know it is hard to do than said, but at least for the last 30 minutes of the day don’t use any devices.

Take a bath, go to bed early, spend time with your loved ones or read a paper book (not the digital ones) this will help you to recharge yourself for tomorrow. Reading a book before going to bed can help you to feel relaxed and it can also calm you down slowly.

• Reflect on the day spent & accept today for what it was :

“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.” — Leo Babauta.

Rehearse your day in the morning, review your progress in the evening.

At the end of each day, take five minutes each night to consciously recall the events of the day and review your actions. What did you do well? What not so? Did something upset you? Did you experience anger, envy, fear? How could you improve next time?

Sit down each night and plead your case at your own court. Judge your actions with total honesty and try to make sure to not make the same mistakes again. A good man is glad to receive advice, while a poor man resents any guidance.  

If you had a challenging encounter with a coworker, family member, or friend, and didn’t express yourself or behave the way you wish you had, mentally re-enact the scenario in the way you’d like to have handled it.

Note that this is not an opportunity to use your best one-liner or create unnecessary drama. This exercise is designed to help prime you to act in accordance with the best version of yourself. Do keep in your mind the loving, caring, intelligent, centered, strategic person you are.

When you reframe a negative experience by visualizing yourself acting as your highest self, the brain begins to create neural pathways that will be available to you when a similar scenario puts you to the test.

And it will.

“Reflection and visualization prime you to get it right next time.”

Do the good, better, best exercise by asking three simple questions:

Good: What did I do well today?

Better: How could I improve? What could I do better?

Best: What do I need to do if I want to be the best version of myself?

The nightly self-analysis will help you gain control over your negative emotions because you subconsciously know you’ll be judged by night. So you can lessen your anger and other emotional reactions.

• Meditate :

Though bedtime meditation may not be your thing and it is not a must to have in your evening routine. But a bedtime meditation session is known to have positive effects on your mental health and life in general.

A quick bedtime meditation can help you to relax and have a good night sleep, which is really important for a more productive tomorrow.

It doesn't matter what type of meditation you follow… Just a simple breathing exercise or focusing on your breath in silence can give you good positive results. You can read about meditation here.

• Make your to-do list for tomorrow, today night itself :

Identifying what you want to achieve tomorrow is an empowering way to end your day. When you wake up with a plan, you conserve that precious morning energy otherwise wasted on prioritizing tasks.

Having a well thought out to-do list can really help you to accomplish your important tasks for the day. We only have a finite amount of brain juice for decision-making each day, so any way to lighten the load for our future selves is a powerful gift.

So, before going to bed, take out a planner or notebook and write down your 3 of your most important tasks/goals for tomorrow. And also set the right amount of time to get done each individual task.

• Prepare things for tomorrow, today night :

This one is an extension of the above step. Setting up things for tomorrow is one of the best evening habits and it can save you from many problems like rushing early morning, hurrying to make up for the lost time, whining on family members and most importantly missing out on breakfast.

This morning rush can really stressful and it is usually enough to ruin the rest of your day.

To avoid this make a habit of preparing things for tomorrow morning like preparing your gym bag, office bag, office dress, accessories etc.

• Sleep and wake at the same time (no matter what) & Drink Milk 😉

Keep the same sleep and wake schedule (no matter what). I wake up at about the same time every day. I sleep well and most of the time I wake without an alarm clock.

Starting and ending your day at the same time is incredibly important for long-term vitality, productivity, and focus.

We are creatures of habit, and we maintain those habits via circadian rhythms. Communication between the various clocks in our body and our master clock in the brain helps regulate our natural sleep and wake cycles.

One of the best ways to sync your central and peripheral clocks is to stop eating  3-4 hours before bedtime to allow your stomach to empty itself completely before your nightly fast. You can always drink Milk before going to sleep as drinking milk has its own set of advantages which can be googled to find out more.

• Express Gratitude :

A truly successful and happy person is who is first thankful for all the things he or she already has.

Being grateful and thankful for all the things you have in your life is, without doubt, the key to creating abundance and achieving success.  While being a truly grateful person, you will be more positive and optimist and you will start having more good things and situations to be grateful for.

So you should take some time each day in the evening to appreciate all the good things you have accomplished and people you have in your life. You can read more on the importance of having gratitude in the article here.

Which evening routine you follow in your lifestyle ? Looking forward to your answer in the comment section.