It’s mid January, and all of those sparkly New Years resolutions are looking a little less appealing right now. In fact, it’s becoming a little challenging to remember why you decided to make that resolution in the first place.
As a self proclaimed productivity nerd, I have read blog after blog about what can make your day a little better and more productive. It seems that the majority of productivity coaches recommend one of two things: waking up an hour before you have to and having a strong morning routine.
*Side note: I enjoy READING about productivity. The actual act of getting things done is sometimes lost on me
Well…that’s not happening in this house! At least not on a regular basis. Some mornings I am awake at 3:30am ready to start the day. Other days, I wake up a mere 3 minutes after the kids – which seems to be just enough time for the littlest one to pour cereal all over his floor and proceed to throughly grind it into every surface in his room.
I would love to be a morning person. I’d love to wake up early, lazily sip my coffee while reading a book, getting my workout in, and being ready to face the day with a freshly showered smile on my face!
Yeah..that’s not happening. Between the three kids and the dogs someone is always waking up in the middle of the night or crawling into my bed. My sleep is already severely compromised without trying to be super mom and waking up early to bake fresh blueberry muffins.
One thing I have found to work, however is an EVENING routine! Yep – at night! I’ve found a few things that make my morning run so much more smoothly and I can accomplish them while helping the kids with homework!
#1: Get my coffee ready
It might be silly, but one way to ensure my morning is going to start off on the right foot is to have my coffee ready to go. Water is full, grinds are in. All I need to do is hit the start button and in mere minutes I am ready to start the day! Cliche? Maybe. But I’m okay with that.
#2: Pack bags the night before
Whether you need to pack backpacks for school or a diaper bag for a doctors visit – pack it the night before! It is so much easier to make sure you don’t forget anything when you can think clearly and have time to get all of your stuff together.
#3: Plan out breakfast
I dont know about you, but I love eating breakfast! I hate cooking it! There is nothing I want to do less at 6am than starting my day by creating a disaster in my kitchen. As often as possible, I try and think through breakfast the night before – what can I prep now to make tomorrow easier?
#4: Think through your to do list for tomorrow.
It’s no secret that I love lists! I really do. I will write things down after I have done them, just so I can check them off. But – taking a few minutes before bed to think through what needs to be done the next day makes decision making super simple! When I am bleary eyed and want nothing more than to crawl back into bed for just 10 more minutes of sleep, I can look at my list and see what needs to be done! No mental processing needed!
If you find that getting up an hour early or trying to follow a morning routine isn’t working for you, maybe an evening routine will work better!
The fact of the matter is, whatever helps you feel in control of your day and helps you find a little bit of a foothold in a hectic schedule is worth putting some time into!
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