Week one is behind us now. How are you going? I’ve actually enjoyed this first week, although it wasn’t without it’s challenges. If you’re new here and have no idea what I’m talking about, you can find week one over here.
Full disclosure, there was one day where I slept in and didn’t manage any of my routine. I also found that I needed to slowly ease into the early wake ups, so I started getting up at 6:40, then 6:30, then 6:20. I’m still at 6:20. I’m actually finding that 6:20 gives me plenty of time for the routine. I might try and push out in this second week, but we’ll see how we go. At the moment we’re watching a lot of late night Olympics, so it’s been harder getting up early. Which leads neatly into the week two challenge.
Time to hack your night routine
In this first week, we’ve looked at what we want our morning routines to be like to set us up for a good day. Now, you have to keep doing that in week two. Don’t let your morning slip! Keep up the good work! But now we’re going to look at what we’re doing the night before to close the day well and set ourselves up for tomorrow.
Similar to week one, think about why you want to change your night routine. You probably noticed things already that are making the next morning harder, like staying up late. Maybe there are things you do sometimes that you want to do more of. My nightly routine is already in an okay place. However, there are things I’d like to change so that I’m using my time after work to engage better with my husband. I also want to make sure that I’m set for my morning routine, so it’s easier to succeed there.
At the end of this post, there’s another handy-dandy printable for you so you can pop it up next to your morning routine. I’ll give you my evening routine goals as an example.
My evening routine goals
Firstly, my why is wanting to spend my evening leisure time connecting better with my husband and setting myself up for success in my morning routine.
To set myself up for the next day, I’ll be trying to get to bed by 9:30 each night. Before I do, I’ll soak my oats and set up everything I need for breakfast the next day, so it’s easy to have a healthy breakfast. I’ll also lay out my outfit and set up my prayer corner, so I’ve got less decisions to make in the morning.
I want to end the day well too. My brain can be buzzing after all the work screen time. Often, I can feel pessimistic about the day, especially if something didn’t work out well. My goal will be to write my gratitude journal each night. I’ll also be stopping my phone usage from 8pm. Before bed, I’ll get in some book reading, to help slow my mind and stop myself reaching for my phone out of boredom.
Cutting back on the phone usage will open up more time for me to engage with my husband. I find we are often both tired in the evenings, and sometimes we just plonk ourselves in front of the TV and don’t talk much. Often, we’re on our phones while watching TV. Bit ridiculous when you think about it. Cutting phone is one less distraction. Trying to take time away from all screens to read is another.
Be gentle and remember it needs to work for you
I’m going to bang on about this a lot in this challenge. Whatever you’re doing, it needs to work for you. Don’t try to do what other people are doing, just because you think you need to. Be gentle. When you’re building a new habit and changing old ones, you will fall down. It’s the whole walk before you run thing.
I’m not out there running five kilometres and getting up at 5am. At some point I’d love to get running again, but I know it’s not achievable right now, when it’s cold and dark. So I’m walking. Hopefully you’ve found what you need for the mornings. Now, let’s figure it out for the night time.
We’ll get into our week three challenge next Monday. For now, let me know in the comments how you’re finding things. What are you doing differently in the mornings?
Oh, and don’t forget your free printout, kiddo.
