If you’re struggling to stick to your morning routine, you should try to focus on your nightly routine instead.
At first, this seemed like a strange approach to me as well, so allow me to explain. When first trying to create my morning routine, I focused on everything that happened after the alarm goes off. I had the perfect morning routine scheduled with all the right intentions to follow through, but that still was not enough.
This was because I wasn’t paying any attention to my nightly routine. After making some adjustments to my nightly routine, I could finally follow that perfect morning routine I had planned. I am going to lay out each part of my nightly routine I focused on to transform my morning routine.
I will also give extremely simple step-by-step methods to apply this to your nightly routine so you can start improving your morning routine right away!
This article will explain why to start your morning routine the night before with the exact steps on how to make it happen.
Best Way to Make Your Morning Routine Easier
Basic construction of a morning routine:
Before we get started, take a look at the morning routine that you have planned. If you need some inspiration in creating a morning routine for your lifestyle, check out some ideas here.
Most morning routines will follow this basic outline:
- Time to wake up
- Any tasks you’d like to do in the morning
- This can include exercise, reading, meditating, making breakfast, etc.
- The time that you plan to go to work
- This doesn’t have to be going to work, but it signifies a deadline for the end of the morning routine. In other words, you’d like to have completed your morning routine by this time.
Try to apply this structure to your morning routine. In the following sections, you’ll learn how you can use the night before for more success in completing your morning routine.
1. Go to bed at a consistent time
Waking up early is much easier if you do it consistently and if you are getting enough sleep. Since everyone is different, it is important to find the amount of sleep you need to wake up feeling your best.
Personally, I prefer to get 8-9 hours of sleep and wake up at 5 am. This means that my optimal bedtime is around 8:30 pm. For some, 8:30 might sound incredibly early, but in my current stage of life, it makes sense. I prefer to get more done before going to work so I can have more time to relax after I get home.
While I was in grad school, my schedule was far different. The best time to work with my classmates was later at night so this forced me to stay up and wake up later.
This shows that whatever your morning looks like, it is just important to plan accordingly the night before so you can get enough sleep. We all know the feeling of waking up early after going to bed late. If you’re anything like me, that groggy feeling lasts all day long.
To apply this to your nightly routine:
- Nail down what time you want to wake up in the morning.
- Find out how much sleep is optimal for you.
- Plan your optimal bedtime accordingly.
- Start adjusting to that bedtime.
I know, this is easier said than done, but it’s very worth it. Transitioning to your optimal bedtime can absolutely be a process that takes time, so here are some things that will help.
Bonus Tips:
- I have found that winding down, getting ready for bed, and physically getting into bed will start to make your body ready to sleep. Once you get in bed, make sure you’re only doing wind-down activities. If your bed becomes a place to hang out in the evenings, it will make this more difficult.
- The two wind-down activities that work best for me are reading a book and listening to sleepcasts on Headspace. There are other apps and websites that have something similar to the sleepcasts, but these are the most effective ones I have found.
- If you have an iPhone, try using the bedtime feature. This will give you a reminder that your bedtime is coming soon which can be very helpful especially if you are planning to make a big change in your bedtime.
2. Don’t sabotage your morning routine!
Many of us sabotage our morning routines without realizing it. It is tempting to try to take the easy way out and plan on saving things for the morning, but putting them off will slow down your morning. Something getting in the way of your morning plans will put a damper on how smoothly the rest of your day goes.
One example of this is if you are planning to make breakfast in the morning. Waking up to a kitchen full of last night’s dinner dishes is absolutely going to slow down your breakfast making.
Another example is having one too many drinks the night before. If you had plans to go to the gym in the morning, this would have been a lot easier had you opted for the glass of water.
To apply this to your nightly routine:
- As the day is coming to an end, think about how good you’ll feel after crushing your morning
- Use this thought as a motivator to make sure you’re not doing anything that will slow down your morning
To avoid sabotaging your morning routine, it is important to think ahead. As the day is coming to an end, think about how good you’ll feel after crushing your morning. Use this thought as a motivator to clean up the dishes or to turn down that last drink. This may be tough at the beginning, but after getting that feeling of accomplishment a few times, it will become a lot easier.
{ Related post: 5 Clever Tips for a Morning Routine for Students }
3. Be proactive in your nightly routine
I’m sure some of the tasks that you have planned for the morning can be started the night before. By waking up to this head start, you’ll be more likely to follow through in the morning.
Drinking water first thing in the morning is something I used to have trouble sticking to consistently. I often would get out of bed and start doing other things without realizing I had forgotten to drink water. To help with this, I started keeping a full glass of water by my bed so that it was ready for me as soon as I woke up. This takes less than a minute at night but can make all the difference in the morning.
Another part of my morning routine that I started during my nightly routine is exercising in the morning. The night before, I plan exactly what kind of workout I am going to be doing and I set out my clothes. I have found it is much easier to get up when I am following a set plan rather than coming up with my workout or outfit in the morning.
If you like to make breakfast in the morning or maybe make a protein shake after working out, it is very helpful to set up the kitchen the night before. For me, this means putting out the pan and spatula I will be using. If I plan to have a protein shake, I will also set out my protein powder the night before.
To apply this to your nightly routine:
- Narrow down the pieces of your morning routine that you have the most trouble with.
- Think about ways that you can start these the night before.
- Try to implement a couple of these items and give it at least a week to see if they are helping.
- Consider adding more to your nightly routine or adjusting exactly how you are implementing these items.
4. Give yourself a realistic expectation for the morning
By having such a busy schedule, it is not possible to always have a perfect nightly routine and morning routine. This is where it is important to be flexible and learn how to adapt your nightly and morning routines.
For example, when I am traveling, it’s very tough to stick to my morning routine. Being in a new place, doing different things during the day, and probably staying up past my optimal bedtime (especially when it’s as early as 8:30 pm), it’s just not realistic.
In addition, if I return from a trip late at night, I alter my morning routine.
Another example is if I have an event or celebration. In fact, I was celebrating a birthday with one of my friends last week and went to bed late after having a few drinks. Again, I altered my morning routine.
In all of these examples, I thought about my morning routine and what my priorities were for the next day. I usually will sacrifice one or more of the tasks in my morning routine in order to get closer to a full night’s sleep the night before. What you decide to keep in your morning routine on these tough days is very situation dependent. I simply wanted to point out that you should give yourself some flexibility in your morning and nightly routines.
To apply this to your nightly routine:
- Think about what time it is and what time you would need to wake up to get your optimal amount of sleep.
- Think about what you have planned for the next day.
- Think about what you would be bummed if you don’t get done in the morning (make this your priority).
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