A good routine is like having a trusty road map to guide you through the journey of life. While straying from the beaten path periodically is not disastrous and at times can be beneficial, having a steady plan to start with for anything you do is always a good idea if you want to get to where you are trying to go.
If you are like many people today, chaos is one of the only constants in your life. From the moment that alarm clock screams at you to get out of bed it feels like an uphill battle, rush to get the kids up and fed and out the door on time (most likely with them kicking and screaming all the way) while you somehow try to manage to make yourself presentable enough to leave the house at the same time to earn enough money so that you can spend your evening driving them from activity to activity.
Funny enough but there is an eerie level of comfort that comes from pulling into the parking lot to drop your kid off 1 minute before the bell goes off and having to push through the crowd of other parents who seemingly cant get their morning schedule right either.
Wouldn’t it be great to be able to wake up in the morning feeling less stressed about getting the very first few tasks of your day accomplished?
Well to put it simply, if you want your car to have enough gas in it to get to work in the morning and your car is on empty as you are driving home in the evening, you have to stop at the gas station on the way home.
Simple as that.
Similarly, ending your night in a manner that leaves your own tank empty is not a great strategy to lead to a successful morning. No different than the fact that the empty tank in your car is a product of a faulty night routine, the chaos that is your regular morning routine is most likely a result of what you did or didn’t do the night before as well.
If you want your mornings to be better, start by changing your night routine, NOT your morning routine!
The absolute first thing that you need to do if you want to make sure your morning starts well is to make sure that the night before ends well. Regardless of what your life looks like, most people with school aged children have their kids in bed by 7:30-8:00 PM (if not, this is the first thing you should change!!!) and unless you have to be to work at 7, the goal of getting out of bed at 6 am is usually good enough to get your day going in the right direction. Knowing that your body needs at least 8 hours of quality sleep to be at your best in the morning, you now know that you have to be in bed and asleep by 10 PM at the latest. Make this NON-NEGOTIABLE if you want to be successful (remember about filling up your gas tank on the way home from work!!!!!) And when you get up in the morning make sure the first thing you do is make your bed!!!!
Why? Because it starts your day off with a WIN. You have already accomplished something that many people don’t do on a regular basis and you have only been out of bed for 1 minute! Don’t underestimate the positive effect this can have......it is actually quite profound. Also, even if your day turns into a complete disaster at least you get to crawl into a freshly made bed at the end of the day!!
The key to achieving meaningful change in your life is to start simple and commit to changing things that you have a high probability of succeeding at in order to build your confidence. Who feels good about setting lofty goals ( although well intentioned) that you never seem to accomplish?? NO ONE!!!
So if you really want to start to make your life better start with 3 simple things. Go to bed at 10 pm, get up at 6 AM and MAKE YOUR BED!!!!