4 Steps to Create Simple Morning & Evening Routines
Ahhh, morning and evening routines - you either love them or they stress you out. Well, I'm here to teach you that routines don't have to be intense and overwhelming...they shouldn't be! Your routines don't have to look anything like the ones you see on Instagram (lol). Today, I'm gonna walk you through how to clear the clutter and quiet the noise when you’re creating your morning and evening routines.
Keep reading this post to learn:
⋒ 4 steps to create simple morning and evening routines that actually work for you!
First, let’s debunk some myths about morning and evening routines because that’s important.
For whatever reason, people are under the impression that morning routines have to be like 2 hours long and that evening routines have to include a candlelit bath - mmmm no, lol.
They totally CAN be like that but they don’t have to be. Remember 2 weeks ago when we talked about how to create routines that support you and stress you out? The same stuff applies here.
Clear the clutter and quiet the noise when you’re creating your morning and evening routines, okay?
I wanna talk about why I’m a big believer in having an evening and a morning routine. And hey to be transparent, I’ve always been a morning routine person - it comes easy to me. But I’ve only recently (like within the last year) really mastered an evening routine that supports me.
So just know that these things take time and you’ve got to be gracious with yourself. Creating routines that support you is not a race - remember that you are creating them to SERVE your life, not to stress you out.
Let’s chat about the difference between a morning and evening routine and why they’re important.
Morning routines support you by:
~ Energizing you
~ Positioning you to be in charge of how you start your day (which creates momentum for the rest of the day too)
~ Equipping you to take ownership of your mindset and set the tone for the rest of your day
Evening routines support you by:
~ Preparing you for a restful night of sleep
~ Positioning you to show up well the next day
~ Equipping you to be present and peaceful in the evenings
These 2 paired together equip you to show up well for yourself, your goals, and your loved ones. You’re able to operate from a place of grace, peace, and calmness instead of irritation, overwhelm, and anxiousness.
When I started really making my morning routine a priority back in like 2016, my mindset totally started shifting. It’s when I started to realize that I have the ability to determine how I’m showing up for the day. I learned that life is not happening to me but I get to choose how my days feel.
Then more recently, when I started making my evening routine a priority, it did WONDERS for my mental health and for my marriage.
I used to work until like 7-8 PM, scarf down something for dinner, sit on the couch and answer DMs for an hour, then fall asleep on my husband’s shoulder during the first 5 minutes of a show. I felt so burnt out all the time. And being on social media in the evenings also caused me to spiral down crappy mindsets like doubt and comparison.
With my evening routine now I am so much more present and peaceful in the evenings. I’m done with work by 6:30, I eat dinner with my husband every night at the table, we usually spend some time outside playing cards or sipping on wine and chatting, then we come in and I’ll take a bath and read or we’ll watch a movie together. Then I do my skincare and cozy up into bed.
It’s not hard. So why didn’t I just do that before? Because I wasn’t mentally prioritizing how I was spending my evenings. When I sat down and intentionally created an evening routine, I had a plan - I wasn’t just defaulting to working late because I knew I was going to clock out by 6:30.
Think of your morning and evening routines as on and off ramps. When you’re merging onto the interstate, the on ramp gives you space to get where you need to go and then when you’re getting off at an exit, the off ramp does the same thing.
Okay so now let’s get to building your routines!
I’d say to start with your evening routine. Which might sound weird because technically mornings come first right? Not really though. Instead of pairing the same day’s morning and evening routine, I like to think of it as pairing the evening routine the night before with the morning routine of the next day if that makes sense. In that case, the evening routine is the setup or the launchpad for the next morning. Think about it - when you get a crappy night’s sleep, the next morning is usually tough but if you have a tough morning, you have plenty of time to recoup before your evening routine later that day.
That’s my advice to you - start with crafting and implementing your supportive evening routine first.
How to Create Your Wind Down Evening Routine and Mindful Morning Routine
Step 01 Evening: Think about how your evening currently feels. Is it calm or chaotic? Peaceful or rushed? Present or frantic? Describe your current evening routine.
Step 01 Morning: Think about how your morning currently feels. Is it calm or chaotic? Peaceful or rushed? Present or frantic? Describe your current morning routine.
Step 02 Evening: Ask yourself, “How do I want my evenings to feel in this season?”
Step 02 Morning: Ask yourself, “How do I want my mornings to feel in this season?”
And remember there are no wrong answers here. Your answers are going to vary depending on your season, too. If you just had a baby you probably have a different desire of what you want your mornings to feel like than pre-baby right? Lean into your season!
Step 03 Evening: Ask yourself, “Right now, what roadblocks are keeping me from having the kind of evening I desire?”
Step 03 Morning: Ask yourself, “Right now, what roadblocks are keeping me from having the kind of morning I desire?”
Go back and listen to podcast episode 079 if you need help with identifying roadblocks because we break them down. But basically, it’s just anything that is preventing you from having the kind of routine you want.
Step 04 Evening & Morning: Brainstorm solutions for your roadblocks.
Again, go back to episode 079 of the podcast for in-depth examples of how to do this if you need help.
Okay so now you’ve identified what needs to be remedied in your current evening and morning routines, now let’s figure out what you want to do.
Here’s the thing, a lot of people don’t follow through with morning and evening routines because they don’t know what activities to do and/or because they don’t know why they are doing the activities they’ve chosen.
That’s often the case when people try to just copy someone else’s routine. You’ve got to create it with your season, your life, your circumstances in mind - not your neighbor’s, sister’s co-worker’s, or anybody else.
So what I like to do next, get out 2 pieces of paper and divide it into 4 equal boxes.
For your evening routine, label the boxes:
- Activities that wind me down mentally
- Activities that wind me down emotionally
- Activities that wind me down physically
- Activities that wind me down spiritually
And then fill it out! I’ll give you my examples:
- Activities that wind me down mentally: lettering, reading fiction, playing cards, playing pickleball
- Activities that wind me down emotionally: journaling, not being on technology
- Activities that wind me down physically: stretching
- Activities that wind me down spiritually: praying gratitude
Then do the same thing for your morning routine on the other piece of paper:
- Activities that energize me mentally: meditating, journaling, reading personal or spiritual development
- Activities that energize me emotionally: journaling
- Activities that energize me physically: playing with my dogs, worshipping
- Activities that energize me spiritually: Praying, worshipping, reading the Bible
I call these my morning and evening routine menus.
Do you have to incorporate all of these categories and/or activities into your morning and evening routine every day? NO! This is just so you have a game plan to know what supports in what areas so you can use it to build routines that work for you.
Once you have you menus done, then you can map out your actual routines:
Flip each piece of paper over and do the following for the evening routine:
At the top write, I want to start my evening routine around: ____ I want to be in bed by: ____
Then draw a chart with 3 columns: Time, Activity, and Non-Negotiable?
Then start filling that baby in!
In the non-negotiable category, put a checkmark on the things that are well...non-negotiable.
REMINDER: Your schedules and routines are tools not chains.
Some days, life is gonna happen - you’ll oversleep, your kid will get gum stuck in their hair or throw cheerios and milk all over your outfit, or you’ll lose your keys.
This is why this part of the chart is important. We can be tempted to throw our whole mindful morning routine or wind down evening routines out the window if they aren’t perfect every day. That’s silly. Because even a few intentional moments spent can make a major difference in your attitude and mindset.
Do the same thing for your morning routine but at the top write: I want to wake up at ____. I want to finish my morning routine by ____.
Now do I follow my routines to a tee every single day? NO GIRL! I stick to my non-negotiables and then check in with myself to see what would support me best each day. I don’t like go down my schedules every morning and evening checking things off like a drill sergeant - like OKAY NOW IT’S 8:30 WE HAVE TO WATCH A MOVIE RIGHT NOW BABE! If we wanna watch a movie cool and if we start it at 7 also cool, lol. I stick to my non-negotiables and feel out the rest.
But having a plan mapped out, gives me the confidence to do that so that if I really do feel stuck or unmotivated, I can peek at it, ya know?
And another question I get asked a lot is if I follow these on the weekend. Nope. My weekends in this season are a lot more loose and flexible and that is fine with me and doesn’t derail me from my goals and vision.
Need help creating routines that support you?
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If you enjoyed this post, tune into episode 081 of The Hustle Sanely Podcast to listen into this topic:
