Reboot Your Morning Routine - The Night Before

Author: ModWork'r

17 Dec

spark in front of face

I’m willing to bet you’ve experienced on one too many occasions the effects of not having enough time to prepare for work after that alarm clock sounds the digital battle cry. To err is to be human, but beyond the darkness of consistently being ruled by clock there exists a promising light of promptness. Attaining morning bliss is easy, with a little planning.

Personally a few years back before I rebooted my morning routine, the AM hours consisted of never eating breakfast and hopping up on what couldn’t have been healthy amounts of manufactured eye-opener aka caffeine. Red Bull coursing through my veins, I’d consistently forget lunches and other items that I’d want to have with me at the workplace. I’ve never been a ill-prepared individual, but I will say that my college/early work years could have been injected with a solid dose sticky notes. I’ve got that on “lockdown” now and hit every day stacked to the brim with everything I will or potentially need.

So, what did I do to go from forgetful fumbler to stocked stud? Well, the recipe lies across several methods of better morning-time management via the evening before. You see, I was always viewing the time before making my commute as my window to pack the briefcase and dash off, when in fact I was dead wrong. To become the optimized professional, there were four main points I had to hit that hardly take any time and can be done 12 hours before work.

Pack lunch - This is perhaps the biggest time saver I can recommend. You’ll love yourself for doing this the night before.

Lay out clothes - No more deciding on what to wear or furiously sifting through closets at the last minute.

Write reminders - Instead of gradually remembering “to-dos” through the day, jot them down while they are fresh.

Clean up room/house - The feeling of leaving a living environment messy will hamper sleep and wear on a person through the day.

By doing these things at night, instead of the morning, you’ll enjoy a care-free commute with plenty of hourglass to spare between waking up and pushing through the office doors.

photo by: Flickr user amnesiak1978

6 Responses for "Reboot Your Morning Routine - The Night Before"

Sam December 17th, 2007 at 8:29 am 1
All good suggestions. Also, remember to use the time you’re saving by taking all these steps wisely. It’s no use to set out your clothes and pack your lunch the night before if you sleep for an extra 15 or 20 minutes instead. The way I look at it, my body isn’t going to feel the difference in a few hours between getting up the instant my alarm clock goes off or 15 minutes later. If getting up 15 minutes later makes my day start off horribly, then it only makes sense to get up on time and make use of my new-found morning routine.
Lise December 17th, 2007 at 9:19 am 2
Awesome suggestions - this is what I would like my evening routine to be like. Every decision I have to make in the morning seems to take twice as long, and so I would ideally save time by doing this the night before.

Unfortunately, I am having trouble with it, perhaps because I’m starting too big (i.e. having a list of 7 tasks to accomplish every night, rather than getting one down to habit before moving on to another).

Also, just out of curiosity, how many years of work did it take you to really get this routine down? I’m not sure what your age is relative to me (I’m 27, and I’ve been working for ~4 years), but I feel like this is in part something that comes with age and maturity.

It also helps if you want to get up in the mornings

And hey, this post goes really well with my guest post of last week
Jay, writer MemberSpeed.com December 19th, 2007 at 6:06 am 3
This just goes to show that it’s the little things we do that matter. Small and as seemingly insignificant as they are, these things do wonders to change the outcome of our day. Once we start our morning right, there is a ripple effect that stays with us all throughout. And to think it all started with something as simple as preparing lunch beforehand.
Dirk March 14th, 2009 at 11:02 am 4
Such an interesting post. I have tried what you have suggested here and can attest that it works. It hasn’t been pointed out here, but I feel that the reason why this works, is because the brain is so good at focussing on particular things. The key difference is we are training the mind to focus and give attention to the morning routine (which is so important) whereas the focus of a ’student lifestyle’ stereotype (i.e. waking up in a messy home with a slight hangover) is probably not on the morning but on the night routine. So its important to realize its not what you prepare for the morning, its that you give it more thought.

I’d be so happy if you took some time to read a post I’ve also written on morning routines on my blog.
Getting Sleep Done: 4 Sleep Tips For Active Minds - Work smart, play smart July 24th, 2009 at 10:41 am 5
[…] and healthy. However, we’ve become so focused on making sure we get our regular eight hours sleep every night that it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that having a few hours less every so […]
Lloyd from OfficeDeskReviews.com February 24th, 2010 at 6:03 pm 6
Great advice, you could add a 5th point to do the night before, pack your bag and have it ready to go near the door, I always do this when Im on a tight schedule.