For some reason my evening routine has been so much harder to implement and maintain than my morning routine. However, my morning routine still isn’t 100% every day either. I’m not sure if it’s because I have more time to do the tasks in the evening so end up distracting myself more or if it’s because my energy is so low later in the day or something else.
My aim for my evening routine was initially just to be able to go to bed at the same time each night. 11pm was meant to be my cut off. There were then lots of other things I wanted to fit into my day as well, to feel more productive and achieve more of my goals, visualisations and manifestations. In the end I came up with a list of things I wanted to do every day after work.
My intended list:
- Exercise
- Daily chores
- Blog writing and planning future posts
- Check blogging and social media strategies, check deadlines and complete any required tasks
- Check calendar for following day
- Cook and eat dinner
- Prepare lunch if not home the next day
- Watch some TV
- Check front door is locked and chain is on
- Cleanse, tone and moisturise my face
- Clean my teeth
- Check alarms are set for following day
- 10+ minutes on Duolingo – I’ve been learning welsh for nearly a year now
- Read
- Activate sleep monitoring app
- Try to stop my mind from spinning
- Sleep for 7-8 hours
How it started
I started out by writing these tasks down on a piece of paper which lives on my desk. However, I am only at my desk a few days a week and rarely in the evenings when the routine would be starting. Good intention, not so good in practice.
Another weakness of my evening routine was the fact I thought I would know it off by heart. As I had created the list of tasks and worked out most of the timings it should come naturally, right? Sadly not.
Turns out when I get home from work (currently doing blended working, office 2 or 3 days a week, the rest wfh finishing at 5:30) after my 50 minute commute I don’t always have much energy. I have the intention of having a 5 minute sit down with a cuppa and a scroll through social media. The next thing I know, it’s 8pm and I’ve missed out on a lot of my evening – oops.
How my evening routine is going
After a couple of months of having more ‘incomplete’ evenings than fully successful ones, I have a new plan.
Firstly, I have decided to be more patient and understanding with myself. After years of either no routines or very different routines, these adjustments will take time. Berating myself or getting frustrated will not help me to progress.
Secondly, I am cutting down on some of the tasks, or alternating them between days so my days are not always so full-on while I’m adjusting. Gradually then building up to be able to accomplish all tasks, every day.
Thirdly, for the main items I know I definitely want to do each and every day I have labelled alarms on my phone. That way if I get distracted by social media, accidently fall asleep or loose track of time another way, those key items won’t be missed.
One of these said reminders is an alarm at 10pm to start winding down for bed. Recently I have been going to sleep later and later due to distractions or starting my routine later than I should. Now I have reminders to cook dinner, read my books, learn Welsh, get ready for bed and for exercising. I have been doing this system for a couple of weeks now and seems to be helping. Yaaay.
Do you have after work routines? What measures have you put in place to help you stick to them?
I hope you are getting closer to living your dream life, one step and one day at a time. We can do it!
