12 Night-Time Rituals To Help You Stay Productive All Day Long
You may have heard people talking about how they start their mornings to be more productive throughout the day, including extensive workout routines, uber-nutritious breakfasts, morning meditation, and what not; but this time, we are going to discuss night-time rituals! Since most of us work in the morning and afternoon, you may associate productivity as a daytime strategy but in reality, your nighttime habits and rituals have a major role to play in how productive you are the next day. Try implementing these amazing strategies every night to guarantee yourself a productive morning. Let’s dive in.
Disconnect from work
You may think of successful people as working around the clock, but in reality, they do anything but work at bedtime. The most productive people don’t pore over work-related problems at night, neither do they obsessively check their email or browse social media feeds in bed. The worst enemy of sleep is lying in bed, reading an email from your workaholic boss who just happened to have a momentary impulse to discuss a project in the middle of the night. Make a daily ritual of completely disconnecting from work at least an hour before bedtime; this means resisting the impulse to sneak a peek into your inbox or firing up your laptop to proof your report one last time. The idea is to get work out of your head before you lie down to sleep. Even though it can be hard to ignore the annoying thoughts of pending work, or stop the cogs of your mind from whirring when you lie in bed, following this ritual can slowly train your brain to forget work at night, so that you can have a good night snooze!
Unplug Completely
You may have trained your mind to forget about work at night, but do you binge-watch shows late into the night or aimlessly scroll through social media feed while in bed? Researchers agree that any kind of screen time before bed can hinder your ability to get a good night sleep. The blue light from your phone stops from brain from producing melatonin, the neurotransmitter-like hormone that triggers a natural sleep-inducing mechanism, and tells your body when it’s time to sleep. One night of poor sleep may not do anything more than make you groggy in the morning, long-term sleeplessness can have severe repercussions on your health. So, stop checking email, playing games, and browsing social media on your phone just before going to sleep.
Read a Bedtime Story
Want to be more productive the next day? It’s time to reintroduce bedtime stories to your nightly routine. The theory is that we feel a sense of accomplishment when we finish things, while unfinished businesses can keep up tossing and turning at night. Finishing a chapter, a short story, or an article before sleeping helps you check “done” to at least one thing before going to bed.
Reflect On the Good Stuff That Happened
Most of us have a tendency to brood over the bad stuff that happened over the day when we lie down to sleep. However, science says that the secret to winning the next day is to feed happy things to your mind. Our subconscious mind processes a lot of information, and if you feed it happy fodder at night, you will have a great start to the next day. This is why we recommend that you set aside 10 minutes at night to reflect on the great things that happened to you that day for which you are grateful. Try this for a week, and you will eventually feel happier, thankful, and learn to appreciate life a few months down the road. In a nutshell, the more you think about happy things the happier you’ll be.
Eliminate Negativity from your Life
You are the only one who can save your enthusiasm from the negativity of others. Most of us dread nights because far removed from distractions, unbidden thoughts come to haunt us in bed and they are pretty hard to get rid of. The moment your head hits the pillow, you suddenly relive the terrible retort Kathy at work made to your face or you may feel the tangles of worry thinking about your outstanding debts or the workplace challenge you are finding impossible to circumvent. The more stressed-out you are, the harder it is to fall asleep. Lack of sleep not only lowers your immunity but also every facet of your life. You need to drain all negativity from your system when in bed. Force your mind to think of good thoughts or do something that can shift your mood and help you unwind rather than go down the pessimistic spiral of negative self-talk. Even listening to negative social media posts or listening to news can send your mind into third-gear. Filter your mind from negativity by avoiding negative conversations, listening to news, or even talking to negative people.
Prep Small Tasks At Night To Avoid Morning Mayhem
Nothing can ruin your mornings more than finding out you have missed your alarm, having to decide between having breakfast or taking a shower, rushing to get ready to make up for the lost time, shouting at your spouse and kids for not hurrying up, and creating mess in the process. If you want a stress-free jump on your morning routine, why not create a nightly routine of doing small tasks, such as packing a lunch for the next day, selecting an outfit for the morning, cutting fruits for your smoothie, and so on. 20 minutes of making small adjustments each night on your greatest struggle each morning can help you be more productive the next day and save you hours of stress the next day. The more you can get done ahead of time, the fewer hitches you will encounter because you’re ready to get out the door.
Decompress
Before you go to bed each day, take a few minutes to breathe, relax, and decompress. And when we talk about decompressing, meditation comes to mind. It can be hard to squeeze night-time meditation into your routine, especially if you are not used to it, but there are so many online resources and guide to help you relax and unwind each night through meditative exercises. Meditation relaxes your body and quietens your mind, which leads to a stress-free sleep at night.
Make A To-do List for Tomorrow
Believe it or not, getting a clear sense of what tomorrow looks like would put your worries to ease and stop your mind from fretting over what you need to do the next day all through the night. Jotting down a list of any unattended items to address the following day makes sure that these thoughts don’t end up nagging you during the night. Not to mention, a concise and clear to-do list makes sure you wake up with a purpose. Knowing that you have it all under control and have a cleverly laid road-map in your hands, will inevitably help you relax. If possible, put this to-do list into writing so as to give your subconscious a chance to ponder on ideas and even brainstorm throughout the night. You will wake up with a renewed zest and a clear sense of what the day has in store for you, ready to take on the world.
Take A Shower
Bedtime rituals exist to help you unwind and de-stress. If you have had a waxing day, it may be difficult to distress those muscles and put the day behind you. On nights when you are finding it hard to loosen up, a hot shower is all you need. A lot of successful people came up with their best ideas soaking in a bath. Not to mention, hydrotherapy is known to be extremely therapeutic, and helps you de-stress.
Do Something That You Love
Doing something that delights you stimulates your brain, which in turn enhances productivity and cognitive alertness. It puts your mind at ease and allows you to lose yourself in the moment. Doing something that makes you happy before bed, helps you sleep with a positive energy, which subconsciously conditions your mind for the next day. Some people like to read when they lay down to read, while some fill in their gratitude journal, while others like to watch sports, listen to music, or spend some times with family. Whatever it is that lets you escape the humdrum of life, save it for bedtime.
Don’t Give in to Night Cravings
A lot of people like to drink alcohol before going to bed. They think that a glass of wine is harmless, but in reality, it deprives you from garnering a full night sleep. Drinking alcohol at night stops you from entering the phase of deep, more restorative stages of sleep, which means that you will keep waking up instead of garnering a sound night sleep. In addition to alcoholic beverages, also avoid eating snacks and caffeine-laden beverages right before bed. Instead, try drinking a glass or two of fresh water before going to bed.
Set Goals for the Next Day
This simple ritual will only take a few minutes of your bedtime but is guaranteed to give a huge boost to your productivity. Before you go to bed each time, try defining your goals for the next day so that you wake up with a sense of direction. For instance, ask yourself what your highest priorities are, what tasks need your utmost attention, what issues you may face over the course of the next day, and how you must tackle your challenges for the next day. It also helps to plan for any unexpected distractions or issues you may face, such as an unexpected phone call or an email that may slow you down or you may get sucked into a conversation with chatty Kathy at work, so that you know how to tackle them. Thinking through these problems will help you tackle them as they come instead of letting them absorb you completely.
