Perfect Your Evening Routine for a Good Morning
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What do you do when 5:00 hits? Pour a glass of wine? Order takeout? Park yourself in front of the TV until you finally drag yourself to bed.
After a long day, it’s easy to fall into these traps, but they likely won’t help you truly decompress and feel better, and they certainly don’t set you up for a good night’s sleep or good morning.
We all know that after that kind of night we exhausted because we were up too late…but not doing anything productive. Which makes us feel even worse.
This used to be what I did every night after work, especially before the pandemic when I had a commute. Now that I work from home, I don’t have to face a frazzled commute, but there is a unique challenge in being able to switch mentally from office to home when you’re in the same space.
Whether you work from home or in an office, or even if you don’t work at all, having an evening routine that you enjoy and is productive will help you unwind better and head into the next day feeling refreshed.
If you’ve been here a bit, you know that I love waking up early (a skill developed, not inherent)!
Here we will go through what I think are the most important elements of the perfect post-work routine (in other words, what I do every day)!
Let’s briefly start with 5 benefits you get from a good evening routine.
Reduces Stress.
Getting organized, cleaning your kitchen, and preparing for tomorrow always make you feel more in control.
Improves Sleep.
With less stress and proper unwinding, you’ll be ready to fall asleep when you get in bed.
Enhances Productivity.
Prepping for your day the night before sets you up for success and prevents the frazzled morning scramble.
Feels Indulgent.
A full 10 step Korean skin care routine on a Tuesday? Why not?
We’ll divide the list into three general categories. First things first, you need to…
Finalize your day.
1. Turn off your work computer.
If you work from home, this is particularly important. Your work day is done, and you’re trying to enjoy your evening, so you don’t want to hear the chime from Microsoft Teams.
If you don’t work from home, don’t check your email when you get home and get sucked in.
Here you’re mentally distinguishing between your work day and your personal time.
2. Eat dinner on an actual plate.
If you’re cooking this meal tonight, set some ambience. Turn on music, light a candle, turn down the lights. Make this more of an event than a chore. (The people who do this on TikTok always look far more content than most of us when cooking after a long day.)
If you aren’t cooking this meal tonight, leftovers or takeout are much more enjoyable on a real plate rather than out of the box.
Pretend you’re in an episode of Below Deck and eating a fancy plated meal on a yacht. Just paying attention to the small details of your dinner, like how it looks on your plate, is actually an important part of enjoying your food. They say you eat with your eyes first because it’s true.
3. Make a mocktail but in a fancy glass.
Having a fancy glass makes it feel like you’re having a real drink in a fancy bar. A small touch that can add a lot of enjoyment to your night.
And I will stress that this is ideally a non-alcoholic beverage – alcohol will mess with your sleep!
4. Load the dishwasher/clean the kitchen.
We all hate seeing dirty dishes in the sink first thing in the morning. The one small task of taking a few minutes to load the dishwasher or wash a few dishes will reap rewards the next morning ten times over.
So load the dishwasher, wipe up any spills from making dinner, even take out the trash. You’ll feel like a million bucks the next morning walking into the kitchen to turn on the coffee.
Prep for the next morning.
Getting a few basic things prepped for the next morning sets you up to be productive and have a healthier day. Because if you make healthy choices in the morning, they are more likely to stick with you the rest of the day so that you don’t mess up your good work.
5. Prep your coffee. And breakfast.
Being able to just press a button feels like a small victory for me.
And while you don’t have to make breakfast the night before (especially if you want something like eggs, which don’t always reheat in a very appetizing fashion), slice the fruit for your yogurt, put together a frozen smoothie packet, or mix together overnight oats.
6. Lay out gym clothes and work clothes.
You’re more likely to work out in the morning if the clothes are staring you in the face. (By the way, I highly recommend working out in the morning – you’ll feel like you’ve already conquered the day by the time you started work!)
Next to that, lay out your work clothes. It’s a universal truth that we all suddenly lose the ability to match things together and feel good about it in the morning. Save yourself some time and do it now.
7. Make a to-do list.
This goes toward good sleep – writing down everything you need to do means you won’t have things lingering on your mind. How often have you thought “I can’t forget to…”
It’s also great to do this the night before when it’s still fresh in your mind the loose ends you haven’t tied up and need to finish tomorrow.
Plus, when it’s already done, you can get right to it the next morning and knock a few things off more quickly than you expect. That productive momentum carries through the day!
Unwind and relax for bed.
One of the goals here is to get yourself into bed early-ish. (That ensures a better morning!) This early-ish time is one you should try to stick with – you will definitely sleep better with a consistent schedule!
8. Do a full skin care routine.
I love Korean skin care. Not only is it great for your skin, but it feels really indulgent. (And all the products are available at a variety of price points!)
Consider this your spa time to make a random Tuesday special. Plus you’ll wake up with dewy skin on Wednesday.
9. Light a candle.
Not only is a relaxing scent like lavender or vanilla good for prepping for bed, but the ritual of lighting a candle signals to your brain that it’s time to wind down if you do it every night before bed!
10. Shower or take a bath.
I don’t have a bathtub, so a shower it is. And if you don’t want to take the time to take a bath, it’s a great alternative and has the same effect! Also, it’s hard for me to get into bed dirty – how can you get comfy in your nice clean bed and pajamas with all your residual day sweat on you?
11. Put on the right pajamas, and prep your bed.
This is not date night, so let’s skip the lace. And on the other end of the spectrum, flannel doesn’t breathe well.
Find some fun jammies that are cute and comfortable and make you feel good. Personally I hate to wear pants to bed because they get all twisted up, but I know there are plenty of women who prefer sleeping in pants. Find what you really like!
And if you’re a socks person, go for it. I feel like socks/no socks to sleep is a huge, huge divide among us.
Then bring the candle into your bedroom, fluff the pillows, spray on some lavender linen spray, and get in bed.
12. Consider melatonin.
Always, always check with your doctor before taking a new supplement. But I adore melatonin. I take it on planes and in hotels, and it even works there. So how much better in your very own comfortable bed?
I wrote more about melatonin in this guide on beating a cold in 24 hours, when sleep is essential!
13. Write in a prayer journal or worry journal.
Much like making your to-do list helps clear your mind of things you need to remember tomorrow, this helps clear your mind of worries. Try keeping one for a week before bed, and I’ll bet you notice your mind is racing less as your falling asleep or when you wake up in the middle of the night.
I am a strong, strong advocate of prayer journals because they also help me remember to be grateful for answered prayer!
14. Turn on a fan or white noise machine.
There’s a lot to be said for ambient noise (I know I’m not the only one who has a hard time falling asleep in complete silence). A fan has the same effect! And if it’s winter, don’t point it to you.
Side note: if you’re traveling, you don’t have to give up your white noise machine! I saw this travel-sized one on Amazon and LOVE it. I travel a fair amount for work, and this helps cover up any hotel noises – it seems like I’m always the first person going to sleep in a hotel.
