Bookend Your Day: The Power of Morning and Evening Routines

We can all take an educated guess on how our day will pan out simply from how we wake up in the morning. If we got to bed too late or had a restless night's sleep, we can almost guarantee that this will put us on the back foot when facing the day ahead.

Take a look at some of the most successful people in the world: Bill and Melinda Gates, Oprah Winfrey, and Barack Obama all swear by morning routines, and one thing I've learned is that a great morning routine starts the night before.

It took me a long time to find a routine that works for me and even longer to maintain it as a consistent habit: I'll be the first to admit that it doesn't go to plan every day! But on those days when my routine fails for whatever reason, I notice how off-track I feel in myself, and my day suffers as a consequence.

"Your entire life changes the day that you decide you will no longer accept mediocrity for yourself."

- Hal Elrod, The Miracle Morning

Hal Elrod is the author of The Miracle Morning, whose mission is to elevate humanity's consciousness, one person at a time. The Miracle Morning has been widely regarded as one of the most life-changing books ever written and details the author's straightforward approach to a morning routine built around six key practices known as 'Life SAVERS: silence, affirmations, visualisation, exercises, reading, and scribing.

I love this book, and it inspired me to create my own SAVERS that I try my hardest to follow each morning.

SILENCE

I try to start my day with at least ten minutes of meditation. I use a brilliant app called Insight Timer, which has over 80,000 guided meditations, and among its features, it tracks your progress. I'm currently on day 53 of consecutive meditations, which strangely acts as an incentive for me not to reset the counter. 

AFFIRMATIONS

I'll admit that I used to find doing this silly, being my own private cheerleader and giving an impassioned pep talk to an audience of one. But the more I do it, the more I find that it helps me focus my thoughts and gives me more self-confidence and self-belief. Whether it's repeating positive affirmations in your head or writing them down in a journal or diary, just give it a try, and you'll be surprised just how well some self-championing works.

VISUALISATION

Visualisations help you to envisage your day and what tasks you're going to prioritise. I usually start with the top three things I need to achieve that day, how I'll achieve them, and what impact completing them will have, and whether they line-up with my goals and targets for the week, the month, and the rest of the year.

EXERCISE

I'm lucky that my line of work ticks this box automatically. I exercise most days anyway, be that with Mission Members on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, or by myself doing yoga. Exercising first thing in the morning works wonders for our mind and body by instilling some self-discipline that permeates through the rest of the day.

READING

Unsurprisingly, many of the world's most successful people recommend reading every day. American business tycoon Warren Buffett once famously said, "Read 500 pages every day. That's how knowledge works. It builds up like compound interest. All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will do it." While I struggle to read 500 pages a day (!) I spend ten minutes immersed in my favourite non-fiction book first thing in the morning. 

SCRIBING

As touched on above, I tend to tick the affirmations and scribing checklist simultaneously. I find journaling a great way to siphon some thoughts from my hectic brain and find it really helps to map out the day. It's also great to have a record of how I was feeling at a particular time, as it's an interesting read when I revisit the entries a few months down the line to see whether or not I've accomplished what I set out to do.

With all that said, my morning routine's success largely relies on how I prepare the evening before. I can have the best intentions in the world to wake up and seize the day, but without my evening routine, I doubt I'd manage the above most mornings.

DIGITAL SUNSET

I try to turn off all screens at around 8.30/9pm, but I'll admit this is probably the most difficult of all. By turning off our phone, TV, and laptop, a digital sunset provides a space which we too can power off and unplug our minds in preparation for sleep. Reading books has long been a bedtime pleasure for generations, and the focus required to read continuous prose (as opposed to reading character-limited social posts) helps us with the process of mental uncluttering.

AMBIENCE

We'll all have our night-time routine from skincare to brushing our teeth, and I find that lighting some candles and putting on some background music as I perform these adds another layer of relaxation. Lavender-scented candles help to calm the mind, and soft, instrumental music gives me some mental clarity and clears the mind for uninterrupted sleep.

WIND DOWN 

Before I get into bed, I always aspire to do some simple wind down stretches for around 5-10 minutes. I find this helps to stretch out those muscles that have been put through their paces during the day and helps to minimise the aches and pains associated with me turning 30.

Do you have any morning/evening routines that you swear by? Comment below and let me know what I should be including in my wake up or wind down regime!