Now this is interesting. You’re probably thinking “An evening routine? That’s not important. Where can I build that early 3AM morning routine to crush the competition?” 

The hot topic of productivity is usually solid morning routines for our day. Of course, it is an essential part of the day, and one I talked about building earlier already. 

But if that’s all we focus on, we forget other crucial aspects of our schedule. Most importantly, the flip side of the coin, an evening schedule.

Imagine each night gliding into your bed. You’re thinking only serene thoughts as you put your head on the pillow. Your body is completely relaxed and loose. You’re not at all worried about tomorrow. You’re not fretting over what happened today. You just enjoying the comfort of getting to bed knowing you’ll wake up fresh tomorrow for whatever life throws at you. 

The question I really want to ask is, what is your state of mind as you go to bed? For most, it’s a far different picture than the one I described above. It’s one of frantic stress as they continue trying to get the day’s work done. It’s one of worries over the things that will happen tomorrow. It’s the anxiety of laying in bed trying to sleep, but not getting any. It’s trying to get into a comfortable position to lay down.

Who wants to end their day like that?

I believe being in a good state of mind in the evening is what provides peaceful sleep each night. Then you truly have the energy for the next day from a healthy recovery. And one of the best ways I’ve been able to do this is with an evening routine.

Now most people already avoid developing a morning schedule. They don’t believe they are disciplined enough to follow it. But an evening schedule is a much more manageable part of your day. It’s actually about stopping your work and relaxing, as you’ll find out, rather than getting the ball rolling for the day. And it can often be just as rewarding as a morning routine.

As I said in my morning routine article, building a CEO level routine isn’t about some performance hack for your day, although it helps. It’s about feeling in control of your time so that you are in charge of what to do. Let’s see what are some great ways to do that with your evening routine.

1.  Stop Working an Hour Before You Sleep

In a busy environment and constant work, it’s easy to get caught up in the rush of things. Unfortunately, this means we can often work right up until the moment we sleep. It might be wanting to get something done today to not worry about it tomorrow. Or perhaps we didn’t schedule our work properly so we need to finish a task that night. And sometimes we just don’t want to waste any time while we are awake.

Unfortunately, trying to utilize the hour before your sleep for work can unintentionally hinder your actual sleep.

Shawn Stevenson points out in his book Sleep Smarter that we have four primary frequencies of brain waves from highest to lowest: Beta, Alpha, Theta, Delta [1]. Beta and Alpha are awake brain states while Theta and Delta are sleep brain states, with theta associated with dream sleep and delta with deep sleep.

Have you ever just been talking to someone, working on a problem or task, and can’t stop thinking about it right after? Maybe it stays in your head all the way into bed?

Beta waves represent our state of mind for most of the day. It’s the most active state of our brain used while solving logical problems and any complex thinking. In tasks like the above, one’s brain is primarily generating beta waves. However, it is also the farthest away from sleep waves. 

Your brain is still primarily producing beta waves as long as you feed in complex input of any kind. And it takes time for it to go down. By working until the last minute of your day and then going to bed, you’re asking your brain to instantly switch from a high frequency state to a low frequency state. And it doesn’t seem to cooperate well with that request. Instead we toss and turn in bed wondering if our thoughts will ever stop.

However, what we can do is relax our brains before going to bed to primarily produce alpha waves. These have a lower frequency and are closer to sleep state waves, thus making it easier to fall asleep.

How can we do this?

It’s simple. Stop working.

Again, all of that input is doing nothing but keeping your brain in a high frequency state. Keeping yourself away from work, news, and media can settle yourself down and relax your mind. I’ve found that taking 15 minutes to stretch and relax my body loosens me up even more.

If you really can’t settle your mind down in this hour, the next best technique is meditation. Dawson Church referred to research in his book Mind to Matter that indicated meditation would decrease brain waves to alpha (and sometimes reportedly theta or delta which sounds crazy!) [2]. Clearly it’s an easy method to relax your mind, if done right. When I make a post on how I meditate, I’ll link it here. But there are many techniques and I’m sure you can find one on the internet.

2. Set Your Circadian Rhythm Down

Here’s the thing. When your body has its internal clock set, it knows when to go to bed. That means it’ll get tired at the right time, enter sleep at the right time, and wake up refreshed at the right time. If this was sporadic, it would be nearly impossible to set an evening routine. And gain the benefits of it and your sleep.

I made an article on how you can set your circadian rhythm here. But the important aspects of it for your evening routine are two-fold:

• Don’t Use Blue-light: As mentioned in the other article, Harvard had published research which indicated that blue light had a dangerous effect on our circadian rhythm. Specifically, it had been observed to move back our sleep schedule for 2-3 hours. On top of that, our melatonin levels, an important chemical for body recovery, drops 50%. And I can bet money that the last thing most people do before going to bed is scroll through their phones. I would already suggest putting away your devices to relax your mind for the sake of the earlier point. But for serious health reasons as well, it’s in your best interest not to use them too often before going to bed. In the worst case, try to apply a blue light filter like f.lux so you can shift the devices to calmer red light.
• Go to Bed At The Same Time Everyday: Obviously if you want to have a set circadian rhythm, you’re going to have to schedule the timing of it. But I understand why this is tough for people. I’m not saying every night has to be exactly the same. You can give or take 15 minutes. And I certainly have late-night outs every now and then. But make sure to be conscientious about it. Try not to stay up for two days in a row so your body stays on the same biological clock. Stopping work an hour early also helps to make sure you don’t stay up to get tasks done. By doing this, your body should easily recognize the time and signals for bedtime. And you should sleep like a baby.

Now I want to make one point clear. You set your timings. Professor Matthew Walker in his book Why We Sleep showcases research which indicated 40% of people are what we would refer to as “morning larks” while 30% are what we like to call “night owls” [3]. It is actually part of their biology to be this way. So don’t push for an early sleep time just because people tell you to. You might be more of a morning owl than you realize, but if it doesn’t benefit you, go back to your normal bedtime. 

Now that you have your evening routine down, you have likely a good hour of time to truly work for yourself. Maybe spend some time with the family, brush up on a book, or meditate. The time is up to you. It’s your CEO evening. But the important thing is to set it up so you can get a good night’s rest and be ready to go the next day. Don’t underestimate the utility of an evening routine for tomorrow’s work and today’s peacefulness.

References:

[1] Sleep Smarter – Shawn Stevenson

[2] Mind To Matter – Dawson Church

[3] Why We Sleep – Matthew Walker