Do you want feel more in charge of your fall mornings?

Then you need to know this secret: peaceful, productive mornings start with a good evening routine.

A morning-boosting evening routine accomplishes two key things. It:

• closes problematic loops.
• prepares you for morning priorities.

This post will help you identify your loops and priorities so you can find the right habits to add to your evening routine.

#1:  CLOSE PROBLEMATIC LOOPS

I don’t know about you, but nighttime usually greets me with LOTS of loose ends. Dirty dishes…unprocessed school and work paperwork…unanswered text messages…do you feeling me?

It would be amazing to close all these loops, but let’s be honest. It’s not realistic and exhausting.

Christian habits expert and author, Justin Whitmel Early wrote, “When I stop working, I have to admit the world doesn’t depend on me…The belief that we sustain the world and God doesn’t is at the core of unrest.”

So, the first key to a solid night routine is accepting God’s invitation to rest, then focusing on the open loops that will drive you bonkers later. Do this by asking these questions:

• What open loops cause me the most problems each morning?
• Which ones do I have power and capacity to address?
• What prayer should I pray or Biblical truth should I remember to trust God with what I can’t accomplish.

#2 PREPARE FOR MORNING PRIORITIES

Evening is also a great time to prepare for the next day.

It’s impossible to prep for everything, so I encourage you to focus on nightly habits that promote these two parts of your morning routine(see this post for more details):

• connection with God
• most important outcome

Here are some questions you can ask to decide what to prepare for:

• What can I set up or remove from my space to make it easier to read my Bible, pray, or practice another spiritual habit?
• What problem arises regularly and keeps me from attaining my desired morning outcome? What could I do the night before to combat this problem?

#3: PUT IT ALL TOGETHER

Ok, you now have some ideas of what to put into your evening routine. But when do you actually do it?

Well…that’s up to you.

Some women start an evening routine after dinner and slowly close loops or prep till bedtime. Here’s an example routine for a single, young professional woman:

• After dinner: clean dishes and pack a lunch for the next day
• After reading or watching a TV show: lay out clothing and items that need to be taken to work the next day
• After getting ready for bed: respond to text messages

Other women might complete their evening routine all at once. I do this, and my current routine goes like this:

I put the kids to bed, then I:

• Get ready for bed (brush teeth, PJs, wash face)
• Read a chapter from my Bible
• Respond to unanswered text messages
• Move unfinished to-do items from today’s schedule to another day and time
• Finalize my schedule for the next day

What type of routine is best for you?  Consider your season of life, how you like to get things done, and what you want to accomplish. Then ask, Does a spread out routine or all-at-once-routine fit those things best?

READY TO WRITE OUT YOUR EVENING ROUTINE?

Then get a FREE copy of our DAILY ROUTINES worksheet here. It’s part of a larger tool that we’ve created to help Abide & Focus Weekly Planner users build more God-centered, intentional days. Get the routine worksheet and learn more about the planner by signing up below!