The Key to Successful Routines
March 23, 2007
Isn’t this a gorgeous picture? Katie Johnson, an “amateur” photographer and fellow ACFW writer, took this. If you love nature photos, check out her blog HERE. She’s got some amazing shots.
Last Friday, we talked about morning routines that got us up and going and made us efficient throughout the day. If you created a routine or got back into a routine, I’d love to hear about it.
I promised to share my evening routines, so here they are.
- Straighten hot spots for five minutes (this is a Flylady term for areas where clutter piles up. Boy, you should see my desk right now!)
- Check calendar
- Start making tomorrow’s to-do list
- Pack launch pad (gather everything we need when we walk out the door in the morning — dry cleaning, Walmart return items, grocery list, etc. — and put it by the door)
- Pick out clothes for tomorrow
- Make lunches
- Set the counter for breakfast
- Take meds (yep, those pesky things again!)
- Go to bed on time.
There it is. Doesn’t take real long, maybe twenty minutes. Making lunches probably takes the longest. If I do those things every night, my house looks fairly neat when I go to bed and I’m not greeted by a mess when I make breakfast the next morning. Just a much more pleasant way to start the day, isn’t it?
Well, it would be if I did my evening routine.
I don’t know if I’ve already told you that I don’t have it all together so I better do that now.
I don’t have this all together.
Really. Read here for my story. I’m trying to go back to those old routines that worked so well, and let me tell you, my evening routine is the hardest thing to get back into.
Why is that?
Only thing I can figure is because it’s the one time of the day when I can have some quiet and time to myself. Iget lost in a book, that pesky Star Wars Battlefront game, or something online. Just one more game, I tell myself. One more chapter. One more blog. One more –
Before I know it, my eyes are crossing because time really does fly when you’re having fun!
Ugh. Try to get up the next morning on not enough sleep.
If you’ve had trouble getting your morning routine to work for you, consider this possibility — you’ve been staying up too late.
We all do it. We go to bed exhausted, have only a handful of hours to sleep and then expect to get up — on time — the next morning and function. Nope. Not happening.
Getting ourselves in bed on time is such a “duh” idea, but I know it’s the one thing I struggle with on a nightly basis. Getting to bed on time, whatever that time is for you, is the key to getting us started the next day and getting that morning routine going. No sleep, no energy, no accomplishment.
So. Your turn again. Do you have an evening routine? Tell us what’s worked for you and what has not.
Plan on starting an evening routine? Remember, start small, maybe even with just getting to bed by a certain time. Again, feel free to post it on the blog any time.
And it’s my bedtime right now. So I’m off — after I straighten the hot spots, check my calendar . . .
- Don’t forget to post a comment before the end of March for a chance at the 2007 Christian Writers’ Market Guide and Linda Nichol’s In Search of Eden
- On Monday — not your everyday tooth fairy
Comments
4 Responses to “The Key to Successful Routines”
Routine? Yikes! My routine has been completely lost in the chaos of…um…chaos. Thanks for reminding me to get back to the basics. This was super-timely as hubby and I plan to spend the weekend rearranging the house. Maybe I will actually be able to keep it in its new more organzied state.
You hit the nail on the head for me. I am such a night owl. On the rare occasion that I get to bed at a decent hour I feel much more productive the next day. Thanks for the encouragement!!
LOL, Kerri! I was so thinking of you when I wrote this, but not in a bad way!
There’s nothing wrong with being a night owl as long as your schedule allows you to get enough sleep each night. So don’t feel bad because you stay up late!
This interests me as I am just trying to get started writing so if I could win this, it would help motivate me in right direction. I have been a Christian over 45 years. I’m struggling now because of adults rebelling against all I taught them.
I endured such struggles. I had a children’s book I started years ago.