Wouldn’t it be nice if your mornings could go more smoothly? Wouldn’t you love a more productive start to your day? I finally learned the secret to successful mornings, and I’m excited to share it with you today!
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The Secret to Successful Mornings
In many cases, hectic and disorganized mornings are a direct result of what is not happening the night before. So revamping the night before is the necessary first step to revamping our mornings. ~Crystal Paine, Make Over Your Mornings
[The ‘Before Bed’ Routine]…is one of our most powerful tools. This is the most important routine of the whole day! It is not the only one, but it starts you in the right direction every morning…The key to a calm morning is a Before Bed Routine.
Successful Mornings Start the Night Before
So, the secret to successful mornings is all the thought and preparation you put into the night before. Your bedtime routine is part of this.
My Bedtime Routine
Here’s what my current bedtime routine looks like:
- Make sure the kitchen is clean and living room is picked up.
- Make a cup of herbal bedtime tea (this tea is my all-time favorite before-bed treat!).
- Wash face, brush teeth, dress for bed, apply lotion and lip balm (for some reason, ever since my teen years, I always have to have lotion and lip balm applied before bed!).
- Make to-do list for the following day.
- Get into bed and read something encouraging and peaceful.
More Ideas That Promote a Peaceful and Productive Day
- Have a plan for the day.
- Have meals planned and any necessary ingredients thawed and ready.
- Set out items needed for breakfast.
The Importance of Getting to Bed on Time
This is such an important key to a successful day. Whenever I get to bed late I always regret it the next day.
I don’t think as clearly and I’m not prepared for what the day will bring. And often, going to bed late means getting up later, which means less productivity for the whole family.
You also have another attitude that is going to be the death of you: ‘I have no time for myself!’ So after everyone has gone to bed you stay up later and later, until you are barely getting enough sleep to function the next day. Then, in the morning, you hit the snooze button four or five times and by the time you finally drag yourself out of bed, you are already running late.
This makes for a stressed out, nasty attitude, yelling at your babies and running around like your head is cut off, not knowing where to turn or what to do next. The solution is so simple! GO TO BED AT A DECENT HOUR!
I am guilty of doing this very thing (the staying up too late part). Feeling like I can’t get everything done during the day and staying up too late working. This is why one of my main goals for 2016 is going to bed earlier. It truly makes a world of difference—and I’m actually a morning person. I love being up early in the morning!
Getting your rest will stop this downward spiral! With enough sleep you will be able to get up and spend some quiet time getting ready before you have to get the children up and dressed. Just fifteen minutes before the rest of the family will make a world of difference in your stress level. —FlyLady
Isn’t this encouraging? We can seriously decrease our stress levels and increase our productivity just by going to bed earlier, getting enough sleep, and doing a little bit of planning ahead for the coming day.
Related Post: 7 Habits of Highly Effective Homemakers
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Do you have a before bed routine? I’d love to hear about it!
Great tips and I love that you quoted others too! 3 cheers to smooth mornings. I also find perspective helps- what will happen if your late? Sometimes the worrying causes more stress than the actual consequences. I try to remind myself these tiny humans are still getting acquainted with following morning order.
That’s a great tip about perspective. Thanks for sharing, Ashley!
Having a definite morning and evening routine does work and helps the days more manageable. Starting out ahead instead of behind has helped me with four kids. I love the flylady and have followed her for years.
Thanks so much for stopping by, Michelle!
Thank you so much for the post ! It inspired mine today. By the way, I love your blog Joy !
Thank you so much for your kind words, Stephanie! ♥
These kinds of things always make me sigh.. and laugh a bit too. My natural sleep cycle/rhythm is as a night owl. If I were to get up before 6 am, I'm dead tired by 3 pm and my house and kids are more out of control than ever! Ideally, my best sleep is between 1 and 8 am. Going to bed before 11 pm is a pointless exercise, because it doesn't matter how long I've been awake, I cannot sleep until closer to midnight. Unfortunately for me, I have morning birds for children. Which brings me to the other reason I do not get up before 8 am: the minute I'm up, so are my kids. So trying to get up before them is pointless.
Ah well. A bedtime routine helps with the chaos of 5 young kids in the morning, and I cherish my alone time at night.
I can totally relate, Sarah. I've had the same struggle! My 5 kids are older now (16, 14, 12, 10, and 6), so I have a bit more control over my schedule than I used to when they were all little. But it never works out perfectly. Different things work best at different stages of life. 🙂
I'm glad I'm not the only one who applies lotion and lip balm before bed!
Christina
http://www.ourwoodhome.com
Lol! I'm glad to know I'm not the only one, too! 🙂
Thank you! I love the reminder.
Thanks for stopping by, Sarah!
Having raised myself from age five, not having a mother to nurture me, I feel lost here. My husband and I have four little lovelies. Two boys, two girls. My greatest struggle is being responsible for everything. My husband is barely home. We are a retired military family, and used to having long periods without husband/daddy around. But now that he is home for good, we are three years into our "new start" and still struggling. We have different sleep schedules, different work schedules. Do you have any posts that would be helpful here? Like I said, I'm lost. ~A Mommy In Need
Dear Mommy In Need,
My heart goes out to you. We've had times in our almost 18 years of marriage that sound similar, and I know how discouraging it can be.
Without knowing exactly what your particular situation is, it's hard to know what to suggest. Are you working different shifts? That's what I'm assuming since you said you have different sleep schedules and different work schedules. If that's the case, that is a complicated. I have seen other families who have made that work, but it wasn't easy.
Here are just a few basic (general) home management principles that have helped me during difficult times:
1. Create a before bed routine and try to get to bed earlier (easier said than done, I know).
2. Create a daily schedule/routine.
3. Create a simple meal plan. Even if you have to eat the same meals every week, or even if it's just cereal or frozen pizza—it's better than not having a plan!
I know this may not seem like it would help much, but it's a start!
I'm saying a prayer for you right now that you might gain victory in this area! ♥ {{Hugs}}
Joy,
Thank you so much for your response. I have actually tried all those ideas and continue to push forward keeping them implemented. The issues seem to stem from two different life styles. Mine and my husbands. I do not work on a regular basis. My work is here at our home full time. The life style I want to live is almost identical to the one I'm reading about in your blog posts. The one my husband lives is more likely found on BuzzFeed.com under "How to…pad your bachelor pad." For this season, Jesus is asking me to be still…very still. He is asking me to trust Him with all that I cannot control, and to focus on what I can and do that, only. So that means changing my bad habits (like getting in God's way), and so I started with my bible this morning and ended up here this afternoon. Since there never the only cure for pride is humility in Christ, I'll continue to read the wisdom God has in His mercy allowed you to share; and take one day at a time. Fighting on my knees. Thank you again for your encouraging words.
Oh, I see. That is a frustrating situation. It sounds like you're on the right track, looking to Jesus and the Bible for help and guidance. Praying for you this evening!
Anon, would he go to see a marriage counselor? Or if not, could you go by yourself? It seems like you and your husband might benefit from a little outside help?
Praying for you!!
Ugh. I am so guilty of this. It's so bad. I've gotten up when my alarm first goes off twice this week. So that's one resolution that I'm already 50/50 on. And I haven't been going to bed any earlier. Thanks for the encouragement and motivation to be better about it!
You're not alone—I'm still working on doing this successfully too, Charlene! We've had a cold going around at our house this week (which I also got), and that has really slowed me down. I'm thankful that tomorrow is another day and I can start again! 🙂
Yes! Before bed routines make the mornings so much easier. I find that if I set out my clothes for the morning and make sure that I have all the mealtime supplies where I need them to be, then everything just seems to fall into place in the morning.
Setting out clothes is really helpful. I often forget to do that, but I should make it more of a priority. 🙂 Thanks for sharing your tips, Amy!
I am a firm believer in routines and plenty of sleep!! With my children I sleep trained them from a young age and have a bedtime routine for them and myself. There is nothing better then having a well rested family (including mom!).
I agree, Sara—being well-rested (especially as a family!) is wonderful! It makes such a difference in how productive and peaceful the day is. 🙂
It's funny, just before I sat down to read this post, I had made my lunch for work tomorrow and packed my lunch bag. I will also be laying my clothes out for work tomorrow.
I fall into the category of staying up later to allow more time for myself, but you are so right, it really ends up sabotaging the next morning.
Thanks for the great tips and encouragement for more productive mornings!
Wow, that's great! It sounds like you've done a great job planning ahead and being prepared for the day ahead. I hope you have a great day today, and thanks for stopping by!