One of the best ways to set yourself up for inevitable success is to bookend your days. That means that you create a routine or habit that starts and ends your day. Every day.

Why Create A Morning and Evening Routine?

When you have a routine or habit that starts your day, it sets up your day on a positive note, affirming that you have taken time for yourself to pay attention to the tasks that are important to you.

At night, ending your day in a routine predictable fashion will allow you to decompress, practice any rituals that you want to incorporate and ease your body and your mind into rest and sleep mode. Depending on what you incorporate into your nighttime routines, you can even use that time to set up the next day for success as well.

A good bedtime routine helps you sleep better too!  It worked for your kids and it will work for you too!

What’s the best way to set up your morning routine?

The answer to what’s the best morning routine depends on you! What do you want to be sure will help set up your day for inevitable success?

Physical Exercise

Many people like to incorporate prayer or a physical exercise practice first thing in the morning. By doing this first thing in the morning, it ensures that it will get done. No need to continue to stress about where you will fit it in as the day goes on. Go for your morning run or walk or work out to a video recording to get your exercise in first thing.

Prayer

Prayer in the morning is a great way to spend time with God and listen for His guidance and love for you. If you already have a morning habit, tack on this new habit of prayer to an existing habit to help it ‘stick’. For example, if you’re already brushing your teeth in the morning every day like clockwork, pray just before or just after that already-established habit.  Prayer doesn’t have to have perfect words.  You can just speak from your heart and then sit in quiet to lean into your God given intuition!

Food For Fuel

A healthy breakfast will also set you up for a productive day. Instead of grabbing a coffee and donut or muffin, plan to sit down for a protein-packed meal in the morning. This helps stabilize your blood sugar and gives you energy without a crash mid-morning. Eggs, scrambled tofu, Greek plain yogurt parfait, or protein-based smoothies are all good options. You can save the carbs for later in the day when they won’t have as big an impact on your blood sugar.  Watch my Reel about this HERE.

Evening Routine

Sleep can be a struggle in midlife, so your evening routine should help set up your body for a good night’s rest. End your calorie consumption at least 2 hours before you head to bed. In order to transition easily into a restful sleep, curtail all electronic stimulation, including TV for at least an hour before you head to bed.

As alternatives to screen time, you can choose to read an old-fashioned real book with paper pages, meditate, journal, or you can practice gratitude. Other rituals that help set up your body for a good night’s sleep include a warm relaxing bath, listening to soothing music,

Your evening routine should include the same regular bedtime every night just as your time to wake up in the morning should be kept the same.

By creating a routine for your morning and another one for your evening, your days will be bookended with set routines that become habits. Fill these bookends to your day with activities that will set up your day for success and your evening for a great night’s rest. Quality sleep is essential for your ultimate success and productivity.

You don’t have to build these routines all at once.  Pick one thing to add or change and get into the habit of doing it every day.  Once that is easy, pick another habit to add.

This slow and steady approach is how I coach midlife women to revive their health in my Fueled For Fun Program!  No extreme dieting or lifestyle changes that don’t last.  You can grab my free Habit Cheat Sheet here to get my process.