Everyone is obsessed with how successful people start their day.
And if you’ve decided to do something about the quality of your life, you’ll start working on developing a morning routine and trying different versions of it.
But we seem to forget that what productive people – those who work each day to achieve what they want and have hacked so many areas of their life – do before they go to bed is as important.
The evening routine is one of the most underestimated habits, and yet an absolute must when it comes down to changing how your day goes and whether you want to get stuff done.
A nighttime ritual affects your sleep and the mood you’ll be in when you get up, and thus becomes the foundation of your whole day.
It’s a wind down period and there are many things you can do at that time.
The actual routine starts an hour or two before going to bed, and you must turn it into a regular thing done in a certain hour if you want to see changes in your energy level, productivity, mood and motivation.
Here’s what you can include in it:
Go for a short walk in the evening. It will help you leave everything behind and stop thinking about the workday.
It will be quiet time for yourself, without any distractions. And you can use it to reflect on different things that interest you or to just empty your mind and enjoy the silence.
Every single night Benjamin Franklin took the time to make an examination of the day. And it helped him stay focused on what he was doing, see if he’s making progress, understand where he needs to improve something and whether or not he’s happy with the results.
It’s a great thing to do at the end of the day as a part of your evening routine.
It takes 5-10 minutes but helps you evaluate your day’s work and have control over your goals, tasks and progress.
Many great people read right before they go to sleep.
It’s a good thing to do at the end of your ritual, and even in bed. The reading process itself will help you fall asleep faster, if you struggle with that.
And what your book will be about is your choice. But it’s important to leave the digital devices for tomorrow and have the company of a real book now.
Also, this can be another opportunity to learn new stuff, get inspired, generate ideas or challenge your mind with some philosophical topics.
A short meditation session is a great thing to include in your morning routine, but it has an even greater effect when done twice a day.
So set aside a few minutes and just sit still. Let your thoughts flow naturally and don’t try to focus on some or ignore others.
Then try to let go of all that. Because it’s past now. You need to empty your mind and eliminate those regrets and worries for the past day if you want to go to sleep in peace and start the next day fresh.
Turn off everything around you. You only need your alarm.
A good nighttime ritual’s purpose is to let you sleep well and that means no notifications, sounds, lights or other interruptions.
Another powerful moment of the day, when your mind is as susceptible as in the morning, is before going to sleep. So add some mantras.
These positive affirmations (which you can say in the mirror for a better result) will stay in your mind when you sleep and will influence your confidence, belief in yourself, goals and dreams and how dedicated you are to them.
So let yourself know one more time before you go to bed that you can achieve whatever it is that you put your mind to, that each day you’re getting closer to your dreams, that you’re staying focused on what’s important and aren’t allowing others to direct your life.
Why can’t the morning pages be done in the evening too?
Share what’s bothering you on a piece of paper, write down everything important that happened throughout the day and analyze how it affected you. Think about how you felt and whether you completed your tasks for the day.
Or just write about the things that come to your mind, positive thoughts, big plans for the next few weeks, etc.
That’s a simple and quick thing many leaders do each night and it helps them to get ready for the next day and know what they have to do right after they wake up, so that they won’t waste any time and can just start working on it.
So spare a few minutes to make a to-do list, think of all the tasks – big or small – you need to get done tomorrow, even the non-essential ones.
This way you won’t need to remember anything and will know exactly how the next day will go.
Now decide which the 3 most important tasks are.
They must be things that are urgent, that are connected to your goals and that you really want to accomplish and will affect you as a person and your future.
Now try to break them into smaller tasks, then figure out what you need to do first and make it easy and simple. This way you won’t have an excuse not to go all the way and complete them.
And then, if you’re really motivated to succeed, you’ll get up early, do your morning routine and start working on these 3 right away.
Now that the day’s over and you’re headed to bed, take a minute to say thank you.
Go through all the opportunities you had, the nice people you met, the work you did and the goals you worked on, the nice meals you had and the great chats you had time for in that day, and be grateful.
Now you’re ready to move on to the next day, where even more beautiful things will be waiting for you.
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Lidiya K. is a writer and blogger in the fields of self-improvement, life hacking, human potential and minimalism. She’s the creator of Let’s Reach Success , where her mission is to motivate and inspire and think of creative and unusual ways to overcome fear, procrastination, insecurity, clutter, failure, overthinking, discontent and much more.
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MATADOR PROUDLY PUBLISHED an eye-opening article by Turner Barr on his experiences volunteering at Tiger Temple, and it has since helped raise awareness for what goes on at this popular attraction in Thailand. We are happy to learn that forest authorities and policemen in the Kanchanaburi province have raided Wat Pa Luang Ta Bua, sending over 35 exotic birds to a nearby wildlife rehabilitation facilty, and are looking in to the safety and well being of over 100 tigers on the property. Hopefully this is one step closer to getting these endangered animals the care they deserve, and educating travelers on the benefits of responsible tourism .
You can read more about the raid from these sources: Bangkok Post, Thai PBS, The Sun Daily.
Photo: John Hoey
Indians are the masters of reusing and recycling all forms of paper products, metals, and plastics. As an American living in India, I threw out soda bottles, empty paper towel rolls, used plastic bags, and a plethora of other articles that would promptly be plucked from my garbage bags and sold in the streets.
It is said that there are four or five layers of recycling in India. Someone would go through my trash and read my old newspapers, take my empty bottles, and whatever else they found to be of value. Then three or four other people would follow them, doing precisely the same thing.
Plastic bags and bottles became containers for screws, while nails and fabrics were made into decorative ribbons for auto rickshaws.
India has some of the best street food in the world, from vegetarian chickpea dishes to tandoori shish kabobs to pani puri — one of the most famous street meals, made up of a small wheat shell filled with a mixture of potato, peas, and spices. The shell is then dipped in spicy water and eaten 8 to 15 at a time. For breakfast or an afternoon snack, jalebi is fried to the point of looking like an American funnel cake.
North India is mostly desert, so the temperatures range drastically from hot to cold. Women wear saris throughout the warm months of March to October, while men wear light clothing and turban-like headwear. Saris look deceiving — three layers of clothing and a head wrap — but they are the coolest thing you could wear because of all the air flow you get. Winter calls for heavy blankets and scarves made from pashmina.
India celebrates multiple holidays throughout the year and each one is celebrated profusely. Throwing colors and drinking bhang (a drink made from milk, marijuana, and Indian spices) goes with Holi. Lighting up the cities goes with Diwali. And sweets like barfi (made from sugar and milk) are always given on birthdays.
Because Hindus worship gods of fertility, wealth, heroism and seasons, there are literally holidays almost every day of the year. The people take these times to visit their neighbors, make food, and enjoy life together.
There are men on every street corner in India with carts brimming over with fresh pomegranates, oranges, bananas, and pineapples. They use little blenders for juicing the fruit and serve it in flimsy plastic cups. When in season, fruit can be bought by the kilo for under the equivalent of one US dollar. Stopping by for a mango smoothie or some pomegranate juice is an everyday occurrence for many. Lassi stands are also prevalent, serving up a delicious drink of blended yogurt and spices in clay cups.
From the Taj Mahal to the many forts and palaces of cities like Jaipur, India is well known for its architectural masterpieces. Marble is used in many buildings, adding an air of dignity even to regular homes. Brilliant blue and green colors are abundant and different cities are known by names such as the Pink City (Jaipur) or the Blue City (Jodhpur).
Family and elders are the most important people in India. Once educated and married, the children will start taking care of their parents. The oldest son will marry and move his new family into his parents’ home in order to take care of the entire family. Family pride is so important that the children will study as hard as possible in order to make their parents happy. In India, family relationships are the only relationships that will last a lifetime.
Indians are famous for many dishes: tikka masala with a tomato sauce base, madras curry with chili powder, biryani with rice, meats, and vegetables, and of course tandoori. One of the few foods not eaten in a broth or sauce base, tandoori chicken, goat, and lamb gets roasted in a large clay oven that gives the food an unforgettable Indian flavor. India is famous for these beautiful ovens, and rarely are they seen anywhere else in the world.
With over 500 million downloads on Android alone, I find it safe to assume that most of us use the Chrome Browser on our mobile devices; it’s great for reading articles with Reader mode enabled, syncs open tabs and bookmarks across all your devices (as long as you’re signed in to your Google account), and is regularly updated with new features and optimizations.
But after using Chrome for awhile, you might notice those countless tabs accumulating, which isn’t necessarily a huge problem—unless you want to close all of them. While you could go one by one, closing each tab individually, there’s… more
Top models Elisabeth Erm and Josephine Le Tutour pose for Carolina Herrera‘s Spring Summer 2015 advertising campaign shot by fashion photographer Willy Vanderperre. Set design is work of Emma Roach.
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Supermodels Lara Stone, Rosie Huntington Whiteley, Liu Wen, and Saskia de Brauw joined by up and comers Tegan Desmond and Sarah Brannon pose for In The Stars story captured by fashion photographer Anthony Maule with styling by Carine Roitfeld and creative direction from Stephen Gan for the March 2015 issue of Harper’s Bazaar US.
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Sig Nordal 