How to win your day the night before (7 Evening Habits)

"A productive day starts the night before.” – Unknown

Why it works

Morning habits are all the rage. Yet, a great day starts the night before. A good evening, in turn, has three key ingredients. First, you want to switch from work mode to non-work mode. We “could fill any arbitrary number of hours with what feels to be productive work”, according to bestselling author Cal Newport. Yet, that’s not a recipe for success. It’s a recipe for burnout. Conversely, ending your day by systematically moving from work to leisure mode — including preparing your next day — is vital.

Second, you want to avoid what Harvard professor Ashley Whillans (pictured above) calls time confetti. As our leisure time gets fractured by digital technology, we use our free time for tiny bits of easy, fast distraction. Thus, our free time only comes in small snippets. This time confetti makes us experience time famine, or feeling hungry for time. The major factor contributing to time confetti is our smartphone. Being deliberate about your phone usage — and having alternatives to spending most of your leisure time on it — is critical.

Third, you want to be able to calm down and get plenty of restful sleep. To pull this off, you want to activate your parasympathetic nervous system and maintain regular bedtimes: also known as the “calmness system”, the former’s high activation is vital to slowing down a racing mind; the latter is similarly important for restful sleep, according to sleep expert Prof. Matthew Walker, who famously said that “regularity is king.” Against this background, here are 7 evening habits to win your days.

How to do it

1) Shutdown routine
Review your day, organize tasks for tomorrow, and clear your workspace and mind. I use a version inspired by Newport, which has three simple steps: do a final email review; update your to-do lists and notes; and set your goals for the next day (see #2). "If you strictly follow this shutdown ritual", Newport writes, "you'll soon discover that not only are you working harder when you work, but your time after work is more meaningful and restorative than ever before.” If you want to delve deeper into Newport’s shutdown routine, check out this how-to article.

2) The 3-3-3 plan
Spend 3 hours on a key project, 3 on smaller tasks, and 3 on maintenance tasks. Productivity isn’t about squeezing in more things, but about doing the right things. Oliver Burkeman’s 3-3-3 plan is a powerful method to set tomorrow’s goals right. Use it to focus for 3 hours on your most important project, timebox 3 smaller tasks (e.g. email), and plan 3 maintenance tasks (e.g. health). If you want to learn more about how exactly I do this, here’s my article on the topic.

3) Intermittent digital fasting
Disconnect from screens an hour before bed to relax without digital noise. Doing so will curb the worst excesses of time confetti, which can dramatically improve your leisure time and sleep quality. Use the evening hour of intermittent digital fasting to give the people you care about some undivided attention, finally start that reading habit (see #4), or reflect on your wins (see #6). If you want to learn more about avoiding time confetti and reducing screen time, read this.

4) Read to unwind
Engage in enjoyable reading to calm your mind before sleep. As a bonus, you’ll learn a lot. The late Charlie Munger said: “In my whole life, I have known no wise people [...] who didn't read all the time – none, zero.” Chances are you’re no exception to this. What you read — non-fiction or fiction, say — doesn’t matter. Entrepreneur, investor and philosopher Naval Ravikant said it best: “Read what you love until you love to read.”

5) Physiological sigh
Inhale deeply, take a quick second inhale, and exhale slowly to relax. Known as the physiological sigh, this is the quickest and most effective way to activate your “calmness system”, says Prof. Andrew Huberman. Doing it for 1-5 minutes allows you to calm down even after the most stressful days. If you want to learn more about the “physiological sigh” – including a video of Prof. Huberman demonstrating how to do it – read this.

6) Reflect on wins
Acknowledge achievements and reflect on today’s learnings. You can either do this in your mind or in an evening journal — by writing down three successes and three things that you learned or feel grateful for that day. Earlier this year, I started a similar journaling practice. It takes less than two minutes and allows me to celebrate small wins and shift into a positive mindset, ending my days on a high note.

7) Restful sleep
Stick to the same bedtime and ensure high-quality sleep. According to Prof. Matthew Walker, a vital part of getting plenty of quality sleep is to go to bed and wake up at the same time. So, keep your bed and wake-up times constant throughout the week. And to avoid “sleep inertia”, the grogginess you feel when waking up in the middle of a 90-minute sleep cycle, sleep in 90-minute multiples – by going for 7.5 or 9 (not 7 or 8!) hours of sleep a night. If you want to learn more about getting better sleep, read this.

Plan your evening to power your morning.

And your morning will make your day powerful.

Please share this post with one person who might benefit from it.

Until next week,
Christian

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