Two Things to do Every Night to Have More Productive Days

Here are two things to do every night to have more productive days. Since I started doing these two small tasks every night, my days are much more focused and productive.

Number One Thing I Do Every Night to Have More Productive Days:

Clean up before you go to bed.

I’m not talking about breaking out the mop and scrubbing the floors. I simply mean that I straighten my desk. Put away markers, straighten papers, stow electronics. When I’m creating, my office gets very messy.

I try to keep my desk clear when I’m creating videos for my YouTube channel or taking photos for the blog or Instagram, but around the perimeter of the video, the markers spill out of their box, drawers flung open, supplies riffled through and disheveled. You’ll find paintbrushes strewn about the surface, resting on paper towels, sticky notes and open notebooks laying about. It’s really quite embarrassing.

Is Your Work Area Like a College Dorm Party From the Night Before?

Don’t you hate waking up and have to clean up after last night’s mess? Your work area looks like a college dorm party where you wonder what happened the night before. How could you have caused this much mayhem? You probably don’t remember any of this.

A Little Goes a Long Way to Have More Productive Days

If I straighten my desk and put back the pieces in their respective places, I wake up ready to work and surprisingly more alert. The same goes for my kitchen and living room. If I put away the dishes and generally straighten the counters, my morning is much smoother. Before the kids go to bed, I have them tidy the living room.

Little Tasks – Huge Impact

These small actions have a significant impact on the next morning’s productivity and enthusiasm for being productive. 

If you haven’t conquered the magic of tidying before going to bed – give it a try: spend 5-10 minutes and straighten your main work areas or areas of your home that tend to be a distraction. You’ll see the difference in your mindset.  It’s so refreshing to be ready for the new day instead of cleaning up last night’s mess.

The second thing I do every night to have more productive days:

Plan the next day. 

I’m sure you’ve heard it a million times. But it works. Write down your top three focuses for the day, make sure you have school notes signed for your kids and put back in backpacks. Set out any other supplies you need next to your planner to get started with your fresh, new morning. I like to leave my planner open on my desk, turned to the correct page, so it’s the first thing I see.

Add a To-Do List

Leave a sticky note or a loose page with ideas, instructions, to-do lists, and other details for the day. In the morning, it’s easier to jump right into your tasks instead of trying to remember what you intended to do.

Both of these items are kind of ‘duh’ moments. I know I’ve heard these two little productivity hacks hundreds of times – but usually not paired together. Cleaning up my work areas and other important (and distracting) areas of my house plus planning the next day the night before are both game-changers.

The best productivity comes not just after straightening or merely planning for the next day but when paired together. If you want to have more productive days, give these two suggestions a try.

What do you do to create a productive day? 

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