I’ve shared about morning manifestos, starting the morning off with meditation, and about my weekly routines of making sure all my bases are covered, but I’ve never shared about my evening routine.

It’s hard to share about something you don’t have.

Normally my evening routine has been to watch an episode of The West Wing with my wife, floss and brush, and pass out with an alarm set for seven and a half hours later.

That’s pretty weak as far as good habits and meaningful ends to a day go.

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I’ve been challenged by Shawn Blanc’s The Focus Course to start being more intentional in the way I live. One of the first assignments in the 40-day course is to simply set out your outfit for the next day.

I often experience decision fatigue, and even making minor decisions the night before–like what I’ll wear the next day and what we’ll eat for breakfast–help my morning start off more smoothly.

Another assignment in The Focus Course was to write down a significant thing I accomplished today and two things I’m grateful for. Those are two incredibly easy questions that orient my heart and mind in a good direction before the end of the day. I’ve also half-heartedly tried to start journaling in Day One more frequently, with, as you can imagine, weak results.

So, here’s the new evening routine I’m putting into effect:

  1. Set out my clothes for the next day. I have an alarm set on Due to remind me every day at 9pm to do that. I check the weather on my phone, snag the clothes out of my closet and put them in the bathroom so I’m ready to roll after my shower in the morning.
  2. Record in Day One my accomplishment for the day and two things I’m grateful for. I think it’s neat to be able to look back and see the things I’ve accomplished and to build off of the momentum, but that simple moment of reflection alone leads to greater joy.
  3. Decide the one thing I must get done tomorrow. I’ve dabbled with three most important things, I’ve made long lists, and it rarely all works out. In order to simplify, I’m shooting for one thing. One big, my-day-was-a-huge-success-because-I-did-this type task that helps me move forward and keep focusing on important things.

Day One is on my homescreen now. I set a Text Expander snippet, which syncs its snippets with Day One on iOS, to plop out the three questions:

  1. What did you accomplish today that was important?
  2. What are two things you’re thankful for in your life right now?
  3. What is the one thing I could do tomorrow to make it a successful day?

I type my shortcut (xend, as in end of day) and that populates into Day One. That creates less friction and means I’m more likely to respond. I get a reminder from Day One at 9:10pm, just after I set out my clothes, and I plop in my responses.

Two reminders, three steps. A simple enough routine that I’m hoping to build an expand on to help put my heart on a path of greater joy, gratitude, and purpose and to live my life with greater intentionality.

I’ve long tried to steward well my days, but I’ve been throwing away my nights. All time needs to be cared for.

Dost though love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life’s made of.
–Benjamin Franklin