What if you took a few steps today to make tomorrow better? These five strategies are simple things you can do to give yourself the future gift of more peace, less stress, and a happy start to the day.
Sometimes the little steps we take to be kind to ourselves can add to our feeling of content in a busy world.
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Are you familiar with the FlyLady? Marla Cilley, a.k.a. The FlyLady, has a wonderful system for getting your house organized, and whenever I follow her program I reap such benefits.
Perhaps one of the things I love best about the FlyLady’s approach is her gentle, feel-good encouragement.
One of her very first baby steps is a simple one: get in the habit of cleaning and shining your sink before you go to bed at night.
In her sweet way, she tells you that in the morning when you see that sparkling sink she wants you to feel a hug from her. It’s funny, but when I do take time to clean and polish my sink at night, it always makes me feel happy the next day.
So recently, I’ve expanded that idea of planning today for a better morning.
I set out a coffee cup, my homemade healthy sweetener and a spoon on a pretty French floral dish. It’s like a little gift that I give to myself to make the morning ritual nicer, and it always makes me feel happy.
5 Ways to Make Tomorrow a Better Day
What can you do to make tomorrow better? Here are five strategies:
1. Dress for Success
Lay out your clothes and shoes for the next day. Plan to wear something you like that makes you feel confident and comfortable.
You’ll eliminate one small decision in the morning, and reduce rushing or unnecessarily trying on outfits. (Could a capsule wardrobe could help simplify your morning routine?
2. Plan for the Most Important Meal
Figure out a nice breakfast to enjoy in the morning. You’ll feel good, have more energy, and perform better throughout the day.
Need some fresh ideas? Here are 12 healthy foods for a balanced breakfast.
3. Offload Your Brain
Make a note of your priorities for the next day, and the things on your To Do list you hope to accomplish.
Committing those thoughts to paper (or your Notes app) will get them out of your brain, so that you can leave them for the night and sleep more peacefully.
4. Turn off Screens Earlier
Turn off screens at least 30 minutes before you go to bed. According to SCL Health, the blue light emitted from a phone can interfere with the production of the sleep hormone melatonin and make it more difficult to fall asleep.
Instead of scrolling right before falling asleep, try reading a book, taking a bath or meditating.
5. Treat Yourself to a Good Night’s Sleep
Go to bed at a good hour, so you awaken tomorrow rested and refreshed.
According to the Sleep Foundation, adults need between 7 and 9 hours of sleep each night. If you’re not consistently achieving that, you may need to plan ahead and go to bed earlier.
Have trouble falling asleep? Some people find that sipping chamomile tea an hour before bed helps them relax.
If you enjoyed this post, you might also like “5 Reasons a Simple Life is a Happy Life.” What can you do today to make a better tomorrow? Drop a comment below!
Save for Later
If you use Pinterest to save ideas, here’s a handy pin:
Eliza Cross is the creator of Happy Simple Living, where she shares ideas to help busy people simplify cooking, gardening, holidays, home, and money. She is also the award-winning author of 17 cookbooks, including Small Bites and 101 Things To Do With Bacon.
I need to get back to this because I have not written in about a month, it’s a Grateful Journal. Grateful for what I have and grateful for what is coming our way. Indeed I have noticed a difference in my life since I stopped writing in it. Well, time to write! Loved your post and wishing you all good things and a wonderful weekend. Patty
Ha! I’m actually experimenting with doing the opposite – allowing myself to leave some things until the next day so that I don’t have so many hours of chores to do before I can go to bed! I LOVE having things already done when I get up, but it just seems like I pay a big price in lost sleep.
How are you managing adding more to your evening routine without staying up later? That’s a serious question… bedtime is a lifelong struggle for me! 🙂
Certainly clearing up at night is a good idea. Whenever we have parties or gatherings, we always ensure that at least the major stuff is done before we go to bed and that the dishwasher has run. Nothing is worse than coming down to find glasses and plates all over the place. It really doesn’t take that much time and has to be done anyway.
Thanks for a great post Eliza!
I love the Fly Lady and try to abide a few of her warm-hearted recommendations.
The great thing about getting everything ready the night before, is that the next morning you can slowly get yourself out of bed rather than having to race through the morning getting things done 🙂
Take care and all the best.
Lyle
I try to think of the good things that happened during the day, and why the next day could be a really good day. Going to sleep with a clear mind can do wonders for waking up ready to go.