Before You Shut Down for the Day, Do These Things

Do you want to make tomorrow a better day before it even begins?

Then it would be best if you started today before you shut down for the day.

I know how you feel. It’s the end of the day; you’re tired and cranky. It’s been a tough day, and you’ve done all you can do. Whatever is left can wait until tomorrow.

So you close your laptop or put your computer to sleep and walk away.

But there are two major problems with that. Today and Tomorrow.

Today didn’t suddenly get better because you left work unless you are one of the lucky ones that can just turn off your brain. I am like that. I can shut down my mind and forget about stuff until the next day.

Except when I can’t. And my eyes pop open at 3 am with things left undone or waiting for me hit me in the head and ruin my sleep. It doesn’t happen often, but why leave it to chance.

And tomorrow won’t be any better than today. You will wake up with that anxious feeling in your gut, dreading what you know is lurking in the office. Or worse, that nagging fear of the unknown. You don’t know what will spring at you as you walk in the office.

But in a half-hour at the most, you can fix all of that. And with practice, you can reduce that time to twenty or even ten minutes. You can leave the office clear of mind and be ready to hit the ground running in the morning.

Review Your Day

First, take a quick look at the day you are finishing up. What went wrong? How could you have done things differently? What went right? How can you replicate that success? What didn’t get finished, and how does that fit into your plan for tomorrow?

Clear the Decks

Put away all paperwork on your desk. File it, throw it away, or put it back in your inbox. But don’t get lazy with that last part. The stuff in your inbox is either those things you didn’t get to review today or are associated with your very first tasks in the morning.

Save all work on your computer and shut down every app. There is nothing so distracting as waking up your system in the morning and be faced with dozens of windows and tabs. You haven’t done anything, and you are already scattered all over the place.

Process your email inbox. If there is anything left in your inbox, deal with it. Typically, if it is something really quick, you would do it now, but there’s no time for that unless it is a swift reply that will put the item to rest.

Everything else either gets filed for future reference or becomes part of…

Plan Your Morning

You can plan your whole day if you want, but I want you to plan your morning for this exercise. Based on your review of the day and things left undone, and the processing of your inboxes, plan your morning. It may be as little as the first hour or two, but know what you need to do first and schedule those things.

You know you are probably going to grab a coffee or tea, then check your emails — the things you always do first thing, but then, what’s next. Go ahead and plan that first thing you are going to tackle. Of course, emergencies do happen, and your morning email may change this, but we let that happen far more often than it actually needs to.

Pick your unfinished task for today or your most important task for tomorrow and put that high on your task list. If nothing is genuinely pressing, plan that thing you have been putting off the longest. Swallow the frog.

Knowing what your first task will be in the morning will make your evening, and tomorrow, much better.

Once you review your day, clear the decks and plan your morning, you can leave the office with a clear mind and have clarity for tomorrow. Best of all, since you know exactly what you will be doing first thing, tomorrow holds no fear, uncertainty, or doubt.

You can now switch your focus to home and family where it belongs.

But first, take a moment and breathe. Relax your mind and body. Then walk out of the office with your head held high and a smile on your face.

If nothing else, it will make your coworkers wonder what you’re up to.

Or you could just buy me a cup of coffee. Either way would be much appreciated.

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/DBVirago