The #1 Hack for Being More Productive Tomorrow

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Course you turn the lights off. Do you make sure your pets are where they need to be? Of course you do. Do you shut the refrigerator? Yes, you do. Do you turn off the tv? Of course you do all of these things that you do to turn off and shut down the house at night. You have a routine about what you physically do in your space or your home. You lock the front door, you turn off the lights. Maybe you put your dog in a crate, you brush your teeth, you kiss the kids goodnight. You read 'em a book. You turn off the television, you put on your PJs. There is this shutting down that you do that is routine. You don't even think about it. And I think about it, it's almost like we're putting the house to bed. It's easy to think about the list of things that you do without even being conscious of it when it comes to your physical environment.

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What I want to talk to you about today is what are the things that you and I can do to help you do that emotionally and psychologically? And I want to give you one more example for why a routine is so empowering. When you get very intentional about it. Have you ever gone to bed? Maybe you're feeling sick or you've been up too late or whatever. Or your kids come in later and you wake up in the morning and all the lights are on downstairs. It's so disoriented because you're like, wait a minute. Why are the lights on? I always turn the lights off. It's so weird when that happens. It feels like something's wrong. What if I told you, you can get to the point where your evening routine and the series of the five things that I want you to do become so automatic, so easy that when you don't do these things, it's disorienting.

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That's how important this is. So in just a minute, I'm going to walk you through the five things that the new current Mel Robbins does every single night. This is my evening routine. And the philosophy behind it is all about making my mornings easier. It's all about setting myself up for success and creating a rhythm and a routine and a structure to my evenings that gives me a sense of confidence. That helps me set the Mel Robbins that's waking up tomorrow morning up for success and ease. And that also makes me an amazing sleeper because this routine and the structure of it signals to my subconscious brain that we're winding down here down just like we lock the front door and it's time to go to bed. We're turning out the lights. It's time to go to bed. You are going to do a series of things that signal to your brain and to your mind that it is time to turn it off and to tuck yourself in.

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I think a lot about how when I was growing up, I had a very, very strict bedtime routine. My parents were not dummies. They did not want me up late. There was no negotiation after dinner. We had to go right upstairs and we got into a hot bath. Why? Well, because we were dirty. But also because it makes you kind of drowsy, right? It's sort of like you just do it every night. It's signaling to you the kid that, okay, we're in our evening routine now we're getting into the bedtime routine. And then I'd pull on my little footed PJs and I'd zip 'em up and we'd get a little bit of time downstairs to either play or watch one TV show. And then what would we do? We'd be right back upstairs. We'd be getting a bedtime story read to us, and then our parents would tuck us in, kiss us on the forehead or the cheek, and we were going to bed.

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That bedtime routine became this rhythm that created safety and structure and ease, something you can depend upon. And so I want you to join me in getting serious about your evening routine. Starting tonight. I want you to embrace the fact that your mornings will be a hundred times better if you set yourself up for success starting tonight. So we need to take a quick pause and hear a short word from our sponsors because all of this is brought to you at zero cost, and I absolutely love that. And when we come back, I'm going to explain the five simple steps that I have put to use in my own life that has made an extraordinary difference. Welcome back. I'm Mel Robbins. I'm so thrilled you're here. We are talking about the number one hack to creating a rock solid morning routine. And that is by focusing on getting your evening right, putting yourself to bed, winding your day down in a really empowering way. I promise to share the five simple steps that I have put into action in my own life, and here they are.

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You were going to stop eating and drinking alcohol. And for me, because I go to bed early, that meant we had to move the dinnertime a little bit earlier. Second, two hours before bedtime, stop working, stop working. One of the reasons why you may have trouble sleeping or relaxing or stopping racing thoughts, or you may be waking up in the middle of the night is because you're working too close to your bedtime. So your thoughts are spinning and your stress level is high. So two hours before bed stop working, and finally one hour before bed, you got to shut down the screen time, the blue light on your screens, your laptop, your phone. It is interfering with your brain's ability to shut down and sleep. So the 3, 2, 1 rule will make a huge difference in your life. 

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So I've been on a business trip now, this is day 15 of a business trip hitting six different cities, and I move my body every day. And I know if I'm going to get up at six o'clock in the morning in a hotel, I don't want to be fumbling around in the dark looking for the pair of tights that are actually clean instead of having to turn the clothes inside out to figure out what I could put on my body. Do not do that in the morning. You're creating too much resistance. It requires too much energy and thinking, make it easier the night before, as you're walking around your hotel room, brushing your teeth, or you're washing your face or what, just lay your exercise clothes out on the floor. Make it easier. That way they're there for you in the morning. You don't even have to think about it.

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Isn't that fantastic? And if you've raised kids, how do you make mornings easier with kids? You pack their lunches the night before. You assemble their backpacks by the door, you put their hockey sticks or their tennis rackets or their cleats, the things that they need to remember right there for you and me. Here's how you can do that for yourself as an adult. Let's say you have a commitment every single morning as part of your morning routine to journal more or to drink more water. 

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You've set yourself up for success, and that means you're going to be less stressed and it means the thing that you might blow off. If it's hard in the morning like exercise, you're more likely to get it done. Why? Because you've made it easier for you. You have supported the new you. How cool is this? This is like a little gift that you're giving yourself. 

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We go to the kitchen. Would you rather see a kitchen that has last night's dishes, pots soaking in the sink and stuff scattered all over the place from yesterday, all of which is unfinished business from yesterday? Or would you feel more empowered if you walked into the kitchen and the counters were clear and things were organized and there was nothing that you needed to clean up? The answer is obvious. Do not take today's messes into tomorrow. Do not saddle the future you with crap that the you today should be doing tonight. And that's always been a huge thing for me because if I walk into the kitchen in the morning and I see a ton of dirty dishes, or I see stuff all over the island, it's a trigger and my day goes downhill because I'm immediately distracted. I'm immediately feeling like everybody's made. I'm immediately feeling like I should have done this last night.

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I should have put these dishes now, this pot that has been soaking in the sink with all of the suds in it, the suds are gone and the water is ice cold and disgusting and oily. I don't want to put my hands in that. And half the stuff hasn't soaked off anyway. And so I didn't make it easier. I actually made it harder and grosser and more disgusting. And now it takes me even more time. So this idea for me of clearing the counters, no dishes in the sink, nothing on the counters, it means I am waking up to a brand new clean slate today, both metaphorically, visually, everything. And so how can you do this? Think about this as part of the non-negotiables. When you turn off the lights and lock the front door, do a quick loop through the kitchen and take five lousy minutes to pull it together, clear off the counters, get everything in the dishwasher or finish the dishes, get it done.

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Because I promise you psychologically walking into a physically clean slate helps you mentally feel like you've been given the gift of one when you wake up in the morning. 

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You don't have to be a morning person and you can learn and support yourself in getting up 30 minutes earlier because that is how much time you need in order to set your day up for success. See, I think a lot of us really lose the opportunity of a fresh start and a new morning and the structure of that because we're not intentional and honest with ourselves about what we actually need. What I've come to learn, the more intentional that I get with myself is I need a lot of time in the morning. I need more time than the old Mel Robbins was giving herself because I not only need time to roll out of bed and to brush my teeth and to high five the mirror and to move my body and to set my intention and to make some progress and to do all that before I help Chris or the kids or the dogs or anybody else that works for me or anybody else that follows me, or anything else that might be on my phone that I need.

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Actually, if I'm being honest, I need about 90 minutes. I can get it done in 30 in a pinch, but I need about 90. If I don't want to be rushed, if I don't want to be resentful, if I don't want the things that I really need to do so that I can start my day feeling powerful and empowered, that's truly what I need. And you may be thinking, well, that's a luxury. We're not even talking about the morning. I want you to be honest with yourself, and I want you to ask yourself this question. What time do you truly need to wake up to make it easier to support yourself? What would the future you say? And if you can't think

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Of a time, I'll give you one. Set your alarm one hour earlier than you normally do, because this is more than a wake up call. This is more than setting an alarm. What I'm asking you to do is I'm asking you to make a promise. Because when you set the alarm clock tonight, what you're really doing is you're making a promise to yourself. You're making a promise that when that alarm rings, you're going to wake up, you're going to get up and you're going to get going. And this is why it's important for you to be intentional, not casual about setting that alarm, but intentional. Because tonight, when you set that alarm clock, you're making a promise. And when you look at it that way, when that alarm rings tomorrow morning, it's about keeping that promise to yourself. That's what the act of waking up becomes, that the evening you set up, the future you, the tomorrow you the person you're becoming with a clean slate and a promise for how much time it is that you truly need and deserve every morning.

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And if you can start to flip how you think about that alarm, how you set it and what it signals when it sounds in the morning, that future you is here, a promise is there to be kept. It will shift what you think about the opportunities of the morning and the time that you need to truly honor yourself and put yourself first. Now, before we get to the final rule, which is a beautiful rule that you're going to hate like crazy, but it's the most powerful one of all. I need to take a quick break. We're going to hear a word from our sponsors and then we'll be right back. So don't go anywhere. Hey, it's your friend Mel, and we are talking today about the singular hack that helped me create a rock solid million dollar morning routine. And that singular hack, as you now know, is you got to have a rock solid evening routine.

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And so we've covered four of the five things that I do. We've talked about the 3, 2, 1 rule. We've talked about this mindset flip of how can I make things easier for myself? We've also talked about the importance of giving yourself a physical clean slate so you can have a mental clean slate. Finally, we just covered the importance of getting super intentional about setting your alarm and considering it a promise that you are making and keeping with your future self. And finally, number five, before you tuck yourself in, tuck your phone into the bathroom. 

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It is a critical part of my evening routine, and that is there is no phone in the bedroom period. And starting tonight, I want you to try this. It's a lot harder than it seems. You are about to realize how addicted you are to your phone. You are also going to see firsthand how it interferes with your ability to have a powerful evening routine. You're also going to see firsthand how it is likely interfering with your ability to fall asleep and stay asleep. So before you tuck yourself in, tuck that phone in anywhere but the bedroom. And here's how this is going to work. So all you're going to do is just pick a spot that you're going to charge your phone overnight. And for those of you that have kids that need to reach you or a job that needs to reach you, I totally get that.

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I'm the same. So here's how you deal with that. You turn the ringer on and you tell everybody in your life, I don't sleep with my phone, but the ringer is on. If you have an emergency, call me. You'll hear the phone ringing in the middle of the night. And what's really interesting, ever since I've done this and I've now done this for years, is that people don't call you in the middle of the night unless it's truly an emergency. But they will text and Snapchat you all night long and that'll keep you awake. Don't tell me that it doesn't. So this way you know that you can fall asleep and that somebody can reach you, but you're not going to be distracted by it because it's not going to be near you. So that's number one. If you use your phone as an alarm, excellent, I do too.

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The good news about that is that if your phone is outside of the bedroom, and it's also an alarm, and it's also your alarm when it goes off in the morning, you have no choice but to get out of bed. And so I kind of like that hack, even though in the moment I hate that hack when I hear the alarm going off. But you could also just buy a cheap alarm clock or use a watch or something else if you're no longer using your phone as an alarm. So why do I feel this way? I feel so strongly about this because you've just spent your entire day letting the whole world have access to you because that's what you're doing when you're watching the news or responding to email or sitting on zoom calls or you're just scrolling mindlessly through social media. You are allowing the world to steal your attention, to choke your brain power with things that really don't matter.

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And honestly, there is nothing on your phone that is going to help you sleep tonight. The stuff that's on your phone is going to get you stressed out. It's going to get you worked up. It's going to make you stay awake. And that's why you can't have it near you. You can't trust yourself. And so in order to properly wind down and get a great night's sleep, which you need to do, I won't even get into the research about why you need to start becoming a better sleeper, is we have to get the one thing that's been robbing you of your attention and energy all day away from you. Do not let people have access to you once you get into your bedroom. Do not let the thing that you gave your attention to all day long be the thing that is distracting you at night. You deserve a great night's sleep, and you are just not going to get it if that phone is sitting next to you on the bedside table. And don't lie to me, we're friends at this point. The majority of us sleep with our phones. I shouldn't even say us because I do not. But the majority of people, including you, have that phone in your bed. It's right there. You look at it and you want to know something disgusting. A third of people check email in the middle of the night. Whatcha doing email in the middle of the night?

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Even if you cancel, whatcha doing? This is sick. And what I'll tell you is if that phone is not in that bed with you and it's not on the bedside table and you can't just reach for it because it's a habit for you to reach for it when it and buzzes and notifications or because you can't sleep all, just look at my phone. What a stupid idea. Because it's not there. You're not going to do it. And so there's a reason why you're having trouble sleeping. There's a reason why you wake up stressed out. There's a reason why you never have time for yourself. It's because have shot yourself in the foot before you've even closed your eyes. By having that phone there, I think you can tell I'm getting a little worked up

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And I love all of these changes whether you're going to implement the 3, 2, 1 rule. And one way that you could do that is to put an alarm in your phone that counts you down. You could put post-it notes on the fridge to remind you about this stuff, but I want you to try it. And thinking about taking care of yourself tonight is not going to be the same as trying a new evening routine. And I know this is hard, and I want to help you practice a new evening routine. And that's why I want to remind you that I have this free five day challenge. It all takes place in email. It's called the Wake Up Challenge, and it's a simple five day free challenge where I will support you for five days and help you get out of bed and feel in control and feel more empowered.

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Of course, as you focus on getting out of bed and starting your day off right? I'm going to be reminding you that a great day starts by setting yourself up for a great day the night before. All you need to do is go to mel robbins.com/wake up. It'll start first thing tomorrow. In this challenge, I give you even more science backed tools and strategies and tips and research that are going to help make the habit of getting out of bed without hitting the snooze button easier because you know what? You deserve that. Now I know what you're thinking, Mel. What about the morning routine? I got it. I got it. I got it. Tonight. I am going to try these things. I'm going to report back. Thank you for being captain obvious, even though I wasn't thinking about it. Now that I'm thinking about it is kind of obvious, isn't it?

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A lot of things about improving your life are very obvious. It's just that you have to get focused on it. That's it. No worries. Don't beat yourself up. We're all going to have a better evening tonight. That's going to create a great morning Tomorrow. We are going to dig into the mechanics and the components based on research of a rock solid morning routine. And we will do that in one of the next couple episodes, I promise. So if you have questions about it, go to mel robbins.com and submit your questions about morning routines or anything related to an evening routine on the website, because I program the show based on the things that you're asking me to do. And I would love to hear what you're thinking and what you are struggling with as it relates to your mornings so we can make sure that it's super relevant to what you're dealing with.

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Alright? But in terms of the evening routine, I just want to say don't be jumping ahead. Try this tonight because it really matters how you shut down the day, how you tuck yourself in the simple things that you do to set yourself up for the future. You that's going to wake up tomorrow with a brand new clean slate. Make it easy for that future. You place a bet on the you that's waking up tomorrow. Give that person the support that they deserve. That's what I want you to do, because if you do that, trust me, the change is going to come faster and it's going to be easier because my friend will be supporting that change. You'll be the one championing it. You'll be the one doing the little things that actually are everything. Alright? One more thing I just wanted to say. I love you.

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I believe in you, and I believe in your ability to try these things tonight and to really think about your evenings and how you wind down and how you support yourself in a whole new way. Because when you do that, you will be creating a better morning for yourself and that creates a better day for yourself. And that day becomes a better week, and that week becomes a better month, and that month becomes a better year. And next thing you know, along the way, you became a better you. And that's the whole point of all of this. Go get after it. I love you. I'll talk to you in a few days. Oh, one more thing. It's the legal language. This podcast is presented solely for educational and entertainment purposes. It is not intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, professional coach, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional. Hey, it's Mel. Thank you so much for being here. If you enjoyed that video, bye. God, please subscribe because I don't want you to miss a thing. Thank you so much for being here. We've got so much amazing stuff coming. Thank you so much for sending this stuff to your friends and your family. I love you. We create these videos for you, so make sure you subscribe.