Say This Before Bed to Have an Amazing Day Tomorrow
Use bedtime affirmations if you’re not a morning person
Successful people from Steve Jobs to Barack Obama prioritized their morning routines. But for most of us, it’s a struggle to get up an hour earlier to do a morning routine. It’s hard enough to get up at the regular time!
Do you recognize yourself in any of these?
The late sleeper. You hit snooze on your alarm over and over, until you fly through your morning on an adrenaline rush. Somehow, out of breath and in a panic, you start work on time.
The zombie. You were up late and didn’t sleep well. Even though you got up on time, you feel like you’re still half-asleep. You can’t think until your first cup of coffee.
The whirlwind. You start every day with the best intention of taking some time for yourself. But there are so many things you need to do (or find) before you can head out the door.
The good news is, you don’t have to start with trying to squeeze a morning routine into your already busy morning. The answer lies in a suprising place.
Prepare yourself for the morning by saying a bedtime affirmation.
Change your relationship to your morning
Bedtime affirmations change your relationship to the morning. You no longer dread the morning, putting off as long as possible the moment when you toss aside the covers.
Think of Christmas morning when you were a kid. Or, if you didn’t celebrate Christmas, the first day of summer vacation.
The day was full of potential. Amazing things were in store. You could hardly wait to spring out of bed and discover what wonders awaited you.
When I was a kid, there was a rule that we were not allowed to get up before 7am on Christmas. Yet, there was more than one year that I tiptoed into the family room at 4:30 or 5am, just to see what was there. The anticipation was too much, and I couldn’t stay in bed one minute longer!
Can you remember the last time you woke up like that? On a work day?
I’d occasionally be so consumed with a problem at work that I’d go to sleep thinking about it. Then, I’d wake up eager to try my latest solution. But those days were rare.
People who hate their jobs may never feel like that.
Bedtime affirmations can help you recover that sense of anticipation.
How do bedtime affirmations work?
There are many different sources for bedtime affirmations.
Some affirmations are focused simply on allowing you to fall asleep quickly. They help you quiet your mind. Once you’re asleep they prompt you to have a deep and restful sleep. These types of affirmations work best for late sleepers and zombies.
Other affirmations focus on envisioning a good day tomorrow, filled with peace. These are helpful for whirlwinds.
The best bedtime affirmations that I’ve found go well beyond these simplistic solutions.
Hal Elrod, of The Miracle Morning, offers a set of five bedtime affirmations in his Fast Start Kit. They are lengthy affirmations, but they cover three basic points.
You’ve done everything you can for the morning
You’ve set out things in advance. This might be what you need for your morning routine. But it could also mean you’ve made your lunch and placed everything you need by the door. You will not need to rush around trying to find things in the morning.
You’ve positioned your alarm clock (or phone) well away from your bed. This will encourage you to actually get up when the alarm goes off. That prevents you from oversleeping, and rushing around in a frenzy.
The idea is to affirm to yourself that there is nothing you need to worry about. You’ve done everything you can do in advance to make sure your day will go smoothly.
This will also encourage you to actually do the things you need to, in order for tomorrow to go smoothly.
Assign specific times and commit to them
By committing to a certain bedtime and wake up time, you know you’re going to get enough sleep.
By committing to a specific wake up time, you know how long you have for your morning tasks.
You know if you can squeeze in a five-minute opportunity to write in your journal. Or maybe take three minutes to do a Sun Salutation yoga session to get your blood moving. My favorite way to start the day has always been by reading a few pages of whatever book I’m in the middle of.
Scheduling these tiny tasks can give you something to look forward to in the morning.
You’re also more likely to actually get to bed and wake up at the times you stated if you’ve committed that you will. Even if the commitment is only to yourself.
Tell yourself you’ll have a good attitude
Program your mind by telling yourself how you’ll feel when you wake up. Tell yourself that you will be filled with energy and enthusiasm.
You may be surprised how well this works!
I’ve long used this trick when I have to get up insanely early to catch a flight. As I’m lying in bed, I will repeat to myself, “I will wake tomorrow morning at 3am, rested, refreshed, and ready for the day.”
Invariably, when the alarm goes off, I hop out of bed filled with energy. It never occurred to me to use this every night, until I read Hal Elrod’s bedtime affirmations.
You don’t have to limit yourself to a handful of adjectives, either. Feel free to affirm anything about your attitude that you want.
You can tell yourself how your attitude will shape your life for the better. Or affirm that you deserve a powerful morning and a successful day. Whatever feels motivating and inspiring to you, affirm that.
Conclusion
You can start with a better morning by saying bedtime affirmations to yourself at night.
Whether you have trouble getting out of bed, or trouble waking up, these affirmations can help. They can even help if you rush around in the morning trying to do a million last-minute things.
Affirm that you’ve done everything you can to get ready for the morning. This lets you get to sleep faster, and sleep more restfully.
Commit to a specific bedtime and wake up time. This will let you know in advance how long you have in the morning. It will also let you find those small amounts of time that you can use for something you enjoy. That helps you look forward to the morning.
Finally, program your mind with the attitude and emotion you want to have in the morning.
Ready to have a better tomorrow?
I’ve created a guide to help you increase your confidence and improve your live. If you follow these tips, you will level up your life very quickly!
