Relax, I’m talking about the end of the day, not the end of the world. (That’s for another post.)
Here are a few thoughts about what to do to close out your day to make the following day, and the days after that, as productive as possible.
C’mon, you can’t just close the laptop and call it a day. Well, you can, but your brain will nag you about unfinished business rather than allowing you to have a relaxing evening.
Besides, I recommend reviewing “tomorrow” the night before, rather than the day of, so you don’t have to figure it out in the morning and can get to work.
My “closing down” routine is a lot simpler today than earlier in my life because my life is much simpler.
Yay me.
Okay, here is my evening shut down routine.
The first thing I do before hanging up my stirrups is to wrap up any unfinished business, or at least outline and make notes about what else I need to do.
Next, I review my upcoming schedule and task lists, and update tomorrow’s list and my list for the upcoming week.
Here is the actual “closing down” list I work from at the end of each day:
- Choose a topic for tomorrow’s blog
- Check my calendar re upcoming appointments, commitments
- Review tomorrow’s task list
- Review tasks for the following week
- Inbox zero (email, voicemail, and notes)
- Clean up (File documents, close browser tabs, put away tools, toss the trash)
I do a fair amount of pushing tasks to other days, to make my schedule more inviting and manageable.
And that’s about it.
Your list will depend, of course, on the type of work you do, whether you work from an office, have employees or a team, or have hearings or meetings to prepare for.
Do you have a shutting down routine? If you do, what’s on your list?
