Bookending Your Day: How to build a better morning and night routine [Video]

Whether you lead at home or work, how you start and end your day plays a significant role in how you show up as a leader, a friend, and a partner.
Principal Coach Dan Foster walks you through how to “bookend your day”, highlighting key elements to intentionally include in your morning and night routines to improve your well-being and productivity.

Video Transcript

Hey, friends! Dan Foster here from Building Champions. You know, I just want to start by saying thank you so much for watching our coaching tip videos. Today, I want to talk to you about bookending your day with purposeful routines and the two most important routines for you, whether you’re leading at home or at work, are your morning routine and your daily shutdown.

These two routines play a significant role in how you show up as a leader every single day. So, let’s start with the morning routine. Now here’s the thing. We all have a routine. Whether we’re either starting our day with intentionality or not. Your morning routine needs to fit the rhythms and the season of life that you’re in. But there are some key elements that I think we all have to have.

First, hydrate. Get water into your body as soon as you wake up. Before coffee, before tea — 12 ounces of water, first thing in the morning helps you to breathe better which brings oxygen to your brain and helps you have clarity as you start the day.

Next, movement. Get your body moving. Whether it be a morning walk, stretching, or a full workout, get the blood flowing, the heart rate up, and a good sweat going. Morning movement actually gives you more energy throughout the day.

Third, it’s gratitude. Take time to reflect on what you’re thankful for and what you’re looking forward to in the day and the week ahead.

And finally, monitor your inputs. Remember, if you put garbage in, garbage is going to come out. Instead of grabbing your phone and checking the news and social media, grab a book, spend time putting positive and encouraging thoughts into your brain. Remind yourself each day of your purpose.

All right, if you commit to a morning routine that includes those key elements. I guarantee you that you’re going to see change and improvement in your overall well-being and productivity.

Okay, so that’s the first bookend. Now the second one, your daily shutdown routine. This routine begins in the last 30 to 60 minutes of your day at work. It’s a time for you to stop working and start reflecting and planning for the next day. The key elements of a great daily shutdown include first reflecting on your wins and the lessons learned from the day. What went well? What do you need to keep doing, start doing, or stop doing to be more productive? Next, write down all of your unfinished business that you need to get to in the next day, or by the end of the week. Once you have that list, then list out your top three tasks for tomorrow and the top three people that you want to connect with to really win the day.

As you wrap up the daily shutdown, I encourage you to return to a mindset of gratitude. What are you thankful for today? Who are you thankful for and what are you looking forward to tomorrow?

Okay. Finally, the last element of your daily shutdown is shifting your mindset to the people that you’re about to engage personally when you get done with work. Your family, your friends, your community. Make sure that you’re in the right mindset where you’re leaving work behind so that you can fully engage with them at home.

All right! So those are your two bookends. You’ve got your morning routine and your daily shutdown.

Hey, if you’re enjoying these coaching tips, I really want to encourage you to share them on your social media, but also would you please subscribe to our channel so that you can see these video tips as soon as they come available and share them with your friends. Thanks a lot, have a great day. And I hope that your morning routine and your daily shutdown help you to be more purposeful and intentional in how you lead, love, and serve those around you. Thanks.