Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to not do too much the night before.
Speaker 1: While it is tempting to think that getting as much
Speaker 1: ready as possible the night before is the way to
Speaker 1: have peaceful mornings, I have found that this strategy is
Speaker 1: actually a recipe for feeling like life is no fun
Speaker 1: and not getting enough sleep. Those are downsides to avoid
Speaker 1: no matter what your mornings look like. Every year I
Speaker 1: talked with at least one magazine or website about back
Speaker 1: to school scheduling tips. A usual line of questioning what
Speaker 1: should we do the night before? My answer is usually nothing,
Speaker 1: And mistingly, that answer almost never makes it into the
Speaker 1: article because it goes against a lot of conventional wisdom.
Speaker 1: So let me explain my thinking here. No matter how
Speaker 1: much you get ready the night before, you will still
Speaker 1: have to do something in the morning. Most people don't
Speaker 1: sleep in their work clothes. For instance, if you wear makeup, well,
Speaker 1: you probably don't sleep in your makeup. You are going
Speaker 1: to have to eat breakfast and brush your teeth and
Speaker 1: all that you are going to have to get yourself
Speaker 1: and any other people going with you physically out of
Speaker 1: the house. So when you spend a lot of time
Speaker 1: the night before getting ready, what you have succeeded in
Speaker 1: doing is spreading. You're getting ready over the night and
Speaker 1: the morning. To this often means that it actually takes
Speaker 1: more time. Now, perhaps there are reasons for doing this
Speaker 1: spreading in some cases, but if your goal is to
Speaker 1: save time, this strategy will not serve that goal. Instead,
Speaker 1: for most people, I recommend looking for ways to make
Speaker 1: the mornings easier rather than just getting ready the night before.
Speaker 1: Instead of laying out outfits, have a rotating set of
Speaker 1: outfits that look great on you. You just put the
Speaker 1: next one on that's in the rotation and you're good
Speaker 1: to go. Instead of making kids lunches, have the kids
Speaker 1: buy hot lunch at school. Believe it or not, some
Speaker 1: research in pure review journals has found that it is
Speaker 1: generally healthier than what kids bring from home, and it's
Speaker 1: also almost always cheaper. Instead of setting out breakfast the
Speaker 1: night before, make really streamlined breakfasts. Kids can make their
Speaker 1: own or hard boil a bunch of eggs on Sunday
Speaker 1: while you are cooking dinner and let this become the centerpiece.
Speaker 1: During the week. Paired with a cheese stick or some
Speaker 1: smoked salmon or toast, and some cut up fruit, you'll
Speaker 1: be good to go. Instead of finding kids shoes at
Speaker 1: night and lining them up, have a place where shoes
Speaker 1: go and never let them go anywhere else. That way
Speaker 1: people will be able to grab them on the way
Speaker 1: out the door. The problem with spending time getting ready
Speaker 1: the night before is that it tends to cut into
Speaker 1: leisure time. We put the kids to bed, do our chores,
Speaker 1: get ready for the next day, and then we get
Speaker 1: to our fun. But if the getting ready takes too
Speaker 1: much time, then we don't get to our fun until late,
Speaker 1: and so we stay up later because we still want
Speaker 1: our fun. But the one thing that is guaranteed to
Speaker 1: make a horrible morning is not getting enough sleep. This
Speaker 1: impulse to spend a lot of time getting ready the
Speaker 1: night before turns out to be counterproductive. So instead enjoy
Speaker 1: your use your time at night do something fun. Then
Speaker 1: make your mornings easier by not taking on jobs that
Speaker 1: shouldn't be yours and by making your own getting ready
Speaker 1: as streamlined as possible. It is better to get ready
Speaker 1: once than to get ready twice. Getting ready only once
Speaker 1: saves time, whereas getting ready the night before does not.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod.
Speaker 1: That's B the number four, then Breakfast p O D
Speaker 1: you and also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at iHeartMedia dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled
Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look
Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.