158 | What is Keeping You Up at Night – One Suggestion to Decrease the Thoughts Running Through Your Mind

You weren’t freedom from the long list of things to do that need to be done on a daily basis. And those things that you’re trying not to forget, I have a solution for you that you’re probably not thinking about yet. It’s one change you can make during the days, and it’s truly going to help you reduce the number of thoughts preventing you from falling asleep at night.

 I heard a lot of comments lately comments, like I have so much going on in my mind. I have so many thoughts running through my mind. I cannot fall asleep at night. I’m having trouble falling asleep or I’m thinking about things. And it’s causing me to wake up thinking about the thing is that are on the to-do list.

You have all these things to do. It’s causing you to wake up or to be jolted awake, thinking that you forgot to do something extremely important. I’m also hearing I have to stay [00:02:00] up until two or three o’clock in the morning just to get the thing is Don that needed to be done to make my house a function and to make sure I get all my work done, to make sure that everything is set up for the next day. So you’re staying up super late. And it’s the only time that you feel like you have to do these things and they just have to be done.

So you don’t have any other choice and you’re going through the day exhausted. I am a person who has always needed more sleep than most of my friends and family. I have spent the last few years. Really prioritizing my sleep so that I can get more or I can go to bed a little bit earlier or as early as I possibly can, because I am realizing how important sleep is. If you do the research and you take a deep dive, you will find study after study that shows the importance of sleep and studies that show an organized home, improves your quality of sleep.

It improves the duration of your sleep, how quickly you can fall asleep, all kinds of things. And removing clutter also improves the quality of sleep that you get. That is huge. That right there, for those of you that really struggle with falling asleep or staying asleep should be enough to encourage you to get that clutter out of there so that you can have a restful nice night’s sleep. And that can be more of the norm.

Having a good routines in your home. That is a another huge thing that will help you when you are having these sleep disturbances. Because when you have these good routines in your home, It decreases the amount of decisions that you have to make in one day by thousands. That sounds crazy. But that number is actually true. We make thousands and thousands of decisions every single day.

Be sure you listen to episode that comes out on April 28th, it’s episode 160. I have a guest on that episode where we talk about decision fatigue and [00:04:00] how you can reduce the number of decisions that you make in a day and why that is so helpful and why that’s something that we really need to do. Because especially as moms, we are making decisions for ourselves.

And for the rest of our family. We have thousands of decisions we have to make every single day and good routines decrease that number. Those good routines also means less interruptions to your sleep, less abrupt sleep disturbances that take you quickly from sound asleep, getting a peaceful nights arrests to being wide awake and worrying about something you forgot to do or realizing you really did forget something that is important and it has to be done.

It must be done. So you have to figure out how you’re going to get it done, or maybe you even have to get up. And actually do it. When you implement. Quality intentional routines. Then you have routines that allow you to use the time in your days more efficiently so that you have more margin in your day. Why you want to have more margin is because it allows you to do things that you enjoy. It gives you the time back.

That you were scrambling and constantly on the go and trying to figure things out and exhausted before it helps you get some of that time back so that you have the margin in your day for the things that you enjoy for quality time with the people that we love. And it also helps you find that time for proper resting or sleep.

Now what makes a good routine or a great assistant in your home, a good routine will solve a problem for you. It simplifies the process to get something done. And to get that thing done, to cross the task off the list. With less effort. You want to not have to struggle to achieve these things. You want to get the things done out of habit.

And that means less effort on your part. You have to put some effort in or to create the routine and [00:06:00] make sure that it is intentional and serving your family, but the result is far less effort to accomplish the same task. Routines and the systems are slightly different, but they work together to make everything easier. And you often time.

Tear these words. It’s a system. You need a routine in your home. You hear those things use interchangeably and that’s fine. The goal is to create the solution with the systems and routines. And the way we go about doing things and create that solution intentionally you have to be intentional to put an end to the current issue. That current problem.

By changing the way you are currently doing something. Because what you’re doing now is not working. If you feel the struggle, you feel the stress, you feel the overwhelm, you feel burned out. We have to make a change because we have to take the thing that is broken and it’s not serving you and it’s not working.

And come up with the solution. Where is the routine that is going to give you the solution to this problem? Sometime it’s exceptionally simple, like a tiny little change that will seriously change the course of an entire day and remove the overwhelm. And a lot of that Russia. Josh go, go, go type of thing.

By just changing the time that you do a daily task. Making the lunch the night before, instead of in the morning would be a great example of that. Putting a load of laundry in. Each day, having the laundry go each day, instead of trying to do six, seven loads in a weekend and squeezing it altogether, little changes really do make a big difference. Sounds a little bit cliche, but you could do something small and you can get a big result from that.

The goal is for the intentionally created system. Or that intentionally created routine. You want those things to become a habit? [00:08:00] You want the routine to become a habit because when something is being done out of habit, it’s not something you think about. It’s something that you simply do because it’s a habit. And this goes for all habits of people, of all ages is when something is a habit it’s not taking any of your mental energy. You don’t have to make decisions because it’s just the way that we do things.

These routines that turn into habit, reduce the decision fatigue, and they put less stress on you throughout. The day. It helps to reduce some of that stress throughout the day.

Good routines and system simplify daily tasks. They simplify the chores. And the thing is you put on the to-do list when they are created intentionally. They go about that. I keep using the word intentional because it’s imperative. You can’t just fight a good routine on a Google search and think this is what I want to do. This will be perfect for my family. There’s probably a lot of good ideas in that, but you have to customize it for the needs of your family, the needs that you currently have.

These good routines and systems are the key to organization that will truly function for your whole and truly make life easier for your family. If you’re struggling with getting everything done, if you feel overwhelmed often, or you find yourself stressed out and irritated by a lot of the things that are happening, the things that are going on.

Or the things that are not happening, the things that are not getting done in your home. Intentional routines will be a game changer to solving. A lot of the issues that are currently happening because they will simplify everything and you will get more done in less time. Did you hear that you will get more done in the less time when you have these intentional routines set up that are serving your family?

My recommendation is to have solid routines throughout the day. The routines check things off the list without you thinking about it. And they set you up to be [00:10:00] successful in the upcoming hours. The routines that are extremely helpful, that I talk about a lot that I think that most homeless should have in some capacity or another.

Are the first one would be some type of weekly refresh and restock. You want that to set you up for the successful week ahead? To be prepared for what is coming. You can hear all about how I do that. Weekly RNR. I call it. You can hear that in episode 1 46. So go listen to episode 1 46. To hear how the weekly refresh and restock is done.

At one time or sometimes in two sessions over, usually over the weekend. But again, depending on your schedule, Figure out what it works for. You, you get a bunch done to set yourself up for success for the following week and you get your whole family on the same page, so they know what to expect. So that’s on 1 46 episode, 1 46. You can also download the free refresh and restock template. If you want to have a checklist and you want to see what I have on my checklist for that that’s available in the podcast description.

Another routine that I think is significantly important is the morning routine and of the nightly routine. So there’s two morning routines and nightly routines are essential for the function of the day-to-day activities. Episode 130 will help you with that one and episode 72. Is one that you have to listen to. I know I’m throwing out a lot of episodes.

That you should make sure that you listen to, but if you are struggling and you are feeling like. I’m overwhelmed. I struggle with falling asleep or staying asleep. I feel stressed out throughout the day. I’m irritated. I feel like I am about to burst. There’s too much stuff in my house. It feels in a way claustrophobic. Like it’s all coming in on me. Let’s help you get some systems and routines in place to [00:12:00] start simplifying everything.

Of course you need the three pieces, the decluttering, the organization, and the good routines. To truly simplify your home. But a lot of the resources you need are in these podcast episodes. Episode 72, it really gets into how to make daily tasks. It has the tangible information you need to bake daily tasks and chores easier when the routines and the systems are customized to the needs of your family. So finish this.

So, and go listen to episode 72. For the tactical information on the systems and routines. Episode 134 more helpful information for morning, night routines kind of thing. Episode 146 is going to help you with a weekly routine. And these things do not take up a lot of time. You will spend more time figuring out what needs to go into each routine for each part of the day. Then you will be doing when you are executing these routines.

Sometimes. , evening routine is a five or 10 minute thing you do. you are compressing all of these things that you were normally trying to do randomly over a few hours. All of a sudden you’re getting them done in five to 10 minutes total. It doesn’t mean. That you have to do them one right after the other, only in this 10 minute time block.

But you’re being intentional about when they’re getting done instead of scrambling to do them at any moment that you happen to think about them. So those are the episode 72, 1 31 46. If you want the refresh and restock. Principal. It’s a PDF download. It’s completely free. You can get that in the podcast description.

But you want to set yourself up to make small changes, one a new routine at a time. You don’t want to overwhelm yourself and try to implement all of these new routines. We want to help you get a handle on the things that will reduce stress and allow you to get [00:14:00] more done in less time. So making small changes and setting up one new routine at a time, that’s the best way to implement a new system or a new routine.

And stick to it for a minimum of 14 days. If you can get through a month. Take 30 days before adding a new one. If it’s a super short routine, not that big of an adjustment than a shorter time for miss vine, but it takes 30 days of doing something over and over again of that repetitive behavior to make it a habit. And that’s what you’re going for. So 14 to 30 days.

Is what you need when you start implementing that new routine before you add a new one. You want to make sure the routine is functioning and serving your family? You want to make sure it’s working before you add that next routine? Now don’t forget to sign up for the practical purging projects, that 10 a day challenge that I created so that you can get 10 different areas in your home decluttered in just 10 days. And that is going to help you to removing the clutter is another thing.

That helps you in. Improve your sleep and it helps you reduce stress. So let’s tackle some of these things. Start removing the clutter with these 10 minute projects, listen to the podcast episodes. So you feel better and you have more answers about creating intentional routines and get going on setting one of those new routines up that will help you serve your family.

So that you guys can all get more done, check more off the to-do list, be more efficient, so you have more time to enjoy each other and do fun things and go on adventures and have quality time together. Instead of always a feeling of harassed. The link for the free resources, the weekly refresh and restock are in the podcast episode of the practical purging project, 10 day challenge. That’s also in the podcast description.

Click on those. Download the free resources for you. And then go [00:16:00] check out episode 72, 1 31 46. And be sure to listen on the 28th to episode 160, where you’ll get more ideas on how to reduce some of that decision fatigue. Thank you so much for listening. Let me put you back here and a couple of days for the next episode of the intentional adit podcast