Balancing work obligations with meaningful family time is an important part of building a successful evening routine.An evening routine starts with family time. Tackle some to-do’s later on from your dedicated workspace. Leave some time for unstructured brainstorming or reflection too.

Family, Reflection and Email

Take steps to make it easier to sleep well.<ul><li>Avoid caffeine, alcohol, or other drugs for several hours before bed</li><li>Set a regular bedtime</li><li>Drink some warm milk or herbal tea, or have a light snack</li><li>Try a screen-free activity like meditation or reading</li><li>Eliminate as much noise from your bedroom as possible</li><li>Keep your bedroom dark</li><li>Don’t linger too long in bed. It’s better to do your lounging on the couch and head for bed only when it’s time to sleep.</li></ul>

Practice Good Sleep Hygiene

Surviving on a glorified power nap has more to do with genes than motivation. An estimated 5% of the population only needs a few hours to feel refreshed thanks to a rare genetic mutation. Most people need seven to nine hours a night.

To Sleep Or Not To Sleep

Night owls may find that their peak hours happen well after most people’s work day is done.Try spending some time on creative work every night for a week or two. If the muse seems to appear more often, you may have found a shortcut to creative inspiration.

Get Creative

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<img src="https://blog.trello.com/hs-fs/hubfs/2017-05-25_Evening-Routines_01_cover_r01.png?width=647&amp;name=2017-05-25_Evening-Routines_01_cover_r01.png"><a href="https://blog.trello.com/best-productive-morning-routines">Morning routine tips from successful entrepreneurs</a> offer an inside look at how top performers make the most of their entire day. Yet, evening rituals are just as important as their A.M. counterparts for being productive from start to finish, day in and day out. 
Whether you're creating a more serene sleep environment or getting a head start on the next day, your nightly routine can be your best strategy to wake up feeling productive the next morning. 
Get a head start on tomorrow by tapping into nightly rituals these CEOs, bestselling writers, and productivity gurus swear by to feel more refreshed and productive from dawn 'til dusk. 
<h2>Family, Reflection, And The Dreaded Email Inbox</h2>
<img src="https://blog.trello.com/hs-fs/hubfs/2017-05-25_Evening-Routines_02_card_r01.png?width=647&amp;name=2017-05-25_Evening-Routines_02_card_r01.png"> 
Kara Goldin, CEO of Hint Water, makes family time a priority first. " When I get home, my typical evening routine starts with my family. I put the laptop away and spend time with my kids, talk about their day, learn about what they're doing in school, their friends, etc. Once they get ready to start their homework, I get started on mine-catching up on emails," she told me via (of course) email interview. 
Aiming to go from 1,000 daily emails to inbox zero has its perks, she wrote. "Email is where most of my communication happens. So as I start catching up on emails, I can figure out what the next day, or few days, will look like." 
If you've read Lean In, this routine likely sounds familiar. Sheryl Sandberg's commitment to leaving the office at 5:30 for family dinnertime pushes back against Silicon Valley workaholic culture. She finishes work later in the evening, and turns her phone off before bed to minimize distractions. 
How you can do it: Flexible hours and <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/184649/telecommuting-work-climbs.aspx">telecommuting </a> options are on the rise. Talk to your supervisor about strategies to balance family responsibilities with work projects. At home, <a href="https://blog.trello.com/remote-work-guide-for-parents">set aside a dedicated workspace </a> so your family knows when you're on the clock. Silence your phone during family time so you're not tempted to jump at <a href="https://blog.trello.com/phone-notifications-ruin-productivity">each notification </a>. 
<h2>Practice Good Sleep Hygiene</h2>
<img src="https://blog.trello.com/hs-fs/hubfs/2017-05-25_Evening-Routines_03_card_r01.png?width=647&amp;name=2017-05-25_Evening-Routines_03_card_r01.png"> 
<a href="https://www.sleepassociation.org/patients-general-public/inadequate-sleep-hygiene/">Sleep hygiene </a> doesn't refer to washing your sheets and pillowcases (although that's not a bad idea). It's about taking steps to make it easier to sleep well. Without some cues that it's time to wind down, you may have trouble quieting your racing mind once you're in bed. For company leaders, remote workers, and others who often take work home, it's especially important to create boundaries between work time and relaxation. 
There's no hard and fast routine that works best. Experiment until you find the right sleep hygiene methods for you. Here are some good practices to try: 
<ul>
	<li>Avoid caffeine, alcohol, or other drugs for several hours before bed </li>
	<li>Set a regular bedtime </li>
	<li>Drink some warm milk or herbal tea, or have a light snack </li>
	<li>Try a screen-free activity like meditation or reading </li>
	<li>Eliminate as much noise from your bedroom as possible </li>
	<li>Keep your bedroom dark (the heavy fabric of blackout curtains can minimize light and muffle some outside sounds for a two-in-one fix) </li>
	<li>Don't linger too long in bed. It's better to do your lounging on the couch and head for bed only when it's time to sleep. That means avoiding the snooze button the next morning, too. </li>
</ul>
<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Edward_Stepanski/publication/10607092_Use_of_sleep_hygiene_in_the_treatment_of_insomnia/links/560306c408ae596d2591c4a4.pdf">Research </a>suggests that adjusting your sleep hygiene is one way to treat insomnia. Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek , agrees. A longtime insomniac, Ferris now follows a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLYqhezACpc">diligent routine </a> for the hour before he goes to sleep. He swears by tea with apple cider vinegar and honey, a chapter or two of a book, and a soak in the bath. 
What he selects to read is important, as he explains in his video, "I'm not going to read something like a nonfiction business book that's going to keep my problem-solving apparatus in sixth gear. That's not helpful, I need to turn that off. So I'll read fiction." 
<h2>To Sleep Or Not To Sleep?</h2>
<img src="https://blog.trello.com/hs-fs/hubfs/2017-05-25_Evening-Routines_04_card_r01.png?width=647&amp;name=2017-05-25_Evening-Routines_04_card_r01.png"> 
<h2>...Or Get Creative</h2>
<img src="https://blog.trello.com/hs-fs/hubfs/2017-05-25_Evening-Routines_05_card_r01.png?width=647&amp;name=2017-05-25_Evening-Routines_05_card_r01.png"> 
If you're up anyway, you might as well make good use of the time, right? Night owls may find that their peak hours happen well after most people's work day is done. 
Fewer artists and writers are night owls than you might expect, but there are some notable exceptions. <a href="https://podio.com/site/creative-routines">Pablo Picasso, </a> one of the most prolific painters of all time, preferred to work at night. Neil Gaiman, whose writing has won multiple Hugo, Locus, and Nebula awards, was a notorious night owl in the <a href="https://www.timeout.com/london/books/neil-gaiman-how-i-write">early years of his career. </a> He wrote the majority of his Sandman graphic novel series between 8:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. 
How you can do it: Night hours might inspire you to have more confidence in your creative abilities, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1476-8070.2008.00575.x/abstract">one study </a> found. Art students, more so than management students, rated themselves as increasingly creative after 10 PM. Try spending some time on creative work every night for a week or two. If the muse seems to appear more often, you may have found a shortcut to creative inspiration. 
A strong evening routine doesn't just set you up for better sleep or help you take advantage of creative working hours-it sets the tone for the next day, so you'll feel more productive from the moment your alarm goes off in the morning. 
Are you an early bird or a night owl? Where do you draw the boundaries between work and relaxation in your evenings? Next: <a href="https://blog.trello.com/best-productive-morning-routines">The 5 Productive Morning Routines Of Highly Effective People</a>
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Morning routine tips from successful entrepreneurs offer an inside look at how top performers make the most of their entire day. Yet, evening rituals are just as important as their A.M. counterparts for being productive from start to finish, day in and day out.

Productive Nightly Routines To Borrow From Remarkably Successful People

Family, Reflection and Email

Practice Good Sleep Hygiene

To Sleep Or Not To Sleep

Get Creative

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