This video is about a good evening routine for success inspired by the great Stoic philosopher and Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD)
If you sometimes feel like your are just wasting your time in the evenings, why not try this? It could quickly turn out to be the best decision ever.
Evening or Morning Routines
Have you read and watched youtube videos about interesting morning routines and how amazing they can be for success in life? Perhaps you have tried a few of them, but then after a few days you fell of the train and stopped doing them? …
…Well, sure, morning routines CAN be absolutely amazing for self development and success, but you know what. For some people an evening routine can work just as well…and even better.
So today we are going to take a look at 45 minute evening routine consisting of FIVE STEPS that might be just what you need to propel you forward on your journey.
Marcus Aurelius Meditations Evening Routine
This evening routine is inspired by the great Marcus Aurelius. Now, Marcus Aurelius was one of the most respected emperors in Roman history Known for his philosophical interests.
He lived between the year 121-180 and he was an extremely wise man and if there is one thing I have learned so far in life it is that when it comes to super smart people most of us would do best turning our transmitter off and our receiver on, whenever we come across something they produced and really listen carefully what those people have to say.
That doesn’t necessarily mean they are always right, because no one is perfect, but we still need to listen. His personal philosophical writings, now commonly known as Meditations, are a significant source of the modern understanding of ancient Stoic philosophy….
…they have been praised by fellow writers, philosophers, and monarchs – as well as by poets and politicians – centuries after his death.
Before we start I just have to say that this is not his exact “evening routine” as I have put my own little twist on it, but it is indeed inspired by his ideas and writings. I just put it together so that it fits better into my own, modern life and I also added a few small things to this evening routine.
Ok let’s get to it…
Step #1 Operation Blackout
I call it operation blackout and that simply means tha 2 hours before bedtime you stop using the internet. No more social media and no more smartphones and no supernormal stimuli like that.
Now, needless to say, this one is not something that the great Aurelius had to do, and I realize I might lose some of you here already, but hey, this your life we are talking about here and how to improve it…
…and this is a necessary step in order to make the following steps work, it has amazing benefits and come on now guys, it really isn’t that hard if you set your mind to it.
Those of you how have seen all of my videos know how healthy it is to cut out supernormal stimuli, like the internet for a while, and if you haven’t It’s called “reset your brain with a technology fast”, but read this article first and then go and take a look at that one.
Step #2 Do some light physical exercise
(15 minutes)
Even though Marcus Aurelius lived over thousands years ago he understood how beneficial physical exercise if for not only the body, but the brain, as well. It can be any form of exercise but I would recommend that you keep it light because it’s so close to bedtime.
If you go really intense your body will still be raped up when it’s time for sleep and that’s not good. Personally I take a really slow jog for fifteen minutes or brisk walk or sometimes I lift some light weights or do some push ups. It doesn’t matter if you already exercised earlier that day because, asI said, this is meant to be very light so, if you did, it will only serve as a recovery workout.
Nowadays every single one of us knows how beneficial exercises is, so I’m not going to talk about that here except for one and that is Increased blood flow to the brain because this will lead me to step two which is
Step #3 Meditate (10 minutes)
It’s funny how many studies are coming out today on of super powerful and incredible meditation is for success. And then somehow, almost 2000 years ago Marcus Aurelius knew this.
Now after having done 15 minutes of exercise the blood flow in your brain is increased and this will be a perfect time to meditate. So sit down, focus on your breath and just observe your thoughts for 10 minutes every night.
Now having done the exercise and the meditation our brain is really primed and in excellent shape for the next, important step.
Step #4 Review your day (five minutes)
Marcus Aurelius was a big believer in reviewing his day. How many people do you know that actually do this. Well, probably not that many because most people would not even thing about something like this. But why not, it is a phenomenal idea.
We should sit down and think about what happened during the day we just lived. What good things did you do and what could you have done better. Did you act in line with your values the whole day? At first this might sound trivial, but think about it.
If you were to do this every single evening. What impact do you think it would have on your subconscious mind? You would literally dile it in and condition it for optimal performance, every single night. This will result in better performances from you in the future….
…and you keep doing this reviewing of the day every single night so it just keep getting better and better. It’s like you are programming a supercomputer, ant that’s actually what it is so that you will automatically start making much better choices during the days.
Just five minutes every evening and you do this in your head and not on paper…which lead us to the next step.
Step #5 Journaling (15 minutes)
And here, obviously you are going to write and the journaling will be in three parts.
A) take a couple of minutes writing down things that you are grateful for in your life right now. And I know I know, there’s always a few negative people saying “I don’t have anything to be grateful for” …eh…ok 🙂 well, for you let’s put it this way “if you wanted to be grateful for something in you life right now, what could that be”
Just spend a few minutes here and now your brain could not be in a better state for the following part.
B) write down your goals. It does not matter if you write down the exact same goal every single night because it’s the repetition that is important. It could be one big goal you have in your life or several goals but don’t make it any more than 3 goals.
Personally I write down one single goal, the same one every night, that I want to have achieved by the end June 2020. Now, when you write down the goal you should also try to vividly imagine what you will feel like when you achieve that goal. See yourself already having it. See it as it were already done.
This will program your subconscious mind in a way you would not believe, if you do it every single night, and it will start doing everything it can to help you achieve that goal. So spend about 5 minutes on Part B
C) And lastly, write down the following days todo list. And while you write your list of tasks you should ask yourself the question, what small steps can I take tomorrow to bring me just a little bit closer to my goals, and then you write down your to do list according to that.
And that’s it. This evening routine will only take about 45 minutes to do and I will personally do it about 2-3 hours before bedtime. Don’t overthink the timelines, they are just rough guidelines, just do it!
Thank you for reading and always remember that you are a warrior in your own life and if you keep walking the warriors journey good things WILL come to you.