Whether you are a stay-at-home Mom or a CEO of a large company, one important habit to get into is taking time at the end of each day to plan and prepare for the next.

For stay-at-home Moms this might mean doing (and getting the family’s help with) the following things at the end of each day:

Picking up things left out from the day (have kids help: set a timer and call it the “10 minute tidy”).

Making lunches.

Laying out kid’s clothes.

Packing sports/activity bags and backpacks (don’t forget school forms that are due, library books if tomorrow is library day, equipment and snack for a sport if you’ll be dashing off right after school, etc.).

Reviewing the family calendar and determining who will be home for dinner, who will drive the kids to practice, who will pick up dry cleaning, etc.

Planning your menu (what will you make for breakfast and dinner).  Use our Meal Planning Made Easy system if you get stuck.

For those of you in business, it would mean doing the following things each evening before you head home from the office:

De-clutter your desk.  Put away supplies, file papers, and toss any garbage.

Take one last look at your email inbox.  Respond to any urgent emails and delete spam and junk mail. Move actionable email that you’ll deal with later, as well as email that you want to keep as “reference” into appropriate folders and out of your inbox.

Listen to voicemails and take action on those that need immediate action.  Delete all those that you have already listened to and acted on.

Check to make sure you have all supplies you need.  Does your printer have paper in it?  Do you have plenty of staples, paper clips, evelopes, etc.?  If not, make a shopping list or a list to get from the supply room.

Review your calendar.  What appointments/meetings do you have scheduled? Will you be coming into the office first thing in the morning or heading directly from home to an off-site meeting? Do you need to bring any files or papers wtih you? Do you need directions?

Determine what your highest priority for the next day is. What one thing, if you got it done the next day, would make the biggest impact in your job or for your business? Identify what that is and make sure it is in the front of your “to do” file, or top on your list. With a clear desk to return to in the morning, you’ll be ready to attack that very task and accomplish something big in your day.

These are just a few ideas.  If you are intersested in learning more ideas on how to plan and prep for the next day, please contact us.  We would love to hear more about your current situation and see how best we can be a resource for you!