AM & PM Bookends: How to Create Great Days

Your mornings and evenings supports your days

It’s usually very difficult to control what shows up in the middle of your workday. But you can almost always control how your days start and end.

In his book, The Compound Effect, Darren Hardy refers to these start- and endpoints as AM and PM bookends.

At the library, bookends are placed at either end of a row of books to keep them upright. And in our lives, we can use this as a metaphor to keep our daily routines in place.

So, with that in mind, what would your ideal bookends look like? How can you start and end your days so the messy middle gets easier to handle?

A great day starts the night before, so let’s begin with the PM bookend. Here are some examples of what to include:

• A shutdown ritual to end your workday.

• Macro movements like weight lifting, running or taking a walk.

• Eating a healthy dinner to re-energize for tomorrow.

• Turning off all electronics to let your brain cool down.

• A bedtime alarm to remind you when it’s time to go to bed.

When you wake up the next day, it’s time for your AM bookend. Here are some examples of what that might look like:

• Do 10 minutes of mindfulness meditation.

• Read and reflect on today’s One Minute Wisdom. ;)

• Mini movements like stretching and flexibility exercises.

• A quick review of the workday ahead.

• Two hours of deep work on your most important task.

Obviously, you’ll need to design your mornings and evenings to fit and support your unique circumstances. But, hopefully, these examples will spark some ideas to get you started.

What will your AM and PM bookends look like?