The Mel Robbins Podcast
Get Back on Track: 5 Evening Habits to Wake Up Focused, Recharged, and in Control
Mon, 10 Mar 2025
In today’s episode, you’ll learn the evening routine that has changed Mel’s life. Right now, you most likely stay up too late, scrolling on your phone, flipping through channels, or doing absolutely nothing – and end up going to bed later than you want to. You wake up tired, feeling like you’re behind the ball on the day, and start the day stressed. That changes now. In this episode, Mel breaks down exactly why you’re staying up too late, even though you know better. It’s not your fault. There’s real science behind it, and once you understand what’s happening, you can take back control. You’ll also learn the 5 easy steps you can take right after you finish listening that will help you close out each day, sleep better, and set you up to feel better tomorrow. This episode is packed with tactical advice and the 5 science-backed components of the best nighttime routine.If you’ve ever said, “I need to stop staying up so late,” but keep falling into the same trap, this episode is a must-listen. Hit play now, embrace your new evening routine, and wake up feeling like you again. For more resources, click here for the podcast episode page. If you enjoyed this episode, your next listen should be: How to Find Your Purpose & Design the Life You WantConnect with Mel: Get Mel’s #1 bestselling book, The Let Them TheoryWatch the episodes on YouTubeFollow Mel on Instagram The Mel Robbins Podcast InstagramMel's TikTok Sign up for Mel’s personal letter Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes ad-freeDisclaimer
Chapter 1: What is revenge bedtime procrastination and why does it happen?
Hey, it's your friend Mel, and welcome to the Mel Robbins Podcast. So lately I've been struggling with this issue, and maybe you can relate to this. Here's what's going on. See, by the time I get to the evening, I am dying to get a good night's sleep. And yet I'm not getting in bed. You know what I'm doing?
I am finding myself spending more time than ever just scrolling through my phone, flipping through the channels. And the next thing you know, I've stayed up three hours later than I wanted to. Turns out it has a name. Maybe you've even heard of it. It's called revenge bedtime procrastination.
It's this phenomenon where you want to get a good night's sleep, but then you make a decision to get less sleep in order to regain personal time. But you're doing nothing with the time. And the experts are saying this is an epidemic. that you and I are choosing to scroll and we're choosing to stay up later than we want to, doing nothing. And here's the thing, I know better, you know better.
I mean, aren't you so mad at yourself when all of a sudden you look up and it's 12.37 and you're like, why am I still awake? And then of course, you wanna know the result of this? You get less sleep, you can't focus, you're exhausted, you're dragging yourself through the next day. And that's why I wanted to talk to you about this today. because you and I need to reclaim our evenings.
Now, I just realized, oh boy, this revenge bedtime procrastination thing has crept up on me, which means it's time to go back to my simple five-step evening routine for how I fight this. These five steps are just how I reclaim my evenings. And by the way, there's a lot of science as to why you're gonna wanna try this five-step routine too.
I'm even gonna walk you through what the medical experts are saying, that there are four symptoms that are a telltale indication that you're struggling with decision fatigue and it's probably ruining your evenings. You're staying up way later than you want to as a result. It's not your fault. And today we're gonna address it because this five-step evening routine never fails me.
whenever I feel exhausted, overwhelmed, or weary, and boy, have I felt that recently, you need to go back to the basics because it's time to end the bedtime procrastination and take your evenings and your sanity back. Hey, it's Mel. And before we jump into this awesome episode, I want to invite you to stick all the way until the end.
I've got a special segment that's all about stepping out of the day-to-day routine of your life that can get boring. You're going to learn how shaking things up in even the littlest ways can boost your mood, bring excitement back to your relationships, and make life feel fun again. And you deserve that.
And I also want to thank our sponsor, Celebrity Cruises, because I've got some incredible ways to help you shake things up and you're going to love it. So stay tuned. Hey, it's your friend Mel. Welcome to the Mel Robbins Podcast. I am so excited that you're here. First of all, it's always such an honor to spend time with you, to be together.
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Chapter 2: Why do we experience decision fatigue?
It's almost like looking at trailers online on Amazon Prime or on Netflix or Hulu or whatever it is that you like to watch online. That looking at trailers is the new way to doom scroll on social media, only you're doing it on TV. I know you're laughing because you do it.
Or do you do that thing where my husband has this notes app and he has been keeping track of movie recommendations from people for literally like four years. I guarantee you every other night he pulls it out as I'm flipping through trailers and he's like, well, let's take a look at the list. And we have read through the list 55,000 times and there is nothing on the list that I want to watch.
And now I know why. Because one of the symptoms of decision fatigue after a very long day, which you experience and I experience, is indecision. I can't decide what I want to watch because I have no freaking brain power left to make a decision. And this brings me to the fact that you and I are losing control of our evenings because of this decision fatigue.
And I want to take a giant highlighter and highlight it because if you don't know what you're up against, it will continue to win. And so understanding and giving yourself credit that your days are long. You got a lot on your plate. You are doing so much. You're doing a great job. You are pouring into everybody else.
You are doing your best in what feels at times like an impossible workload and an overwhelming world. And then you come home and you want to know what? Holy cow. I don't blame you. You've made enough decisions. Where's the reward? Here's the problem. And this has been a problem for me for several weeks now, is that it's understandable to feel exhausted at the end of the day.
And you deserve a pat on the back. And you should be saying to yourself, I did a great job today. I did my best. I showed up. And I want to say that in case you're not saying it to yourself. But when you reach this point where you have decision fatigue and medically speaking, you're like, I'm up against avoidance and indecision and impulsivity and procrastination. You know what that sounds like?
That sounds like a recipe for disaster because here you've been focused all day long. You've been making the best decisions that you can. And now, now when you've got an evening all to yourself, now impulsivity, procrastination and indecision takes over and you screw yourself over. That's what I've been doing. See, this is what revenge bedtime procrastination is.
It's this form of procrastination that hits because you're exhausted by your day. You've just given everything that you had to give to everybody else and everything else. And now at a moment in time where you deserve rest, where you deserve to put yourself first, where you deserve to turn back toward yourself and make yourself a priority.
Now, at this moment where you and I just can't even think about another thing, this is where we procrastinate. Why are we doing this? I'll tell you why. This is crazy. You're just trying to regain some personal time. I mean, it kind of makes sense, right? Like that's why you collapse on the couch. That's why I do it.
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Chapter 3: How can I reclaim my evenings?
It makes me feel like I got stuff that I need to do that I should have done yesterday that's now sitting here staring at me right in the face first thing in the morning. And so when I just do step two, and again, this is kind of that thing where You got like 15 minutes before it's your bedtime and now it's time to just clean up today's mess so you can start tomorrow fresh.
What does that look like? It takes five minutes. Like I'm not talking about doing a deep clean. I'm talking about just cleaning up the mess. Why? So when you wake up tomorrow, it's fresh, you're calm, you're in control. You got nothing you got to do, but just step into the day. And so here's what I do. It takes less than five minutes. And what I love about this is I do this on autopilot.
Like, so I've worked a full day. I don't want to do anything. I've made dinner. I've fed the dogs. I've done a little laundry. I've collapsed on the couch. Maybe I've clicked through channels. Maybe I've scrolled a little bit. All of a sudden, I'm like, oh my gosh, it's getting close to my bedtime. Time to clean up today's mess.
So I first walk through the kitchen and I get everything out of the sink. I literally load the dishwasher. I wash out the pots. I clear off the counters. If the trash is full, I take out the trash and walk it into the garage.
If there's things that are not where they belong, like somebody has hung their jacket on the chairs around the island, I pick up the jacket, I walk it and put it on the hook. I plug in my laptop. If I've got things that I need to remember for work, I stack them in a little pile and I put them on the countertop. That's all that I'm talking about. That's it.
For you, it might mean that pile of clothes that are in the corner of the bedroom, put them in a laundry basket instead of letting them lay there. You know, the other night I got home from a trip and I'd opened up my suitcase, but I hadn't unpacked it. Do you know what clean up today's mess meant? It didn't mean unpack everything and start laundry.
I literally folded my suitcase back up and stuck it in my closet. Clean up the mess. Because when I wake up in the morning, the first thing that I see is not the open suitcase and something that I needed to do that I should have done yesterday.
And there's something really incredible that happens when you just have no energy and you're starting to wind down and you just kind of make a pass like a Zamboni through the kitchen and just kind of clear off the counters, you hang up the coats and you get everything out of the sink. And why does this work?
Multiple studies show that living in a messy environment, it actually raises your stress level because you see things that aren't done. And when you wake up to yesterday's mess, it drains all of your energy for today before you even get into your day. And so the first decisions that you're making in the morning are, should I do the dishes that I left for last night? Should I hang up the cut?
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