In Jewish tradition, each day begins at dusk. Actually, along with the scheduling of our seven day week, this goes all the way back to the first chapter of the Bible where it says, “So the evening and the morning were the first day.”
This is especially important when it comes to the Jewish Sabbath (or Shabbat). The Sabbath begins on what we call Friday evening and ends at dusk on Saturday.
But why bring this up, right? Why care?
Well, because in my quest to create the perfect day, I’ve noticed more and more that it actually begins the night before. Part of the perfect day involves preparation.
- If you’re going to wake up early, you better get to sleep at a decent time the night before.
- If you’re going to complete a high-value task, you better figure out what that task is going to be the night before.
- If you’re going to get any rest, you better block out the time the night before.
Now, you don’t have to. You can certainly force all this – and more – to happen even if you don’t prepare the night before. But for me, I know that’s not the best choice.
Because then it feels forced. Because then it’s tough to find flow. And because then it’s not really the perfect day.
Because according to Jewish tradition and the Bible and now me (Ha!), the prefect day begins the night before.
