> Set “key objectives” before bed. I decide what I want to do BEFORE I go to sleep. This saves time in the morning when I want to jump right into doing focused work.
Going to sleep is my disconnect from the world. I do my best to let go of all worries or thoughts and embrace what an active brain really needs: shutting down for a while.
If you go to sleep and know you have tasks the next day, you need to let go of them somehow. One way is to make those decisions now, have a plan or a list of things that will be done tomorrow (even if it's just basic). For instance, look at the calendar and see that you have an 8am appointment the next day. Better to know before going to bed than to realize it as you're halfway asleep and suddenly jolted awake by the memory.
I wonder if aggregating your decisions during a planning session draws less from your daily will power budget than if you made those same decisions throughout the day. Maybe that is a reason to do a planning session closer to bedtime, assuming sleep acts as a reset.
On the other hand, I have a strong morning routine that is largely driven from previous night preparation, and it doesn't bother my ability to sleep at all doing some minor decision-centric preparations right before bed.