Ready to Slay the Week? Here Are 4 Tips

Self Improvement

We’ve all been there – it’s Sunday night, the weekend is coming to an end, and it suddenly hits you “TOMORROW IS MONDAY!” – that feeling of unease and worry is capable of ruining an entire weekend and sets a negative tone for the entire week ahead.

Below are tips that work really well for me, or as I like to call them “the 4 Ps”. Let me take you through them one by one to make sure you are off to a smooth start of the week!

1. Plan Your Week

I cannot stress enough on how important planning is in order to have an “aerial view” of what the coming days are going to look like. Going through the week “day-to-day” can make you feel overwhelmed and put things out of control pretty fast. In order to avoid this, I would like to create a schedule – in fact, three separate schedules (check the snapshot below as an example):

  1. The Personal Schedule: This will have all your appointments, commitments, special occasions…It can include things like your gym classes, doctors’ appointments, birthday celebration, kids’ activities, etc.
  2. The Work Schedule: This will have things like meetings, pending tasks, upcoming deadlines, and the list goes on.
  3. The Home Schedule: This will have all the house chores divided across the week, cooking times, any scheduled maintenance, and so on.

Once you have written everything down, make sure no tasks are overlapping and you are allocating a reasonable amount of time for each task, and once you have it all outlined, ask yourself if these are all doable. “Can I do this all by myself, or will I need assistance with getting some things done? Perhaps I need to completely cancel some stuff out?”

We are consistently trying to do everything and be everywhere, which can be very draining and makes us feel like we are not accomplishing enough. This tip will put you in control – it will help you avoid multi-tasking (a counterproductive habit we all seem to have), while simultaneously focusing on your priorities without over-exerting yourself. So plan plan plan away!

TimePersonalWorkHome
6:00 AM
7:00 AM
8:00 AM
9:00 AM
10:00 AM
11:00 AM
12:00 PM
1:00 PM
2:00 PM
3:00 PM
4:00 PM
5:00 PM
6:00 PM
7:00 PM
8:00 PM
9:00 PM
10:00 PM
11:00 PM

2. Prepare your Meals

Cooking is one of the biggest hassles throughout the week, especially when you don’t know what to cook and do not have any ingredients on hand. Take some time during the weekend to write down a list of all the meals you intend to cook during the week and break it down to all the necessary ingredients you need for them. Head to your favorite shop, buy your ingredients, and start with some “rough preparations”. Put your groceries in their designated places, wash your fruits and veggies, prepare any sauces/dressings and snacks. This way, all the ingredients you need for your meals will be ready when you need them, and having everything pre-washed or even pre-cut will make cooking seamless throughout the week.  

MealIngredients
Spaghetti PomodoroSpaghetti pasta
Tomato
Garlic
Olive oil
Basil
Parmesan cheese
Salt & Pepper

3. Practice Positivity

No matter how hard you are trying to keep it all together, it will be very difficult to embrace a new start of the week without the right mindset. You need to sit with yourself and ask some important questions “Why am I worried about tomorrow? Why do I dread Mondays? What is happening next week that is making me anxious?” Once you identify the reasons behind Sunday blues, address every reason in the mindset of “How can I make this better? What changes should I make to improve this?” And again, write down all the things that can help make these concerns easier on you.

Lastly, take a deep breath and affirm to yourself that everything will turn out great and you are capable of leading the week with confidence.

Let’s take an example – I am having Sunday blues:

  1. Reason: I have an important meeting at work tomorrow.
  2. How to make it better: I will be thoroughly prepared, I will practice my presentation beforehand, I will brainstorm questions that I might be asked during the meeting and prepare to answer them confidently.
  3. Affirmation: I am knowledgeable about my field of work, and I am capable of performing well in my job. I am sure I will do great tomorrow!

Training yourself to think this way will give you the power and control to handle your concerns with ease.

4. Pause and Enjoy

You must have heard this a lot before: Live in the moment! Your weekend is still not over yet; savor it, enjoy it, make the most of every moment. Spend your weekends doing things you love and taking care of yourself – whether it’s an outdoor activity, a pottery class, a mani-pedi, lunch with the family, or even a simple movie night in. Have your mental and physical rest, and your fair share of happy moments during the weekend. This way, when the clock hits 12 on Sunday night, you will reflect on all the joyful memories you made during the past two days, and feel recharged for the week ahead.

You may feel like these four steps are difficult to commit to at first, but once you do them consistently, you will set yourself up for success for the entire week, and you’ll actually be looking forward to all the amazing things coming ahead. Bye Bye Sunday Scary, Hello Monday Merry!

What are your best hacks to OWN the week? Let’s brew some tea in the comments below!

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I Learned To Say No and It Has Changed My Life

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