The Sunday ritual to set you up for the week

Sunday is more than just a day to sleep off your Saturday night. Laura Henshaw explains how changing your approach to the weekend is the secret to achieving your personal and professional goals.

When it comes to planning our busy lives, most of us have the best intentions. The problem is finding the time to get organised.

Balancing a hectic work schedule with our social lives, exercise and a moment to wind down can feel pretty suffocating. But just by making a simple change to how we use our Sundays, getting on top of a schedule – and getting ahead of the week to come – becomes so much easier.

When I was younger, Sunday was the day of the hangover. Now it’s my favourite day of the week. And I don’t want to waste it just because I drank excessively the night before.

I’ll still have one or two drinks on a Saturday night, but it’s drinking in moderation. That way, I’ll get up on Sunday and enjoy it. I spend quality time with my partner, and we’ll usually go for a long run or drive somewhere to explore. Just getting outside, getting some vitamin D and getting active – that’s become really important to me.

Sundays are the perfect opportunity to reset. For me, it’s a day to do the washing, plan my workouts for the week and clean around the house. Then, when I wake up on Monday morning, I’m ready for what’s ahead. Because if you start your Monday playing catch-up, your whole week soon becomes stressful.

One easy approach is to make Sunday a day to set your intentions. They’re not necessarily rules, but goals for what you want to achieve that week. That way, if you don’t get around to them every week, you don’t have to resent yourself. Sometimes life gets in the way and you can’t do much about it. But the next week, you know you’ll get back on track.

Every Sunday I schedule my exercise for the next seven days in my diary. That makes it more solid, which keeps me going. Everything else that’s written in my diary – meetings, shoots and appointments – they’re all non-negotiable. So, if I look at my workouts like a meeting, which I would never cancel, then why would I cancel on my health?

It’s hard when you wake up for a morning workout. You’re tired, and you just want to sleep. But by focusing on how energetic I’ll feel afterwards, it becomes, “I get to do this today,” not, “I have to do this today.”

Whatever priorities you have for your career and personal life, taking half an hour to get organised on a Sunday can make all the difference to what you’ll achieve. The most important thing is to set intentions or goals that work for you, but here’s some ideas to get you started:

• Organise the fridge. Doing a Sunday grocery shop? Wash your salad ingredients and put them in containers. Chop up your vegetables too, so if you arrive home exhausted during the week and just feel like getting takeaway, you can throw the veggies into a quick stir fry with some chicken instead.
• Schedule in some mental health time each day. Even if it’s just 15 minutes to go outside and sit still, that’s fine. If it’s getting up and repeating positive affirmations to yourself for five minutes while you make your coffee, great. Don’t think you need to do two hours of yoga to be mindful. Just set the time aside in advance.
• Set two nights a week to be home by 6pm. You’ll get the full night just to chill out and cook dinner. And when you’re having a busy time at work and you won’t get home early, that’s OK – knowing you’ll be back in your routine next week can be all the encouragement you need.

Disclaimer:
The information in this article is general information only and is not intended as financial, medical, health, nutritional, tax or other advice. It does not take into account any individual’s personal situation or needs. You should consider obtaining professional advice from a financial adviser and/or tax specialist, or medical or health practitioner, in relation to your own circumstances and before acting on this information.