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4 Simple Things You Should Do Every Sunday to Make Monday Easier
We’re all familiar with the Sunday Scaries™. That feeling we get when we realize our glorious weekend is almost over, and we’re staring down the barrel of a loaded work week. Yes, it’s a nasty feeling, and unless you really love your job, you’ll experience it at some point.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. We’d like to recommend some easy things you can do before the weekend is over to help get you into the right headspace, ready to take on your work week with confidence.
1. Set (Small) Goals
Think about the week ahead and create a small, manageable list of goals. No more than three. The idea here is to focus your attention on small, achievable tasks that need doing. Of course, you’ll be getting more done in the week than these three items, but this exercise in prioritization is a great way to identify which goals demand your immediate attention.
2. Make Choices Ahead of Time
Decision fatigue occurs when we force our brains to make choices over and over. Decisions are particularly draining when they require complex thought or self-control, but the idea applies to small decisions too—those little nagging questions that pop up every morning and demand your attention. What should I have for breakfast? Should I take a detour to avoid construction? How much longer can I put off this report?
In the simplest terms, the more decisions you have to make throughout the week, the more worn-out you’ll get. On Sunday, look for opportunities to map these things out ahead of time. If you bring lunch to work, pack it in the evening. Consider meal planning for the entire week ahead of time. Chart your route before hitting the road. You get the idea.
3. Clean Physical Clutter
This is an easy one recommended by self-help gurus around the world: Clean the clutter! A disorganized home can be surprisingly tough our mental states in ways you might not realize.
- Disorganization and mess produce excessive stimuli by drawing attention to out-of-place elements;
- It creates unknowns in your environment and makes it harder to find what you need;
- Excessive clutter may provoke guilt or feelings of procrastination that may wear you down: I know I should clean, but…
It’s one of the easiest things in the world. Take a few minutes each Sunday to tidy up.
4. Clean Mental Clutter
For most of us, our heaviest burden isn’t an unfinished task or a demanding work schedule. It’s stress.
Most of the problems that most of us experience throughout the day can be attributed to stress, and there are countless resources out there devoted to managing it. But, just as we don’t have to fear Sunday Nights, we don’t need to fear stress.
In terms of solutions, we know that meditation gets thrown around a lot as a cure-all—but trust us, there’s a reason why meditation as a practice has endured for thousands of years. When practiced regularly, it works like a dream. Start today. Take a few minutes and get acquainted with the practice. (And if you’ll allow us to paraphrase the Buddha in closing: Stress is inevitable. Suffering is optional.)
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