The Sunday Night Routine That Helps You Slay Your Week (and Maybe Your Life)

Don’t “react” to Mondays, “pro-act” by doing these things.

There are so many articles and YouTube videos that talk about Sunday night routines. At the risk of further saturating the internet with one more, I’ll tell you what makes my routine different…I am not rigid about doing every step in an exact order.

I can’t claim to do every single one of these tasks every single Sunday, but that’s what I’ve learned about life in 41 years; routines evolve and sometimes they get suspended because…life. So long as you aim to do some something more than some of the time, you’re already ahead of where you would be if you did not do any thing at all.

Sundays are long days for me. I get up in the morning and I take 30 minutes to an hour with a cup of coffee and my notebook at my dining room table. While everyone is still asleep, I write down anything that comes to mind; dreams from the night before, things I want to accomplish, affirmations – basically I “brain dump”. I also try to sit mindfully for a bit and just be quiet.

After that, I get ready to go to the barn. Once there, I feed the horses and I do my Sunday morning routine (video coming soon), I possibly ride, definitely groom, and afterwards maybe run errands, maybe take a day-trip with the fam, maybe do a large project at the farm, maybe go home for the afternoon. Then later I go back and do my evening routine at the barn. So come 8 pm I’m eager to start crushing something on Netflix so I need to get the weekly prep out of the way for me to truly relax so I budget 2 hours or so, and I do the following:

Tidy/Clean the house: I always start in the bathroom since that’s the first thing that we’re going to see in the morning. I like my bathroom clean and minimalist and since I’m the only female in the house, it has to be cleaned everyday.

The next room I move to is the home office since my desk is where I do my make up and hair in the morning. From there, I work my way down the stairs. On my list to do is a tidying and sweeping. Usually the kitchen is already done from dinner, but if you have a Dylan and a Michael than surly you somehow have dishes and glasses in the sink. So I’ll enlist help to get them done. Michael is in charge of the trash/recycles so he’ll empty all of the trash cans…I don’t take last weeks trash into the new week.

Check personal and work email: I’m obsessed with inbox zero. All of my subscriptions come as one email from Unroll.me, I have other regular emails sent to certain folders. Now is the time that I go through anything that needs to be answered. I’ll draft an email and hold it until I can finish it when I have the necessary information that is being asked of me. With any luck, it will be zero or near zero by the next afternoon.

Check management software for upcoming tasks: I log into my work server and check what tasks have popped up for the morning. I have an entire system on how I suspend tasks and diary follow ups, but sometimes something will show on my case management software over the weekend. This helps me to take a proactive approach to my next tip…

Plan tasks: I have a notebook with running tasks for both personal and professional things to do. For work tasks, I have a list of my top 3 priorities for the upcoming week made for Monday before I leave on Friday. I add 3 more from the above, and make a master list of the tasks in order of priority and check my calendar to set deadlines for the above by actually placing the tasks into my outlook calendar and setting reminders.

Workout: Just kidding.

Meal Prep: Also kidding. #goals

Clothing, Banking and Transportation: Sunday nights I take some time to go through my bank accounts and make sure that they are balanced. I spend time looking at organizing my money. This is the time where I will sit in the office for a bit and go over research on investments that I’m thinking of and transfer any money I plan to take out into cash into my main account so that I can stop at the ATM on my way to work in the morning.

This time spent to me is the equivalent to watering your houseplants. Things can’t flourish without attention. Speaking of attention, I make sure that the whip is vacuumed and gassed up, and I set out at least Monday and Tuesday’s work wear.

Pack your bags: I get my work bag in order. My planners, my small handbag, my keys and my scan card to get in the door at work…all at the “grab & go” ready. All crumbled receipts, lunch Tupperware and my dearly beloved Yeti coffee mug have all been long removed on Friday evening, and all that is left is a fresh vessel to make me work ready.

Set up coffee maker & layout vitamins: Self explanatory.

This block of time ensures that I’m organized and ready to go for the new week. It’s a personal investment into myself so that I don’t have cortisol rushing through my veins running around all panicked and late. The above seems too simple to even worry about, but pro-activity is self-care and survival all wrapped up into one.

The above can look any way that you want it to, and mine has changed often as life has changed…as it should. So long as I wake up to a “fresh slate” and give myself as little to decide as possible in the morning to keep “decision fatigue” at bay, that’s all that I ask of myself.

PS: I also have a mid-week routine that helps me re-balance myself and my home so that I can finish the week strong. It’s also a “catch all” for anything that I couldn’t get to on Sunday. Check it out here.