The Sunday Plan Session | How to Set Your Week Up for Success

All too often Mondays tend to present themselves as a rude smack on the head.

They always come too fast and always leave us wondering where on earth the weekend retreated to so fast.

And when you aren’t fully planned for the week ahead, the arrival of a Monday is so much worse.

Even though we can’t prevent the dawning of a new week and the start to the weekday rush, we can greatly soften the blow by setting some time aside on Sunday to make a plan in the effort to make the days flow a bit easier – and be more enjoyable.

I am the type of person who cannot function without a plan. If I have an open day that I’d like to dedicate to getting extra work done and I don’t make a plan for the day, I can almost guarantee you that I won’t get anything accomplished.

Without a plan I feel lost and overwhelmed.

Now, I understand that not everyone is like me in that they need a plan for their day. However, I do believe that everyone could benefit from taking the time each Sunday to take a look at the week ahead and plan out the things that can be controlled but are often overlooked until it’s too late. By sitting down to a “Sunday Planning Session”, you are only setting yourself up for success.

Here is a walk through of my Sunday planning ritual. I try to tackle this in the morning, before church so that the rest of my day can be dedicated to relaxing and enjoying my family. I understand that this might not be ideal for you, so chose the time that works best! (Hint: it doesn’t need to be a Sunday 🙂 )

MEALS:

I actually like to have meals planned two weeks in advance. This way, I can have a grocery list prepared for when I shop, my kitchen is always stocked with my needed ingredients and I can look ahead to what is coming. 

OUTFITS:

I’ve planned my outfits for years. I use an app called Stylebook that has been a lifesaving tool. It is literally a virtual closer of all that I own. I use it to plan out my looks and assign them to each day of the coming week. When I do this, I eliminate the extra time in the morning that was previously used to try and pick something to wear. Note – you don’t need the app to do this (although I highly recommend it), you can simply note your outfits on your calendar.

WORKOUTS:

I’ve noticed that when I plan my workouts, I am way more likely to actually do them. I don’t only plan the workouts that I’m going to do (using YouTube and FitOn), but also when I’m going to do them. Then I block the space in my calendar.

CALENDAR BLOCKING:

As mentioned briefly above, I block my calendar. I live by this method. Personally, I don’t have a paper calendar as I find my plans change too much. Instead, I use my iCalendar app on my Apple devices. Each category of my life has a different color and I block out all my time accordingly. I’m a visual person so using this method has been essential to time management and planning my days.

CONFIRM PLANS:

As I am going through my calendar and blocking my time, I confirm any plans that are out of the ordinary. For example, different childcare arrangements, meetings, playdates, coffee dates, etc. I also use this time to make any arrangements that need to be made in order to allow the week to progress with a simpler flow. For example, if I need to arrange a new kid pick up or drop off, last minute babysitting, or an errand that I need to run – this is when I send those texts or block that extra time. This helps me feel a little more in control of my week. 

MAKE A MASTER LIST:

The last thing I do when planning out my week is write a master to-do list of everything that I’d like to get done in the coming week. Then each day I can assign tasks from this master list to my day depending on my schedule. Doing this helps me get more done and helps me visualize my list in its entirety.

I understand that we can have a solid plan for the week, only to have life throw a curveball (or several) and all plans go completely out the window. When that happens, we have no choice but to adjust as best we can. However, having a plan for the week is an enormous help to lighten the mental load that we all have with all of our roles to fill. I encourange you to start this practice Next Sunday!