I’ve found that spending some time at the beginning of the week is a hugely impactful investment in my overall success for the week.

And it’ll work for you regardless of your particular schedule.

The ONE Thing I Do Every Sunday: A Peek Inside My Self-Care & Productivity Routine

In this episode, I’m giving you a peek inside my self-care routine and productivity system, the one thing I do every week that really moves the needle when it comes to taking care of myself and being more productive.

I’m going to walk you through the step by step of my weekly self-care and productivity system.

As always, you can take what you need and leave what you don’t to make it work in your life.

On mindset:

You can try to implement systems, tactics, and habits, but without the mindset, it will be difficult to find sustainability and consistency.

It will also make it more difficult to find joy in what you’re doing.

If your self-care becomes just one more thing on your to-do list or a dreaded chore, you lose the point, the spirit, and the joy.

The mindset shift to make this work in real life has a few parts:

1 | Expand your definition of self-care.

Start thinking about self-care as something beyond bubbles baths and face masks. 

Think about self-care in terms of things you can do to support yourself to move toward your goals and the kind of life that you want to be living.

Maybe that means incorporating more wellness and more time spent on what actually matters to you.

I invite you to reframe self-care as spending time on the things that will make you feel more like yourself throughout the week

2 | Have a reality check with yourself.

If you want to be eating better, moving your body more frequently, or spending more time in calm and quiet, it’s simply not going to happen by itself.

It’s less about tough love and more about a reality check.

This is the work.

The work is looking at the reality of your week, of what you’re expected to be doing and what your responsibilities are, and then figuring out how you’re going to make it happen.

At the end of the day, no one is going to do it for you.

You get to decide how it goes.

3 | Flip the script from “a chore” to “a gift to yourself”.

You could think about meal planning for the week as a chore, but you could also reframe that exact same activity and time as a gift that you’re giving yourself.

“The time that you spend ahead of time is really a gift to yourself and a way to be radically consistent in your life toward your goals”.

On my self-care and productivity system:

Step 1 | End of the week shut-down routine.

I start getting ready for next week at the end of the current week.

At the end of the day on Friday, I have a little shutdown routine that I do at my desk.

I declutter my desk and inbox, close all my tabs, and review my list of goals from that week (which we’ll get to).

I reflect on the things I set out to focus on and decide what needs to be carried over to next week.

Step 2 | Plan out the week in my planner.

On Sunday, I sit down with my husband and we talk about what we have coming up for the week.

I write it all out in my planner so I know what our family has going on, which affects what kinds of meals I’m going to plan.

My self-care is figuring out how it’s going to work, what I need to do, and where I need to ask for help.

Step 3 | Set goals for the week: weekly three + daily threes.

Once I have an idea of what the week will look like for myself and my family, I ask myself what three things I want to get done or accomplished this week.

These become the three most important things for me to prioritize.

In addition to the weekly three, I do this for each day so there are a daily three to get me there.

Step 4 | Productivity for wellness.

I use my three M’s (meals, movement, mind) and I write them down for each day.

I use this method to plan our meals (see more about my meal map method) and create a grocery list, figure out when and what I want to do to move my body, and consider what I’m doing for downtime for my soul and my mind.

You are worthy of taking a small break. 

I use my 4-R framework to build mindful routines into my days.

Go for self-trust instead of perfection.

I created a free fall meal plan and summer meal plan to make meal planning a little easier too.

Consider this experience with trial and error to be a feedback loop and adapt it to your own life.

Step 5 | Set yourself up for success.

After I’ve done all of my planning, I think about what I can do to set myself up for success for the week.

This might look like grocery shopping, light meal prep, maybe some batch cooking, packing my gym bag or laying out my work-out clothes for the week, and laying out Elle’s clothes for the week for simpler mornings.

All in all, I probably spend between 30-minutes to an hour getting ready for the week (not counting grocery shopping)

And when I’m able to take care of myself throughout the week, I actively thank myself for putting in the work ahead of time so that I could experience success through the week.

Boundaries and a little bit of structure create freedom.

And just because you write it down doesn’t mean it has to happen! 

You’re the one who controls it.

This is self-care and this is productivity with a purpose.

Make it happen:

Try it!

Start small with one part and add on as it fits in your life.

Resources

The Essential Wellness Routines You Need Right Now

Want to End Food Decision Fatigue? Here’s Your Solution

How to Radically Simplify Your Morning Routine

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