Do you struggle with keeping up with your goals, often feel like a mess, get overwhelmed quickly, and can’t track your progress? We have all been there. There’s nothing more unmotivating than starting your week unprepared. Cultivating a weekly reset routine to start your week right will completely change your life; it takes away all the stress of not knowing what you should do, how productive you’re supposed to be, or how close you’re getting to your goals.
I believe that having a weekly reset routine allows you to move forward in life, while still enjoying and doing the things you want to. It’s a more realistic approach to achieving great things in life that are within your reach and realistic because you’re not planning for the unforeseeable far future–it’s realistic, and you know what’s the great thing? That if you don’t follow through, you can start over the week after.
If you look closely, you’ll see yourself measuring your life in years because weeks, days, or even hours sound like insignificant time metrics in life. But, the truth is, if you have goals like “I want to build a 7-figure business in 5 years”, but can’t utilize time on a smaller scale, you’ll be stuck in a reality that doesn’t match your expectations.
As Richard Bach says, “How can we resent the life we have created for ourselves? Who’s to blame, who’s to credit, but us? Who can change it, any time we wish, but us?”
That is why a weekly reset routine is crucial to living life on your terms. It will help you achieve the goals you want in your life, while also having the time to do the things you want to and take care of yourself.
Why a weekly reset routine is effective
One of the biggest problems people face when setting goals is the feeling of overwhelm. It happens because the finish line seems so far, and the steps to get there are too long. Setting yearly or long-term goals is important, but how you execute them on a weekly basis is what makes the difference.
We feel like days don’t count, because there are so many of them. But if you look closely, you’ll notice how quickly they pass by. Our lives are limited, and when we don’t know how to value our time, we end up settling for the future we built. That doesn’t mean you should overwork yourself every day.
On the contrary: weekly planning allows you to get your tasks done efficiently to have more time to enjoy other things in life.
We’re human beings, not human doings. Our lives are not measured by how much we work, and how much we achieve. But why not focus on efficient planning so we don’t waste time on decision-making to have more time for ourselves? That is what we want to achieve with a weekly reset routine.
What should be in your weekly reset routine?
1. Mental declutter
An effective way to start planning with a clear mind is to brain dump on a piece of paper. Writing down your thoughts is one of the best ways to recognize what’s happening in your mind – you’ll be surprised by how much better you will feel after. You want to create a “draft” of what is happening no matter how small or big.
Think of it as a way to declutter your mind and get your unconscious thoughts on paper. You know when you study and have all the information in front of you first, and then start taking notes and organizing? Think of it the same way.
Examples of what to write:
- Tasks you have
- Appointments
- Exercises you want to try
- Household things to restock
- A friend you want to meet
- An event you want to be prepared for
- A book you want to read
- A date night
- Laser/ shaving/ waxing
- Hair oiling/ hair mask week
- Products you want to experiment with
- A movie you want to see
- Something bothering you that you need to discuss with someone
- Visit family
- Grocery shopping
- Interview babysitters
- Call car dealerships
- Drinking more water
- A new coffee you want to try
Whatever is going on in your brain, write it down. Once you have everything on paper, you can start organizing your days, deciding on what to prioritize and what is not necessary. Mental decluttering makes you less overwhelmed and helps you in organizing your thoughts.
2. Planning time
Now that you have everything on paper, it’s time for the fun part–planning! Planning on which day depends on you, but I would recommend planning either every Saturday or Sunday and taking some time to plan your week. If you have a partner, you can write important things on Google Calendar so that your partner is in the loop.
After mapping, do a weekly schedule that shows what you’re going to do each week. And that’s when you need to grab that paper you dumped your mind on. Of course, days never go exactly as we planned, but we can at least try to check off the things listed as a priority.
You can mark your to-do list as “non-negotiables” and “nice-to-have”. Remember that for your weekly plan to be successful, it needs to be efficient and effective. You don’t want to have 10 things to do every day that are all as equally important. That way, you’ll overwhelm yourself before you make it to the middle of the week.
3. Fridge and pantry cleanout
Cleaning out your fridge and pantry is a great way to know what you have, minimize food waste by using ingredients before they go bad, what you need to restock, and what can be included in your weekly meal prepping. This step is better done before you meal plan or go for your grocery shopping trip. Once everything is cleaned out, you are ready to restock with fresh groceries!
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
4. Meal preparing
You don’t have to prepare every single meal of the week, but there are some things that will help you to eat better throughout the week. If you come home after a long day, and find that there’s no food prepared, most probably you will reach out for the nearest thing you can find, or order food. That is why it’s important that you prepare some meals or things that can be used in meals to have in your fridge.
Here are some meal-prepping tips:
- Wash and slice different fruits and keep them in containers
- Prepare vegetables that will be used in recipes
- Make dressings
- Make some marinated chicken/meat/fish and keep it in the freezer
- Juice fruits that are about to spoil
Whatever you can do to make preparing meals easier throughout the week, do it! There’s nothing better than coming home knowing that all you need to heat your dinner or put a few ingredients together.
5. Do some laundry
I absolutely hate having an outfit in mind to wear only to find it in the laundry basket. Having a day (or a few) dedicated to laundry ensures that what you want to wear is clean, folded, and put in your wardrobe! Find a system that works for you–maybe you want to do the loads on one day, and the folding and putting away on another, do whatever works for you!
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
6. Decide on your cleaning schedule
In a perfect world, we would have a clean house all week long, but things don’t work like that. Sometimes for your own mental stability, you could leave some things unclean until the weekly cleaning day comes, and there’s no shame in that!
One thing I like to do is to pick a room or partition in the house to deep clean every week, do general weekly cleaning, and decide what needs daily cleaning. On your weekly cleaning day, you can vacuum the house, clean the bathrooms, pick up clutter, change the sheets, or mop if you’re in the mood. Choose a cleaning schedule that ensures that your house is not a stress zone and is livable. You don’t have to have a squeaky clean house every day.
7. Catch up on weekly self-care
I treat my skincare and haircare goals the same way I treat my other goals in life. If my goal is long hair in 3 months, then I make sure to make time for the things I need to do to achieve this goal. Of course, not everyone has the time to do an everything shower routine daily, so there are things you can do on your weekly reset day to start your week fresh.
- Shaving or any hair removal method you choose
- Using a body scrub
- Using a face scrub
- Cleaning your makeup brushes
- Cleaning your hair brushes
- Hair oiling
- Hair mask
- Manicure
- Pedicure
These are examples of things you can do every week for yourself that can be scheduled in your weekly plan. Depending on your week, and when your cycle is, you can add or reduce some of things.
8. Relax
Last but not least, relax. Choose the things that make you feel relaxed and make time for them. Maybe you want to catch up with a close friend, watch a different movie every week, book a spa day, sit in the sun, or even just sit in bed and stare at the ceiling. Whatever feels good for you, do it before the start of a busy week.