The Simple Sunday Strategy Proven to Cut Weekday Stress

Week after week are you overwhelmed by endless lists, tasks, and responsibilities? Does Monday arrive and you find yourself already counting down to the weekend in order to get caught up?-Only to realize you have a long week ahead of you? Are you constantly feeling as though you are behind in tasks before the week has even officially started? If so, your life is begging for this “Simple Sunday Strategy” that has proven to cut my weekday stress significantly!

If you answered “yes” to the above questions then you are most certainly not alone. This was me, EVERY. SINGLE. WEEK! Sunday night would arrive and my anxiety would creep higher and higher knowing that I was going into yet another busy week with a million things to get done. The worst part? I hadn’t finished the millions of other things that needed to get done the week prior. I had banked on the weekend to get caught up, only to find that I not only failed to complete what needed to get done, but I also added to my list in the process. If it wasn’t overwhelming enough, then I became a mom.

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Why the need?

As wonderful as it is to now have children, I’ve learned quite quickly that with children also comes increased roles, responsibilities, and tasks. And good grief did my task list grow!

Despite this growing list of tasks, one thing that most certainly did not grow was the amount of time I had to complete them. Just as before, I had two days of busy weekend time (which was often jam packed with activities, gatherings, and functions), and five days of even busier weekdays. One thing was for certain, the calendar was not changing and my weekend length was not increasing… so, I needed to find a way to tackle this overwhelm and FAST!

And so was born, my “Simple Sunday Strategy” that has proven to cut my weekday stress.

How does the “Simple Sunday Strategy” work?

This “Simple Sunday Strategy” is a lot easier than you may think. In fact, it likely incorporates a lot of steps you may already be doing; however, it organizes them. (And we all know how increased organization decreases stress!)

Taking into consideration the fact that most everybody is unable to dedicate their entire Sunday to their necessary task list, this strategy is broken up into three main phases that can be adapted to your needs and schedule.

Let’s dig in…

Phase ONE

Every Sunday morning you begin with my favorite… writing out a to-do list. As silly as it sounds, seeing down on paper exactly what needs to get done often helps decrease the initial feeling of overwhelm. In fact, all too often I find that I don’t have quite as much to tackle as I had previously thought when all the tasks were free floating in my head without any rhyme or reason to them.

1. Break your to-do list into two columns. The first column reading, “Needs to Get Done Today” and the second column reading, “Can Wait to be Tackled this Week”. (***Tip: If you want to take this a step further… purchase a calendar/planner that has large daily boxes. Within each box, breakdown what needs to be done for that particular day. Better yet, download and print my FREE weekly to-do list printable with large open boxes for personalization.)
2. Congratulations! Now that you have your tasks written out and the overwhelm out of your head and onto paper, you have completed phase one.

Phase Two

1. 1. While going about your day, begin to tackle the items on your “Needs to Get Done Today” list. Do you need to wrap a present for an upcoming birthday party?- Quick tackle it in-between running errands. Do you need to write out bills?- Quick do this while your kiddos are eating their lunch. Now that you have a set list, you can work off of it quite quickly.

Phase Three

1. This is perhaps my favorite of all the phases because it is what I like to call my “Sunday Crunch Time”. Every Sunday around a certain time (for me this is about 4pm) I give myself a set amount of time (i.e. 1 hour) and not only try to tackle as many of the tasks from my “Needs to Get Done Today” task list that isn’t yet accomplished, but also prepare for the week ahead in the smallest way.
2. The weekly preparation in this “Sunday Crunch Time” is usually what ends up eliminating the MOST stress for me throughout the week. During the week, I put away laundry, I pick out clothes for my kiddos for the week and stack them in piles accordingly, I meal prep as much as possible for the week ahead, I pick up the house (cluttered space, a cluttered mind!), I update the command center calendar (if you don’t have one, I’d highly recommend one! Here is how I easily made mine), I organize paperwork, etc. This is my power hour where I spend a little bit of time in order to save myself much more time throughout the week.
3. Finish your night and weekend, refreshed and prepared for the week ahead!

There you have it, my super effective but super “Simple Sunday Strategy” proven to help cut my weekday stress! Give it a try and let me know if it ends up cutting your weekday stress by commenting below! I’d love to know if it is as effective for you as it is for me!

Looking to take your organization to the next level? Enjoy my FREE monthly calendar printables to stay organized month after month!