5 Sunday Rituals for a Productive Week
Because I like my Mondays as packed and productive as possible, I like to treat my Sundays as sacred...
The weekend and it’s activites can really hamper your momentum, deplete your energy, and haze your focus. Because I like my Mondays as packed and productive as possible, I like to treat my Sundays as sacred. So as I sit in bed and plan out my day, I thought I’d share with you my 5 go to Sunday Rituals for renewing my energy and guaranteeing my focus come that beautiful Monday morning on the horizon.
1.) Exercise
Now, hear me out on this one because it’s literally based in science. My fellow Nashville locals and natives will agree that there truly is nothing like a Nashville party. And no matter the weather, no matter the occasion, there’s always a party somewhere. Spending the weekend drinking, be it Friday night beers, Saturday night shots, or Sunday morning mimosas, ultimately depresses even the most optimistic of people. I like to take time out of my Sunday to hit the gym, even if it’s only for an hour, just to get the blood flowing to my brain. My endorphins are always sky high after I leave the gym, and that activity helps keep me from being groggy on my precious Monday morning.
2.) Coffee Date with my Planner
Eventually this will be a date with my kickass assistant, but for now my Planner will have to do. This seems to go without saying, but taking a glance at the week ahead has never hurt anybody. I also like to use Sundays to fill my calendar in. Dinner with a friend I’d like to catch up with? I text them on Sunday. I also take a couple of minutes with my Bullet Journal and jot down whatever’s been swimming around in my head. Your whole week will be better for this one. And don’t front with me likenyou don’t have a planner and a pen from that first week in January when you were committed to your New Years Resolutions.
3.) Candles Lit, Doors Open.
Now, I’m not big into chakras and crystals, but I am HUGE into rituals of any sort. Because I do a lot of my work from home, the energy in my space is very important to me. Do you ever have those weeks or days where the mess of your space mounts and mounts? Dishes on top of dishes in the sink, piles of clothes, Amazon prime boxes becoming a sort of sick shrine to your consumerism? (That was a little heavy, but I seriously have an Amazon prime problem.) I may sound like a kook here, but the biggest consequence of all that stuff piling up isn’t just a mess or not wanting to have people over - it completely blocks the energy in the space. The longer you leave it, the more muddled you get. I like to take serious precautions against the pile up by taking time on Sunday to swap out last weeks energy for the new weeks. I open my balcony doors and windows, light a candle in every room, and let the air flow. Then I do some straightening and tidying up. This is also the perfect time to do a face mask and take some selfies.
4.) Clear Desk, Full To-Do List, Can’t Lose.
This is pretty specific to those of you who also work from home. I like to make sure my desk is as minimal as possible for when I wake up on Monday morning. Desks, like any other accessible surface in the house, can get cluttered really easily. Especially, for me, when I come (read: stumble) home on an early Sunday morning and am eager to empty my pockets and crash. But I always take the time on Sundays to whittle that clutter down to my desk lamp, my laptop, and a notepad. The act of clearing out a space and putting things in their proper place is absolutely an act of self love. Of course, as soon as I start working, it’s a mess again - but if it’s a mess already it’s hard for me to begin at all!
5.) Do Not Disturb
There is a magical setting on iPhone (and I’m sure Android/Samsung/Jitterbug has some form of it too), called Do Not Disturb. Now, anyone reading this who knows me well enough to attempt to reach me via personal phone will wonder why I have this posted as a Sunday ritual when in actuality I use it almost constantly, every single day of the week. But Sundays are the perfect day to intentionally shut people out, even for an hour, and take a break from being glued to your phone. I like to take my undisturbed hour and read a short story, color, or just take an old fashioned nap (the kind without your phone next to your pillow, or an alarm to wake you up). I love Short Story collections, and am currently working my way through Subcortical by Lee Connell. (Shameless plug here, she was my professor for my first fiction workshop at Vanderbilt.) I’m only reading a couple stories at a time, but they are genius, and I am very proud.
Do you all have any Sunday rituals that you rely on to start your week? Mine are absolutely essential to me. It’s 9AM on Sunday: time to get started.