What is the perfect Sunday Routine?
As you may know, adulting does not stop, so, having a stellar Sunday routine can set up to conquer the week ahead.
As a grad student, full-time school leader, and long-distance caretaker having a stellar Sunday routine was a must for me. Whether your adulting priorities are few or innumerable having a good Sunday routine for your next week is game-changing.
This post is all about the best Sunday routine to experience the most success in the coming week.
A Framework for Sunday Routines
You may think of Sunday as the first day of the next week or the last day of the passing week. Regardless of how you situate Sunday, this is a great day to prepare for the new week. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 70% of Americans have weekends off of work. Most likely, Sunday is free for you to prepare for optimal productivity. Truthfully, you could spend the entire day preparing for the week, however, if you want to use your time for other fulfilling activities, or if you only have 5 hours to spare, this 5-hour routine gives you exactly what you need to do for a productive week.
In times past, Sunday was often an anxiety-producing day, that made it difficult for me to enjoy. I was often rushing around trying to get stuff done before the week began. That was partly because I didn’t optimize my Fridays or Saturdays. It was also because I tried to stuff way too much into my Sunday. While you want to make time for laundry, meal prepping, and all the things you should also find time to relax, talk to friends, and break! Finding the inner calm and fortitude to face Monday is just as important as having the ideal calendar, cleaning schedule, and agenda.
The Best Sunday Routine in 5 Hours
The goal of these tips is to free up as much time as possible throughout your week so you can be laser-focused on your work, family, or other priorities you need to move forward. Maximizing 5 hours on Sunday will allow you to put more of your focus on your priorities rather than the mundane everyday adulting tasks like cooking, writing out your to-do list, or making a meal plan.
Sunday Morning
Before you start your 5-hour Sunday routine, I recommend that you take a shower and get dressed early Sunday morning. Getting dressed gives you energy and signals that you are ready to start the day. Staying in your PJs can easily forfeit your Sunday mornings to lounging. Starting your day in an active sprint of preparation will leave you much more confident about the rest of your day.
Plan your Week
I recommend that every adulter spends at least one hour organizing their priorities, tasks, meetings, appointments, and deadlines for the upcoming week. This will require your undivided focus. Planning your week ahead of time will help you to ensure that you capture everything and develop a flow that compliments your work style. This level of preparation prevents stagnation and the potential time and energy waste because you have a clear vision for each day. Planning your week forces you to think about work-life balance, spending time with family, self-care, and time spent on work before starting the new week. Have you ever sat in front of your computer and said, “Now, what am I supposed to be doing?” Sometimes that’s brain fog and sometimes we are trying to figure out which work to approach first. Planning solves that problem so your energy goes to actually doing the things instead of planning them.
If you are looking to start a time and task management routine or if you want to perfect your current practice, my time management activity book is a great resource to glean from. In this book, I provide 7 activities that walk you through planning your week so that you can prioritize what is important, impactful, and urgent. To learn more see the time management activity book here.
{Related Post: 7 Critical Time Management Goals}
Grocery Shop
I am writing this for the person who does not eat out for every meal. Grocery shopping is going to make sure that you have what you need in-house so that you won’t need to take a detour to the store. Take 20 minutes to walk through your bathroom, kitchen, and laundry area. Make a list of all the items that you need to restock on to get you through the week or month. Then, look through your refrigerator and pantry to determine what you need to make it through the week. Make a grocery list for those items. In order for this task to stay under an hour you have to outsource! Order your groceries using a geo eco app like Insta-Cart or Shipt. If you haven’t signed up for Instacart you can use Code: LINDSEYH405E1BA for $10 off when you place your first order (commissions earned). Take twenty minutes to purchase the items from your grocery list and toiletries. Make sure you select a time when you are home for the delivery. The other 20 minutes will be used for you to get the groceries from the delivery driver and to organize them in your pantry, kitchen area, and throughout the rest of your home.
While you may save more money going to the grocery store on your own, this method is a huge time saver. You cut out your driving, aisle walking, and scanning time to invest in other areas to prepare for a successful week.
Meal Prep
If you don’t want to waste brain energy to think about what you will have to eat for the next 15 meals follow this plan so that you can meal prep for the entire week in under an hour. To have a productive week you want to give yourself time back from focusing on things that won’t move your priorities forward. Deciding to meal prep became a huge time saver for me during the work week. On Sundays, I had already prepared and separated the food for each meal so meal preparation became non-existent throughout the week. Not to add the immense amount of brain juice I regained from having to focus on cooking and planning as a part of my daily routine. All I had to do is heat up my meal and eat it. I listed some quick, healthy, and inexpensive breakfast meals I make to get me through the week. These meal preps should take less than 15 minutes to prepare in bulk!
Tidy up
Take 40 minutes to tidy up your living space. This is going to make everything you need to use so much easier to locate. Your routines will be smoother and your space will be more organized. Having clutter throughout your living space will hinder your movement in the space, the usefulness of the space, and your mood. All these things hinder your ability to function. If you want to increase your opportunity for productivity and success, manage your living space so that it is organized and tidy. Here are a few things you can do to quickly transform your space in 40 minutes:
- Make up your bed
- Put your clothes away
- Organize toiletries
- Organize shoes
- Put away clean dishes
- Sweep the floor
- Run dishwasher
- Stack and organize mail/ paper/ books
- Wash a load of clothes
Tidying up is not a substitute for a deep clean. In fact, you want to avoid deep cleaning because that will eat up your time. To tidy, focus on organizing and putting things in their designated place to clear space for movement and ease of use.
{Related Post: 10 Essentials Every Responsible Adult Should Have}
Go for a Walk
Walking is a great activity to calm your mind, workout, and improve your overall well-being. I have noticed that my ideas are much clearer when walking. As you prepare for the week ahead, identify a walking path. While you are walking set your intentions for the week ahead, to concretize your thoughts record them on your phone or bring a small notebook.
Walking is also a stress reliever. Relieving the stress from the previous week before you enter another week gives you the opportunity to start fresh and show up as your best self.
Sundays are a part of our weekend but we often use these days to gear us up for the coming week. Having a strong Sunday routine will help you to foster a healthier work-life balance and to have a productive week. Of course, if you have more time you may want to spend some time doing more. Whereas, if you are short on time these tips will set you up for success in just 5 hours.
This post is all about the ultimate 5-hour Sunday Routine that will set you Up for an extremely productive week.
