Preparing for the best week ever

I don’t know about you, but my weekends are really important to me. How I spend them is even more important! 

For me, I need a couple days completely away from work, to rest my mind & my body. Doing this allows me to make sure that I’m not working myself to burnout & lose motivation. Since I’ve learned that I get stressed out easily, the best way to handle this is to try to prevent it before it starts.

The best way to prevent stress for me is to make sure that I’m planning ahead and being prepared. Have you ever heard the saying, “If you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail?”. Meaning, there is great importance in making sure you that you plan ahead.
Related: Getting Over Extreme Burnout, A step-by-step guide to getting your motivation back

Before you start preparing for the best week ever, it’s important to note that I don’t believe there’s one universal way to prepare for the week ahead. For example, I used to do all of my prepping & planning on Sundays, but I’ve noticed that this makes me feel like I have to dedicate a whole day to more work. Thus feeling like I haven’t been able to rest & go into the next week feeling tired & a bit frazzled. It works for some people, but everyone!

While I don’t think there’s a universal system for everyone, I do think there’s some things that are really important & can be very helpful for everyone! Since implementing these strategies I’m discussing in this post, I’ve been able to see a difference in my overall stress levels, productivity & even been able to stick to my goals!
Related: Why I Check In With Myself Every Week, How to finally start achieving your goals

I hope this post helps you in developing a plan that work for YOU and YOUR schedule/life!

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WEEKLY REFLECTION & INTENTION SETTING

A good habit to get into is doing weekly reflections at the end of each week to help you monitor how you are staying on top of your goals. This is a great way to see what things you are happy with and the areas that you want to work on and can incorporate moving into next week.

Here are some questions to ask yourself in your reflection:

• What went well this week?
• What didn’t go well?
• What could I do better?
• What are 3 things that I want to focus on this week?
• How am I going to make sure I prioritize self care?

Want some strategies to setting goals & actually reaching them?!
Download my 5 tips for crushing your goals!

DO A MASTER BRAINDUMP

After you do your weekly reflection, do a BRAINDUMP of EVERYTHING you are wanting to get done. Often, we don’t realize how much we are trying to pressure ourselves to do without even realizing it. Without a clear head and a plan, you will always feel like you are chasing the clock and forever behind. It’s nearly impossible to stay motivated when you feel like you are always behind. So, make sure you prioritizing findinf time to sit down each week and get everything out of your head and onto paper. With everything in front of you, that will make it easier to see what you have to work with so you can really take advantage of your time. Make sure you find the brain dump process that works best for YOU!

You can either:

• Do 1 mass list of everything
• Organize by categories

Maybe you do both! Make 1 mass list, then organize that list into categories. Whatever works for you! There is no right or wrong way to brain dump, as long as you find it to be helpful!

I like to use my Ultimate Goal Setting and Planning Guide to get really clear on what I want to include in my schedule and use that information to put into my Day Designer Planner. Try them out if you want to take your organization and planning to a whole new level!!

PLANNING OUT MEALS

I think one of the main things that people struggle with, is having the time to make healthy meals. The best thing to be able to do in order to make sure that you are able to stick to your goals & save time, is planning out your meals ahead of time! 

I usually start thinking about the meals for the next week on Wednesday’s. Thinking about this allows me to be able to brainstorm healthy meals & to see what meals I can make with the items that I already have in my apartment at the moment. Planning out my meals ahead of time also lets me keep a running list of groceries that I need to get for the next week.

My boyfriend and I usually take turns making dinner. He does Mondays & Wednesdays and I do Tuesdays and Thursdays. Taking turns definitely helps take a little bit off of my plate, but planning ahead definitely takes some of the stress off of my plate!

GROCERY SHOPPING

I usually think of meals for the next week on Wednesdays because I like to do my errands on Thursday afternoons- including grocery shopping. If I don’t have time to get to run my errands on Thursdays, we go either Friday evening or Saturday mornings. 

I used to go grocery shopping on Sundays, but I avoid doing this anymore because the grocery store is always so busy & it takes up so much time. So, getting the grocery shopping done and out of the way has really made a big difference in being able to free up some time!

CHOPPING VEGGIES / MEAL PREPPING

I ALWAYS make sure that I have veggies chopped before going into the next week. This is something I usually do Sundays because it’s easy and doesn’t too much time. But, doing this over the weekend helps save a TON of time during the week when I’m cooking!

I chop lettuce, spinach, bell peppers, onions, celery, and any other vegetables that we are going to be using throughout the week. Spending an hour or so chopping all of the veggies over the weekend helps with being able to just grab what I need easily, without the hassle of having to wash the cutting board several times throughout the week!

DO LAUNDRY

Nobody likes the feeling of being in a rush in the morning and not having clean clothes! If you aren’t already, try to get in the habit of doing your laundry (and putting it away too!). Trust me, it will save you so much hassle during the week! Since everyone is different and the loads of laundry varies her household, find what works best for you. If you have one day dedicated to getting it done or spreading it out throughout the week. Look at your schedule and find a system that makes the most sense for you!

PICK OUT YOUR CLOTHES AHEAD OF TIME

Whether you want to do this Sunday’s and prep each outfit for the week or even do it each night before. Save yourself the mental stress and energy in the morning! Simple things like this can make a huuuuge difference.

FIND TIME FOR SELF CARE

Going into each week feeling drained is only going to lead to burnout and feeling miserable. To help you come up with a self care strategy, make sure you read my post on developing a self care routine and download my Self Care Planning worksheet!

TRIAL AND ERROR

It’s important to know that everyone is different, lives look different, which means that different strategies will work for different people and households. It will take trial and error to see what works for you and what doesn’t. Make sure you do your reflection and see what you want to keep in your plan and what you want to change going into the next week.

Maybe you find that doing everything on Sunday’s- or one day- works best for you or maybe you find that it’s better if you spread it out throughout the week.

I hope this helped you gain clarity into your weekly planning! Let’s get out there have the BEST.WEEK.EVER!!

I do offer 1:1 Mindset & Confidence Coaching and invite you to check out my opportunities if that is something that you would be interested in. Click here for more information on my 1:1 coaching opportunities! <3

>> click here to download my 5 tips for crushing your goals
>> click here to download my self care planning worksheet
>> click here to download my 50 journal prompts for self reflection & self discovery

Xx,
Jess