The real Sunday reset

What I do to get ready for the week

I’ve been reading a lot of content lately about people’s “Sunday resets.” While the wording is a bit new, the idea is an old one: spending time on Sunday getting ready for the week ahead.

There might be cleaning, organizing, meal-planning and meal prepping, general planning, and reviewing the schedule. As you might imagine, some influencer-sorts do this with a lighted candle or another way of making this into a video-friendly self-care ritual.

And perhaps it can be. But here’s how I think about Sundays, and what constitutes my “Sunday reset.”

First, if it’s possible, I recommend doing any weekly planning several days before Sunday. Friday is often good because it’s a business day. Many of us need to plan for both work and our personal lives, and if you need to make an appointment, or set up a meeting, you’re more likely to get a response (and hence get this squared away) on a Friday vs. a Sunday. Also, if you don’t have a plan for Monday until Sunday, you’re more likely to spend your weekend worrying about the upcoming week. You know there’s all this stuff waiting for you Monday, but you don’t know how you’ll deal with it. If you have a plan on Friday, though, you can relax — knowing Monday is sorted out.

I also think that a big clean on Sunday kind of takes away from this being a day of rest. I like to think of weekends as time to rejuvenate, and boost energy levels for the week ahead. I know this is challenging when there are chores, children’s activities, and the like, but if you have little kids you need to be even more careful to organize weekends to allow for true recreation. In many cases, it’s better to do a bit of cleaning here and there during the week, with maybe a very short weekend session (limited by a timer).