What do you intend or prep upfront, both on the weekend, the night time earlier than, or one other set time — and the way does it assist your productiveness, targets, and so forth?
Whereas I’m getting higher at some issues, I used to be trying again at an older submit and realized how far I’ve fallen from just a few years in the past in different methods!
So I’m curious — what do you put together or plan on the weekend or the night time earlier than, both when it comes to meals, work, exercises, or extra? If you happen to’ve modified your habits prior to now yr or two, comparable to since you do business from home extra, what has modified for the higher, and what for the more serious?
{associated: why I really like Atomic Habits}
How you can Get within the Behavior of Weekend Prepping (Meals and Extra)
Readers have had nice recommendation on this over time. Just a few essential factors:
It doesn’t should be Sunday night time!
One reader famous that
I discover that Sunday night is manner too late for me to do that. Too late to really grocery store or pivot. I like to do that Thursday morning earlier than work. I evaluation my calendar for the subsequent week and my weekend plans, determine my meals and order grocery supply, determine when on the weekend I can slot in some chores.
One other agreed, noting:
I do that on Friday afternoons, when for me, work is mostly fairly gradual. I make my process listing for the subsequent work week and make my grocery and errand lists for the weekends, take a look at my financial institution accounts, and so forth. My husband grocery outlets on Sunday mornings so I’ll do meal prep on Sunday night time. However attempting to do all that on Sunday made me resentful that I used to be spending beneficial rest time on the weekends on the “life admin” stuff. Lunchtime on Thursday or Friday is likely to be one other time to to do this type of stuff.
{associated: 4 methods to benefit from your evenings}
It helps to search out your ache factors.
For instance, for those who purchase meat however then stick it within the freezer as a substitute of portioning/cooking it, what further steps can you’re taking whenever you get house? (I do know I’m a type of individuals the place if I carry house a rotisserie rooster I’ve to “course of” all the rooster instantly once I get house — I usually sit at our counter with a baking sheet in aluminum foil in entrance of me in addition to an enormous glass container; all the darkish meat and a few of the chicken goes onto the baking sheet for a meal that night time, and the remainder of the chicken goes into the large glass container. We frequently bake the darkish meat instantly, but when we don’t we simply fold up the aluminum foil into a bit of packet and refrigerate till mealtime.)
Equally, for those who’re a type of individuals who is consistently throwing out wilted/fuzzy greens — the weekend is a superb time to wash out the fridge with an enormous soup, stirfry, or salad, or to evaluate what you’ll be able to/should eat within the subsequent day or two.
You may make it social!
One reader famous:
One in every of my girlfriends and I get collectively each Sunday to prep breakfasts/lunches for the week, and generally an additional snack or dinner. She’s not within the legislation, so having her over to speak about life/films/and so forth. is extremely stress-free for me, and we will get the whole lot carried out in an hour or two so it’s tremendous environment friendly. If now we have time, we additionally attempt to slot in a stroll or some kind of exercise. It’s my weekly sanity test and I believe it makes the entire week go extra easily.
{associated: body-doubling suggestions for productiveness}
If meal prep isn’t your factor, you’ll be able to nonetheless prep different issues!
Some readers have famous that they like resting on Sundays and simply “slapping collectively” no matter dinner involves thoughts. I do know once I was in Massive Legislation I usually ordered meals on the workplace a lot that meal prep wasn’t actually a priority. Nonetheless, readers have had success with planning or prepping different duties, together with:
- laundry
- sheets
- planning social engagements or exercises
- selecting outfits (I can’t discover the hyperlink now however a reader blew my thoughts when she famous that she put collectively little “packets” of exercise garments with high, backside, shorts, and undergarments, so she might simply seize a pack within the morning and go. BRILLIANT!)
- reviewing massive work duties
- packing snacks for the week — once I was on the legislation workplace I usually loaded my purse or tote up on Monday morning with the snacks I deliberate to eat all through the week, like these little nut packets.
{associated: how you can keep away from getting hangry at work}
My $.02: What I Plan and Prep in Advance — and How I May Be Extra Productive
Successes: What I Plan and Prep in Advance
I’ve fortunately gotten into a great behavior with meal prep on Sundays, no less than. I
- select dinner recipes to make for the week (or no less than hit the shop for ready meals)
- defrost 3-5 lbs of rooster to bake, grill, or shred (these usually simply turn out to be tacos for the children, or if I reheat them for myself I’ll eat them with dijon or I’ll add cheese, pepperoni, and pepperoncini on high of the rooster)
- soak one bag of Rancho Gordo beans (we typically cook dinner them slowly on Mondays, after which I simply eat them with sizzling sauce all through the week)
- if doable I attempt to prep no less than a day or two of veggies, comparable to slicing, chopping, roasting, no matter. I might most likely work some mason jar salads into my life.
{associated: selection vs routine, and the way “boring is productive”}
Each night time earlier than I head to mattress I attempt to verify I’ve
- picked garments to put on the subsequent morning (I are inclined to placed on exercise garments very first thing, however discovering the suitable high/brief mixture is someway taxing for me within the morning)
- packed lunches for the children (and carried out a common test to verify children have garments)
- reviewed our schedules for the subsequent day
Departures: Methods I Wish to Be Extra Productive on Weekends (Once more)
I used to have actually productive weekends for work, each pre-kids and within the Nap Years. Right here’s what I mentioned in a submit just a few years in the past about how I turned my Sundays into “Tremendous Mondays”:
For my $.02, once I was working in BigLaw I appreciated resting/enjoying on Saturday and coming into the workplace on Sunday for just a few hours if I wanted to do some work. As a result of I used to be properly rested and there was nobody else within the workplace (or, no less than, vastly fewer individuals, and everybody was there to work), my focus was so significantly better — I used to name them “Tremendous Mondays” as a result of I used to be so productive.
Nowadays, I usually attempt to get no less than half of the brief morning and afternoon posts written for the week on Sunday afternoons, placing in just a few hours of labor whereas my youngest son naps. If in any respect doable I additionally attempt to write a to-do listing of my duties for the week forward, and put papers to evaluation on my desk so I can get some targeted work carried out earlier than turning on the pc — simpler mentioned than carried out when your corporation is on-line!
Ooof. Nicely — a part of my drawback is that we misplaced the naps as the children obtained older, so I misplaced that pocket of “me” time on the weekends — however as they’ve gotten older and wanted much less supervision, there’s no purpose I couldn’t reclaim that “me” time and use it for work, or no less than the non-public to-dos I by no means appear to get carried out. (Completely wonderful that I’m carrying contacts from 3 prescriptions in the past, proper? Riiiight.)
{associated: how you can get out of a do business from home stoop}
How about you guys — what do you put together or plan on the weekend or the night time earlier than? Do you’ve gotten deliberate methods to be extra productive together with your companions the place you sit down as soon as a month to evaluation issues (price range, schedule, dates, social stuff, and so forth.)?
Inventory photograph by way of Stencil.
