Taking control of your week: Start with Sunday

If you're anything like me, some weeks you wake up on Tuesday and already feel like you've lost control of the week. Deadlines come and go and you didn't even have it written down somewhere. You're going going going and can't remember the last time you took a moment to breathe. About half-way through last semester I decided to take control of the scatter-brained, willy nilly weeks I was having by creating a checklist that would keep me grounded.

What motivated me to do this? I'd forgotten about assignments and showed up to class not having done the readings more often than I would like to admit, which is very unlike me. Plus, I realized that unless I actually schedule time to sleep or do fun things, they don't happen. Or they do happen, but at the expense of my productivity or deadlines for school and work.

What developed out of this desire to have a system in place to keep my mental stability in check became my Sunday Wellness Check-In.

Call it what you will. Sunday Sanity List, Health Checklist, Getting Shit Done, whatever works for you. Mine is about a page and a half, but your can be as short or long as you need it to be. Below you'll find a screen shot of mine as a reference.

So how does this make its way into my schedule? About 9 o'clock on Sunday nights I take ten to fifteen minutes to put things in order. Put my schedule into my google calendar, write down important events in my planner, and outline the ways I will get exercise and take a break from class and work. I haven't made many changes to the template since I started, which must be a sign that it's working.

If you want to try it out, feel free to make a copy with this link to the google doc.

The great thing is that just because something is on my list doesn't mean it has to be on yours. I'm sure practicing Spanish language and listening skills is not at the top of everyone's to-do list, after all. 

Some questions that might inspire you to add to your list:
What do you want to achieve, both in the near and long-term?
What's a hobby or fun thing you've wanted to do but felt like you didn't have time to dedicate to?
Do you feel like you spend too much time socializing or too much time alone?
Are you satisfied with how much time you spend cooking at home or what you eat on a daily basis?
Can you use your hobbies as a way to simultaneously accomplish other goals on your list or obligations that you have? (For example, I'm going to pursue tango classes this summer both for fun and exercise)

Other tips for ensuring that your list doesn't get neglected:

• Make the process of going through the list rewarding. Maybe for you that means having a cup of tea or listening to your favorite music. 
• Ensure that you protect your time. Schedules will vary from week to week, so if you know you'll be doing something Sunday evening, just block out time in your schedule to either do it earlier or later in the week.
• Longer-term planning requires incremental steps, so you may find it's beneficial to include tasks related to both weekly maintenance and longer term goals such as financial stability and physical health. 
• Automate it! I've gotten a lot into automating things across all part of my life over the past semester, so as much of this list as you can set up to happen without any additional input, the better. This could include setting reminders in your phone or calendar for important meetings, setting up systems that flag emails from certain addresses, or having paychecks split automatically between checking and savings accounts.
• Identify the ebb and flow of money that you experience over the course of a year. January for me is always a drain on my bank account because I have to pay for tuition, textbooks, and car insurance.  On a smaller time scale, the first of the month is usually rough because of rent, so I try to spread out some of the other reoccurring savings, like insurance, to mid-month.

If you struggle to keep track of how much you're spending on a weekly basis, I highly recommend some kind of free financial tracker, such as Mint. I've set it up so that I receive a weekly email that provides a summary of what I've spent and on what over the past seven days. Based on the budget that you put in, it will let you know when you've gone over, which can serve as a reminder that maybe you shouldn't be treating yourself until you get your next paycheck... :)

Thanks for reading, and I hope you find this information useful! Feel free to leave a comment sharing the resources or weekly practices that you've put in place to stay organized and maintain some kind of balance in your life.