Smart weekend rituals to make your workweek less anxious

Smart weekend rituals to make yur workweek less anxiousSmart weekend rituals to make yur workweek less anxiousA classic weekend spent lounging around the house and meeting with family can be the giftstoff we all deserve after a long week. But it always feels like the weekend is over way too soon, and we spend the next week scrambling to catch up on the things we stepped away from.That creates its own anxiety, and we like to avoid unnecessary anxiety around here. Here are a few things you can do to get ahead before Monday comes around.Write down your weekly goals and limit them to only six thingsJames Clear writes about the Ivy Lee method- reportedly used by Charles M. Schwab after meeting with the productivity consultant in the early 1900s- which can also be applied to planning on the weekend.Clear includes a step-by-step numbered list, starting with at the end of each work day, write down the six most important things you need to accomplish tomorrow. Do not write down mora than six tasks. The second is, prioritize those six items in order of their true importance, and the third is when you arrive tomorrow, concentrate only on the first task. Work until the first task is finished before moving on to the second task.The fourth step involves doing the same thing for the rest of the list, and when you make tomorrows list of six items at the end of the work day, include the ones you didnt complete that day. The fifth and final step is to use this method every working day.Give batching a tryWhen it comes to your to-do list, you could also try planning to do things that are alike within the same time period.Paul Jarvis writes about batching in an article for The Musecalled4 Ways to Focus When Your Minds bedrngnis in the Mood.Batching builds off the idea of only working on one kind of task at a time. Rather that jumping from one project to another, you do all related tasks in a set amount of time. By batching the work you have to accomplish, you dont have to constant ly shift gears. So, grouping all the writing I have to do into a morning means I can write five to six articles in one fell swoop. Perfect. Then Ill typically spend the afternoon programming websites for clients, moving my brain into that mode for hours at a time, Jarvis writes.Similarly, some organizational plans recommend that you list your tasks by where you will be taking care of them a list of home tasks, computer tasks, office tasks, and so on. Working that way lets your brain function more smoothly since things are categorized together.Dont obsess over what hasnt worked out for youIts natural to spend Sundays thinking not only about the week ahead, but also what we screwed up the week before and how to fix it. One thing to note the more we think about something, the more we attract the emotions around it into our minds and our lives. So if youre dwelling on negative emotions, youll feel even more negative emotions.Martha Beck writes about the law of attracting Trojan horses i n an article. She advises anyone who is worried about a situation to rewrite the story of what is happening. We often prepare ourselves for the worst possible outcomes by linking together different incidents into one big, negative story that we use to torture ourselves.Becks advice just stop telling yourself that story.Ive binnenseen that what were most afraid to lose is never a thing, person, or situation, but our story about how that thing will make us happy, conform to our egos desires, and remain forever unchanging. This is true even when the thing is our own body. Ive seen that when we relinquish our stories- when the truth of our soul kills the narrative were spinning out to impress ourselves and others- we reach acceptance and suffering ends. Beck writes.Pick out a couple of work outfits to make your life easierSort through your closet to see what outfits you think you want to wear during the week.Also, take out Mondays clothes ahead of time (along with an accessories you pla n to wear), and iron or steam them if necessary so you dont have to do that before running out the door that morning.Free up your living spaceClear your head by spending a little time organizing your living space so youre not as mentally bogged down when you get home after work on next week.Give yourself the time to do things you feel too busy to do during the week, like clearing off your desk and weeding through your file cabinet, and get rid of baggage by letting go of old things you dont need anymore.Prepare meals ahead of timeThis will help you save time during the week and use it to attend to other things you have going on outside of work.Real Simpleprovides a PDF guide called Sunday Prep School with recipes you can make and more.Set aside a couple of hours on Sunday to follow the steps on these pages Wash and chop vegetables cook some versatile ingredients, plus a few fully ready-to go dishes and make some cold items that you can use multiple ways- on a salad, in a sandwich, o r as a game-changing topping the document says.Getting ahead on the weekend can help you start the following week feeling lighter and more focused.Smart weekend rituals to make your workweek less anxiousA classic weekend spent lounging around the house and meeting with family can be the gift we all deserve after a long week. But it always feels like the weekend is over way too soon, and we spend the next week scrambling to catch up on the things we stepped away from.That creates its own anxiety, and we like to avoid unnecessary anxiety around here. Here are a few things you can do to get ahead before Monday comes around.Write down your weekly goals and limit them to only six thingsJames Clear writes about the Ivy Lee method - reportedly used by Charles M. Schwab after meeting with the productivity consultant in the early 1900s - which can also be applied to planning on the weekend.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreClear includes a step-by-step numbered list, starting with at the end of each workday, write down the six most important things you need to accomplish tomorrow. Do not write down more than six tasks. The second is, prioritize those six items in order of their true importance, and the third is when you arrive tomorrow, concentrate only on the first task. Work until the first task is finished before moving on to the second task.The fourth step involves doing the same thing for the rest of the list, and when you make tomorrows list of six items at the end of the workday, include the ones you didnt complete that day. The fifth and final step is to use this method every working day.Give batching a tryWhen it comes to your to-do list, you could also try planning to do things that are alike within the same time period.Paul Jarvis writes about batching in an article for The Musecalled4 Ways to Focus When Your Minds Not in the Mood.Batching builds off the idea of only working on one kind of task at a time. Rather than jumping from one project to another, you do all related tasks in a set amount of time. By batching the work you have to accomplish, you dont have to constantly shift gears. So, grouping all the writing I have to do into a morning means I can write five to six articles in one fell swoop. Perfect. Then Ill typically spend the afternoon programming websites for clients, moving my brain into that mode for hours at a time, Jarvis writes.Similarly, some organizational plans recommend that you list your tasks by where you will be taking care of them a list of home tasks, computer tasks, office tasks, and so on. Working that way lets your brain function more smoothly since things are categorized together.Dont obsess over what hasnt worked out for youIts natural to spend Sundays thinking not only about the week ahead but also what we screwed up the week before and how to fix it. One thing to note the more we think about somethi ng, the more we attract the emotions around it into our minds and our lives. So if youre dwelling on negative emotions, youll feel even more negative emotions.Martha Beck writes about the law of attracting Trojan horses in an article. She advises anyone who is worried about a situation to rewrite the story of what is happening. We often prepare ourselves for the worst possible outcomes by linking together different incidents into one big, negative story that we use to torture ourselves.Becks advice just stop telling yourself that story.Ive seen that what were most afraid to lose is never a thing, person, or situation, but our story about how that thing will make us happy, conform to our egos desires, and remain forever unchanging. This is true even when the thing is our own body. Ive seen that when we relinquish our stories- when the truth of our soul kills the narrative were spinning out to impress ourselves and others- we reach acceptance and suffering ends. Beck writes.Pick out a couple of work outfits to make your life easierSort through your closet to see what outfits you think you want to wear during the week.Also, take out Mondays clothes ahead of time (along with any accessories you plan to wear), and iron or steam them if necessary so you dont have to do that before running out the door that morning.Free up your living spaceClear your head by spending a little time organizing your living space so youre not as mentally bogged down when you get home after work on next week.Give yourself the time to do things you feel too busy to do during the week, like clearing off your desk and weeding through your file cabinet, and get rid of baggage by letting go of old things you dont need anymore.Prepare meals ahead of timeThis will help you save time during the week and use it to attend to other things you have going on outside of work.Real Simpleprovides a PDF guide called Sunday Prep School with recipes you can make and more.Set aside a couple of hours on Sunda y to follow the steps on these pages Wash and chop vegetables cook some versatile ingredients, plus a few fully ready-to-go dishes and make some cold items that you can use multiple ways - on a salad, in a sandwich, or as a game-changing topping the document says.Getting ahead on the weekend can help you start the following week feeling lighter and more focused.This article was first published on July 21, 2017.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from kleine Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people