the sunday sunnies

Sunday is the first day of my week, not the last day of the weekend. This concept and practice is the beginning of a transformation, a revolution even, to disrupt anxious thoughts and decisively crush goals instead. 

As an act of defiance against my own mind and to replace the concept of the notorious “Sunday Scaries”, I introduce to you the Sunday Sunnies. At first, it started as a quiet Sunday morning practice in my home office. One of the benefits of being an early riser, not only the first cup of hot coffee but a quiet house with minimal distractions to plan, to strategize, to dream and reflect before the house is awake and the responsibilities alarm bell rings. 

The concept simply is to start your week early, choose to set positivity in motion and plan your week with intention. Stop anxiously anticipating Mondays. Take control and decide how you want your week to look and how you want it to feel. Decide which days will be for workouts, which days you plan to connect with friends, which days you will prioritize laziness. Only look ahead for the next 7 days, committing only to stuff you truly want or need to do.  

Typically, I complete my longest run of the week on Sundays. #SundayRunday is an effective habit that fits this weekly practice perfectly. For me, choosing to start my week in a healthy way, results in feeling like a rockstar when the run is done and I am definitely more mentally prepared for the week ahead.

At work, I use a similar approach to project management assignments, planning, “This Week / Next Week”. The key objective is to keep all the players focused on goals for this week. Goals defined as either specific deliverables due or the required tasks that lay the groundwork this week in order to be successful next week. Professionally, it is what I bring to the table, a vision and strategy to break down a month, a year, into practical pieces – Creating reasonable and attainable goals that can be achieved this week. 

Each Sunday, intentionally not looking too far back, reflect, “How did I do this week?”.  Determine what you learned and make micro adjustments in the coming week. Commit to incremental shifts in mindset, tiny tweaks to the schedule, minor modifications to meals, focusing on simple swaps not sweeping shifts. 

So, it’s time to tell your friends, the Sunday Scaries are canceled. Start your week early, build your own Sunday Sunnies practice and disrupt anxious thoughts and crush goals instead!