Make Weekly Planning – Your Personal Care Ritual

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It is true that work schedules and task scheduling may sound like the exact opposite of a personal care routine, but would you believe me if I confess that it is one of the ways in which I have learned to pamper myself in recent years?

I also lost myself in organizing my own daily goals for a long time. I was saturated with tasks and tried to keep an agenda, but every week I gave up trying.

Of course, it was to be expected that this behavior would lead me to stay in a state of constant stress and would put me in a bad mood because I simply could never achieve an organizational structure.

Research in neuropsychology explains that actions that are constantly repeated over time become habits, and that is what I experienced when I found a way to organize myself weekly.

How did I do it? To get started, I started taking a specific day and time each week to organize the to-dos to come over the next few days. In this way, I learned to set my mind to enter a relaxed state of mind, which allows me to be calmer.

Because I tend to be much more comfortable in movement and day-to-day activities, I usually leave my weekly planning for Sunday afternoons, in which I reserve a space of 15 or 20 minutes to set a schedule along with all the tasks that I must complete in the next 5 or 6 days.

I’m even flexible with the time I set aside for planning. The important thing for me is to do it on Sunday because it is the day in which I have already structured myself mentally. It is a task that I practice without even thinking about it.

As I pointed out before, while I am setting my to-do list of weekly objectives and appointments to meet soon, I like to set a goal to work towards for the next few days. For example, the pace of work may be higher, and therefore; I write in my diary that my intention is to stay calm.

Focusing on positive emotions while writing my weekly goals helps me connect with that state every time I review my agenda, so it is a key aspect in reinforcing a good habit.

Working on your agenda weekly allows you to have a general picture of the scenario, and thus reduce work stress. I hope it helps you in this new year that is just beginning.