Wouldn’t it be great if it was as simple as pushing a button? lol…alas, it is not! So I had planned to write about this topic what feels like ages ago, then changed my mind and rescheduled it to this random Monday in July and promptly forgot about it. It’s actually perfect timing though, because I just revamped my weekend reset routine. For summer, but maybe also forever.
When I wrote about How to Systemize Everything HERE, I mentioned regular resets as one of my tips for putting life tasks on autopilot. But at the time my weekend reset was long, somewhat complicated in it’s system (ironically) and very draining. It was not jiving with my goal of having the low maintenance summer that I outlined HERE.
I like to make a checklist in the iPhone Notes app for various reasons, so that’s where I put my reset routine when I first started implementing it. But then I also use Todoist and going back and forth was dizzying with my different tasks in different places, and having duplicates of some things on top of it. So last week I decided to migrat all my subtasks to a Weekend Reset task in Todoist and see how it worked. So far it’s making my life a lot less chaotic, when all I’m trying to do is get myself ready for a new week. I think I’ll still have to tweak the settings, but I’m optimistic this is a solid solution.
Prioritize
When I first created my Weekend Reset to do list in Apple Notes, it was just one long list. Then I did some annotations to prioritize what should be done first, next and last, if at all. This became complicated to manage, but the idea is definitely solid and breaking these tasks down into small lists is key to reducing the overwhelm.
Sure there are things that would be nice to do to reset for the week to come, but are they really necessary? Or at least, do they need to be done EVERY week? No. So I push them to the bottom of the list and if I get to them, great. If not, there’s always next week.
In Todoist I have the Must Do items marked as Priority 1, Would Like To Do items marked as Priority 2, and Do As Needed / When Noticed marked as Priority 3 then I sort my lists so they’re in priority order.
Schedule
When I first started doing these resets from my running list in Apple notes it was daunting to see such a big list. Even after it was broken down into priorities. So I broke it down further.
I have Saturday tasks, Sunday tasks, and Wednesday tasks— so I suppose my reset is a weekly reset as it isn’t all done on the weekend…
Now that I migrated my list to Todoist, I have the tasks scheduled for the appropriate days and they are recurring so once I mark it as complete it’s scheduled for the following week.
My List
So what’s actually on my list? My reset includes things like sorting junk mail and breaking down recycling, tidying all the spaces, washing linens, charging various electronic devices, going through my photos, and cleaning up my various inboxes.
It also includes cleaning something big (I struggle the most with this one), doing food prep and picking out my outfits for the week. Checking my finances, trying to reach the elusive inbox zero, and plan the week.
Must Do Every Week
Saturday
- Tidy all the spaces
- Clean something big (bathrooms, upstairs, kitchen, downstairs – on a rotation)
- Brainstorm outfits for the week, iron anything that needs it
- Refill vitamin sorter
Sunday
- Change and wash linens (towels and sheets – on a rotation)
- Empty dishwasher
- Food prep
- Refill K-Cup canister
- Plan the week (Monday-Wednesday)
- Charge watch
Wednesday
- Sort junk mail
- Rinse/breakdown recycling
- Water plants
- Plan the rest of week (Thursday-Sunday)
- Charge watch
Would Like To Do Weekly
- Inbox zero
- Notes app
- Podcasts
- YouTube watch later
- Todoist inbox
- Email (and check junk folders)
- Clean up photos on phone
- “Self Care Sunday”
- Check finances
Do As Needed / When I Notice
- Clean toilets
- Vacuum
- Empty trash cans
- Clean out purse
- All things electronic
- Restart iMac
- Transfer tabs from phone to iMac
- Charge Magic Mouse
- Charge Kindle (and remote page turner)
- Charge AirPods
- Charge and restart iPad
- Restart iPhone
The items in your reset or the app you use aren’t important. The key is doing the things that will make you feel ready to tackle another week and set you up for success in the areas that matter to you.
Do you have a weekly reset?
Photo by Jose Antonio Gallego Vázquez on Unsplash