3 Steps to Curing Sunday Night Stress Syndrome

As a career woman or woman entrepreneur, do you suffer with anxiety on Sunday night in anticipation of Monday and the coming week? I suffered from this for ages. I’d settle down to relax on Sunday night, and then suddenly I’d feel by belly tightening. The sensation would creep up into my chest, squeezing my insides as it went. Relax? Not a chance. Now my brain was spinning like puree in the blender.

Then I discovered the 3 Steps to Curing Sunday Night Stress Syndrome (which can also be “Any Night Stress Syndrome”).

STEP 1: Get out your weekly planner. Write out everything you need to accomplish during the upcoming week. Take anything on that list that you can delegate to someone else and do so. If you’re crushed beyond human endurance, take anything that is NOT critical and reschedule it. The world will not end by your moving some things to next week. Once you do that, you have some breathing room! If you don’t, you need to call for reinforcements pronto! Then work on not over-promising and over-booking yourself in the future.

STEP 2: Take note of your BIG ROCKS for the next day and week. These are the largest and most important tasks that you need to accomplish in order to keep your business running and your clients happy. Schedule the big rocks in your planner first and designate the day and time you will devote to these things. Make these planned times non-negotiable. (Self-Care should now be on your non-negotiable list! I’m just sayin’…)

STEP 3: Now, around your big rocks or tasks, add in the medium rocks or secondary tasks that are important but not redline critical. In doing this, ALWAYS give yourself more time than you think you’ll need. Add thirty minutes to everything you schedule. Breaks, lunch, stretching, a few minutes of meditation, all these should be in your calendar before you put any big rocks, medium stones or even small pebbles into your plan!

RESULT: Here’s the beautiful thing: Planning your week out in detail solidifies in your mind the strategy for achieving the tasks before you. By reviewing your completed planner, you can now see, in black and white, that you do have time to accomplish what is needed. Best of all, you can do your work well with extra time for re-working, thinking, breathing and even a little accommodation for random things that come up.

Immediately you will gain confidence in your ability to perform and meet the expected goals set before you. This will build your self-esteem as well and move you more quickly toward your ultimate goal of success and ultimate life fulfillment.

Getting everything out of your head and down on paper, where you can see it, will greatly reduce your anxiety and stress. Your “plan” is your clear path to meeting the demands that are ahead of you. Best of all, you’ll be able to enjoy the last few wonderful hours of the weekend!

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT: As you get better at planning, add an open hour into your schedule every day to deal with office management issues and unexpected tasks. That way, when things come up, you already know you have ample time to fit them in … unless, of course, they are big items. In that case, you’ll have to look at what you can move or rearrange again. And don’t forget to schedule in those set times (morning, lunch and last task of the day) for email reviews and returning phone calls.

Remember, WHAT GETS PLANNED GETS DONE! Just commit to it.

Kathleen Aston is the authority on creating confident, courageous, successful women who strive to reach purpose-driven prosperity. Ms. Aston’s proprietary systems help women to build solid foundations of self and rapid-fire business growth, profits and success. Discover The #1 Secret to Stop Procrastination and Boost Profits! https://www.kathleenastonintl.com/getgoing/