Do you ever find yourself coming into a new week feeling stressed and uncertain? You know you have heaps of things to do, events and appointments to attend, and probably a bunch of other things that have slipped your mind. If you’d rather enter the new week with a sense of calm and more clarity, then the weekly reset could be just what you need.

Hitting reset

Hi team! Jess or JashiiCorrin from YouTube / Instagram here talking about how to plan a weekly reset routine. I’m not lying when I say that the weekly reset consistently helps me to start each new week with a super clear picture of what’s coming up and what I want to achieve. Every week that I complete it, I find myself much less stressed and better able to get things done.

Supplies

As part of our weekly reset planning, I used the equipment below which you may also find helpful. Remember you can use my code JASHIICORRIN10 for 10% off your orders at Archer and Olive!

• Archer and Olive notebook
• Pens of choice
• Markers of choice

Rather watch, then read? For a quick overview of the weekly reset planning process we’re going to be talking about, check out the video below!

But…what is it?

The weekly reset is a sequence of steps that you carry out before the new week starts. These are typically carried out just before the new week. I like to do my weekly reset each Sunday afternoon as I consider my weeks to start on a Monday.

The purpose of the reset varies from person to person, but the main focus is to start the new week with clarity. By doing this process consistently each week, I make sure that I enter the new week with a better understanding of what is happening when, and what I need to get done.

Why do you want a weekly reset?

Before you start planning your weekly reset, it’s good to consider why you want one in the first place. As can be expected, “because I feel like I should have one” isn’t a super compelling reason. Having a genuine ‘why’ behind the things we do, or the habits we’re trying to implement, can very much assist us in getting them done. Take some time to contemplate your ‘why’.

For example, my reason for having a weekly reset very much comes down to stress, or more so avoiding it. When I have a clear idea of what’s happening in the week ahead and what I want to achieve, I’m going to do a much better job of using the time I have. In this way, my reset is an act of self-care, helping me to avoid future discomfort.

Rather than launching in with picking a bunch of steps for your reset, instead consider the purpose you want it to serve. Another way to think about this is figuring out how you actually want your weekly reset to make you feel when you come into the new week. This is a super personal thing, and there is no one-size-fits-all-answer.

Planning your weekly reset

Once you know the purpose you want your weekly reset to serve, it’s then time to start thinking about what actions will make this happen. Another important consideration is the amount of time you want your weekly reset process to take up.

Depending on how you like to do your planning, the ordering of considering these may differ. Do you want to outline the actions for your reset before knowing the time you’re designating to it, or vice versa? I like to do a combination of both, so brainstorming the steps, then considering the amount of time I’m setting aside for the reset, and selecting steps based on those time constraints.

Transforming purpose into actions

An ideal weekly reset is one that takes the purpose you’ve outlined, and transforms that into actionable tasks that you’ll actually do. Note: actually do! Make sure you’re picking actions that are realistic for you as an individual.

Consider the types of actions that align with what you want your weekly reset to help you achieve or feel. In this stage, I start with an open brainstorm for ideas. Once they’re all down on paper, then I can think about which ones will actually get included in the finished weekly reset process.

Given that the main reason for doing a weekly reset is normally being able to enter the next week with a clear picture of what you need to do, the main tasks in a reset are going to revolve around:

• Collecting all your events and to-do’s into the one place
• Putting those events and to-do’s into trusted places you can reference them when you need them

For example, my reset involves checking in with my planners, email inboxes, and calendars to collect all the things that are coming up or need to be done in the week ahead. Once I’ve got all those things in the one place, my other reset tasks involve sorting through them, and adding them into my weekly spread and other relevant places.

Need help thinking of steps for your weekly reset? Check out the printable list of actions you can include in your reset!

Selecting and sequencing

When selecting the actions that you’ll include in your weekly reset, be sure to consider the amount of time you have for your reset process, and thus how many actions you can actually fit in. We don’t want your reset routine to become overwhelming!

Something I find helpful to do is designate approximate amounts of time to each of the steps I’ve selected for my routines. This will help me either by:

1. Letting me see how many actions I can actually fit in based on the amount of time they take, or
2. Letting me break up the time allocated to my weekly once the actions are selected

When you have your actions selected, it’s then time to order them logically. For example, brainstorming your upcoming tasks BEFORE you try and populate your planner for the week coming.

In my reset, rather than having my steps in a rigid step-wise list, I like to group my steps into sections. Each of my reset items gets organised into:

• Pre-reset tasks
• Beginning of reset tasks
• Middle of reset tasks
• End of reset tasks
• After reset tasks

The most important step

Even more important than planning the weekly reset process is actually giving it a go! Any new practice can take a little bit to get used to, so I encourage you to try out your planned reset for at least a few weeks to a month before deciding whether it works for you.

In implementing your reset, pay attention to the parts that you find easiest or most enjoyable to do, and those that you’re consistently less inclined to do. How can you tweak those to make them more exciting or enjoyable?

As mentioned, I love the weekly reset process to help me get organised for the week ahead! If you want to see my weekly reset in practice, do be sure to check out the video I have taking you through step by step. If you think this idea would be helpful for someone else that struggles with starting the new week with clarity, make sure to share this post with them!