How to make this the best week of your life

Posted on by J.J. Hamilton

In the hustle and bustle of the day-to-day, it’s easy to lose track of what matters most to you. If you’re not careful, one week will transform into the next and, before you know it, you’ll be half way through the year and no closer to your hopes, dreams and ambitions for 2025.

I remember, during the COVID pandemic, I had to jot down a short summary of everything I’d been up to during the day so that each day felt different. It’s a habit that I actually started in 2014 but, I think because of the pandemic, I’ve felt encouraged to stick to ever since.

With a little planning and mindful intervention, you can transform any week into the best one yet. Here’s a guide to making every week of your life count.

For the rest in this series…

Sundays for setting the stage

At the start of the year, you’ll have probably set some lofty goals and resolutions to achieve and improve your life. Every quarter, you’ll be recognising your successes and places to improve upon, and you’ll have hacked your brain chemistry to set the scene for the month ahead. You can read my guides for how to do all of those things earlier in this post.

However, with how busy your life gets, you need to set time aside each week to reassess your goals and habits. So, take out your calendar and schedule in time to evaluate how your week has gone, priorities for the week ahead, what’s gone well and what you’d like to change prior to waking up on Monday morning.

What you actually end up doing might look different compared to how it does to your friends or family, or even to me. Personally, I like to take about thirty minutes, once a week, every Sunday, to digest what I’ve done, how it went, and what I could do better in the subsequent week. I also like to put together a list of activities or tasks for my to-do list to ensure that they get done. This could be mowing the lawn and setting up online banking, or something as simple as putting together a meal plan to prepare meals in bulk.

Having these clear, actionable goals will keep you focused as you head into another busy week. By listing everything that needs doing, you’re making it much less likely to be forgotten, and you’ll get the chance to set priorities. I like to write everything down in my Bullet Journal or on a whiteboard in my living room, and then attach numbers to each task to indicate how much of a priority each one is, with ‘1’ being the most important task. By keeping everything written in your planner of choice, you’re also removing it from your head and reducing your cognitive load.

Finally, by expressing positive affirmations and considering what you are grateful for, once a week, you’re setting the tone for a positive week ahead. If you’re stressed and overworked, I’m not saying that this will fix the issue – but it will help you to put a positive spin on the situation.

Daily practices to transform your week

How you start your morning will set the tone for the rest of the day. Consider what’s going well every morning and what’s getting you down. Are you sleeping consistently each night? Getting enough sleep? Going to bed and waking up at the same time each day? We all need different amounts of sleep based on various factors, including age and activity levels, but it’s important that you work out what works for you, and optimise your sleep with my list of twelve quick hacks.

In my opinion, how you start the day is way more impactful than how you end it. When I was getting up at random hours, my mood was much more changeable. Setting my alarm clock for the same time every day to give myself enough time to do a little exercise, have a hearty breakfast and tidy up anything left out from the night before, before getting to work with enough time to settle on what needs doing for the day, keeps me organised from the very first first minute of the day.

Additionally, have a go at scheduling in exercise at least 3 or 4 times a week. Your body will feel more ready for bed at night and healthier throughout the day. Even better if you can couple this with mindful breathing or meditation – though I struggle with this part (it’s just a little too boring).

Finally, get yourself some quality time with loved ones – friends or family – everyday if you can. It’s a great way to hack your brain into releasing key chemicals that’ll make you feel happier.

Reflecting and celebrating

At the end of each day, as you begin your winddown and nighttime routine, take some time to reflect on the day just gone. What did you achieve? What went well? What would you have done differently? All of this should take no longer than 2 or 3 minutes out of your free time. It could take the form of habit-guidetracking, jotting down the day’s events in a sentence or short paragraph, or maybe the evening is when you make time for meditation.

Personally, I like to do all of the above, but celebrating my success is something that I’d still like to get better at.

If that’s something that you struggle with, too, why not team-up with a friend or family member who can be your accountability partner? They’ll help keep you on track with getting done whatever you’re aiming to do, but also encourage you to make a fuss over the fact that you’ve done certain things really well.

Stick to these routines and habits every day, and you’ll be setting yourself up for success each and every week, since this is really just a series of intentional days filled with purpose and joy, rather than just another seven days. What do you do to make each week the best one yet? I’d love to hear your suggestions in the comments below.

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