The weekly ritual is one of the most important take-aways I’ve learned from habits-based coaching. It is often one of the biggest factors in whether I, or the people that we work with, succeed in the upcoming week when it comes to making healthy choices consistently.
Your weekly ritual can be as much or as little as you’d like; the key is to do it EVERY week and to set you up for success!
We find it best to do your weekly ritual over the weeks (Sundays are the most popular) so that it sets you up for success in the week ahead.
Remember, success doesn’t ‘just happen’, no, it comes from planning and being consistent.
Here are a few ideas that you can do as part of your weekly ritual to set you up for success:
1. Make a healthy snack bucket to bring to your work fridge on a Monday morning. Fill it with veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds, yoghurt, some cheese, hard boiled eggs or even some homemade bars. Basically a mix of healthy(ish) options to grab at work that varies seasonally and works for your body and eating schedule.
If you don’t have a work fridge, no problems, make the snack bucket and then divide it into 5 (or however days you work) smaller containers and take on from your fridge every morning.
2. Pick out 5 workout outfits. Decide how many days you’ll be workout out and pick out your outfits for each day, place them in a bag and put it by the front door.
When I drove to the gym I used to put. a fresh bag of clothes in the car every Monday morning and when I got to the gym I’d simply take out what I needed for that day. When I worked out in the morning I’d do the same with my shirts and suits so that I could put on my workout gear the second I woke up and go straight to the gym. Even when I worked out in the morning I would keep a space gym outfit in the car ‘just in case’ I fancied an afternoon/evening workout. I was always set up to workout!
3. Plan your workouts ahead of time. This is easy, every Sunday night plan exactly what time and day you’ll be working out that week, book the sessions and put them in your diary as a meeting.
I LOVE fitness but I’m an inherently lazy person so I workout at the same time, on the same days, every week. It’s so routine now that even when I’m feeling tired/sore/lazy/insert whatever excuse/ etc that I do it out of habit.
4. Cook for 4/5 days at a time. This may sound boring but it REALLY works and it leads to massive results. On a Sunday we’ll decide what we’ll have for dinner for the week. We’ll then cook enough of it on a Sunday or Monday evening to last us for 4/5 days.
This saves us a load of prep time in the evening and helps us eat well most of the time. My favourite thing for this is chilli and rice because you can add in a tonne of vegetables and it’s quick and easy to make (I also LOVE chilli). We’ll rotate meals but it’s usually the same 3/4 things that will come around every couple of weeks.
On weekends, when we have more time, we’ll add more variety.
5. Have Groundhog Day breakfast and lunch. Every loves the 90’s movie with Bill Murray where he’s in a time loop and is constantly repeating the same day while chasing the darling of 90’s romcom’s, And MacDowell. Your breakfast and lunch can be just that!
Former Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, famously work the same type of black polo neck and blue jeans every day to avoid decision fatigue. He had more important things to focus on and having the same breakfast and lunch every day can do the same for you. It’s also a great way of ensuring that you’re eating a healthy breakfast and lunch.
Think about it, if we eat 3 meals a day, that’s 21 meals per week. If breakfast and lunch is healthy 5 days a week, that’s 10 healthy meals already! Add 4-5 pre-made dinner to that and you’re up to 14/15 healthy meals out of 21 in a week!!!
Add some or all of these weekly rituals to your Sunday night set you up for success!
I can guarantee you that after years of doing these that it increases efficiency, decreases decision fatigue, and ensures that you’re set up for a great week of positive self-care habits.
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Stay healthy + happy friends!
