I used to think the secret to feeling like I had my life together was mastering the perfect Sunday reset. You know the ones: those TikTok videos where the influencer cleans her entire apartment, restocks her fridge, plans every meal, color-codes her calendar, does a full skincare ritual, and becomes a completely new woman before Monday morning arrives. For so long, I tried to make Sunday resets a thing. And every time, I would just feel overwhelmed, restricted, or even resentful of a day that was supposed to make me feel better. I started getting Sunday Scaries on Saturday, knowing the next day I would have a long to-do list before going into a week where I again would have a long to-do list. I was always feeling like that’s what was wrong with my life: I can’t get it together to do a Sunday reset.
But eventually I realized the problem wasn’t discipline. The problem was the idea that my entire life needed to be reorganized in a single afternoon in order to feel good during the week. And not only just in one day, but that one day being a big portion of my weekend (the time when we’re supposed to actually enjoy our lives?). So I started thinking about my weekends differently. At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, a weekend reset routine that unfolds across a few days instead of one frantic afternoon has changed my life. This routine has completely changed how my weeks feel, because now I enter the week feeling calm, energized, and clear about how I want to move through it.
Why the Traditional “Sunday Reset” Doesn’t Work for Me
The traditional Sunday reset doesn’t fail because people lack motivation or discipline. It fails because it asks too much from a single day and frames the weekend as something you have to use to fix your life before Monday arrives. When everything from cleaning your home to planning meals, organizing your schedule, and optimizing your habits is squeezed into one afternoon, the entire routine begins to feel less like a reset and more like a pressure-filled performance of productivity.
For many people, Sunday becomes a control day; the day where you are either trying to make up for the things you ate, drank, or didn’t accomplish during the weekend, or trying to get ahead of everything that might happen in the week ahead. Instead of feeling restorative, it creates the subtle feeling that your life needs constant fixing or catching up.
The Weekend Reset Routine That Does Work
Instead of forcing everything into a Sunday reset, I started thinking about the weekend differently. What worked much better for me was creating a system that unfolds across three different energies for three different days instead of one big productivity sprint, starting on Saturday (because I strongly believe Fridays are meant to be whatever you want and need–couch rot, go have fun with friends, have yourself a good cry, etc.).
- Saturday: Becoming the woman I want to be
- Sunday: Enjoying the life I’ve already built
- Monday: Stepping into CEO energy and leading my week
This routine completely changed how my weeks feel. Instead of starting Monday already tired from trying to optimize every detail of my life the day before, I begin the week feeling grounded and clear. My apartment feels calm, my body feels taken care of, everything that needs to get done has a time and a place, I’ve experienced real moments of joy throughout the entire weekend, and I’ve made intentional decisions about how I want to spend my time.
Step 1: Best Self Saturday
Saturday (AKA “Best Self Saturday,” IYKYK) is when I like to do the things that set up my week for success, but I approach it with a mindset that feels completely different from the typical productivity routine. The energy of the day is very simple: spend the day doing what your best self would do. The question guiding the entire day is, “How would my best, highest self spend this day?” The important part is not what I do, but how I do it. I might want to splurge every so often for a facial or lymphatic drainage massage, or I might just stack my sauna blanket, a face mask, and reading at home. If I have to get work done, I’m going to clean my desk space, light a candle, make a frothy iced latte, and act like my best self in my dream life while I work.
The goal is not optimization, it’s embodiment. I treat the day like a rehearsal for the life I’m building and ask myself how the version of me living my dream life would treat my space, my body, and my time. Some other pillars of my average Best Self Saturday:
“The goal is not optimization, it’s embodiment.”
30-Minute Hot Girl Home Reset
It’s hard for me to feel like my best self if my environment doesn’t reflect that, so I start with a quick clean. But instead of letting cleaning become this big looming task that I procrastinate, I set a timer for 30 minutes, put on Bala bangles, and turn cleaning into a dance party (see: “This is ABBA,” playlist on Spotify). I’m not deep cleaning, I’m simply resetting my space so it feels calm going into the week: organizing obvious clutter, putting away laundry, wiping counters.
Beauty and Wellness Habit Stacking
I like layering things in a way that feels efficient but also luxurious. This might look like an everything shower after my favorite workout class, wrapping myself in a sauna blanket while I read a chapter of a book with a face mask on, or wearing my red light mask and teeth whitening strip while journaling. This ensures I feel as good as possible going into the week: my pores are clear, my skin is brightened, my body feels supported and relaxed.
Romanticized errands
When errands feel like chores, they drain your energy before the week even begins. But when you treat them like small scenes in a movie (putting on music you love, slowing down, enjoying the weather, turning it into a fun outing) they suddenly feel like part of your dream life instead of something standing in the way of it. This might mean walking to the library to pick up a new book, grocery shopping at the fancier grocery store while listening to your favorite music, or getting a matcha on your way to your check-up at the doctor’s office.
Step 2: Sunday Funday
If Saturday is about becoming the woman I want to be, Sunday is about enjoying the life that I have already built. We typically think of Sundays as productivity days (see: the Sunday Reset), trying to get ahead of the week or compensate for whatever happened during the weekend. But when Sunday becomes another optimization day, the weekend stops feeling enjoyable and the week begins to feel like something you have to brace yourself for.
Instead, I made a very intentional decision to stop using Sunday to fix my life and instead use Sunday to enjoy it, which completely eradicated my Sunday Scaries (actually, both Sunday and Saturday Scaries). I intentionally protect Sunday as the day where I lean fully into joy, whether that means going out with friends, making pizza and watching a movie with my fiancé, wandering through the farmers market, or going on a sunset walk with my favorite music. There’s usually no plans at all–and that’s exactly the point (BTW, French people have known this for years).
Step 3: CEO Monday
The final piece of my weekend reset routine actually happens on Monday. I call it “CEO Monday,” where the energy of the day is boss b*tch energy; instead of drifting into the week and reacting to whatever comes up, I intentionally lead it. For a long time, I spent Mondays the way most people do: responding to emails, jumping into tasks, and letting the day dictate what I got done. But when you start the week in reaction mode, you spend the rest of the week trying to catch up with your own life. CEO Monday is the opposite. It’s a moment to zoom out, look at the week ahead, and decide how you want to move through it before it begins moving you. Here’s what that looks like for me:
The Calendar Power Move
The first thing I do every Monday morning is strategize my entire week ahead. I schedule out the big things (podcast interviews, events, meetings, appointments), and then I add in my workouts, meditations, time with friends, and even when I’m going to watch Real Housewives (seeing all areas of my life on my calendar reinforces that they are not optional extras but essential pieces of a full, balanced life).
Weekly Meal Planning
This doesn’t mean planning elaborate meals every single day, it simply means thinking ahead about what will support my energy and schedule. If I know I have a busy day coming up, I might cook extra dinner the night before so I have leftovers ready for lunch. If I know I’ll have more time one day, I’ll plan something a little more intentional with lots of vegetables and nourishing ingredients that I may not be able to fit in on other days. Even a small amount of planning makes the entire week easier because it ensures that the food I eat actually supports my energy and schedule instead of creating extra stress or last-minute decisions.
Weekly Finance Date
For years, I had no idea what was happening in my bank account and was mostly just hoping for the best. Now, every week I sit down, open my accounts, categorize expenses from the past week, review what income is coming in, and journal about my financial decisions. It’s not just about numbers—it’s also about strategy and mindset. I often ask myself questions like “where I can move smarter this week,” “which purchases supported the life I want to build,” and “what I might want to invest in next?” For my full money routine (that I call my Rich Girl Playbook), listen to this episode.
How This Weekend Reset Routine Creates the Best Week
What I love most about this routine is that it doesn’t rely on one perfect day. Instead, it’s a gentle momentum that builds across a few days and is rooted in the energy you embody more than the boxes you check off–and joy, inspiration, fun, or pleasure is intentionally a part of every single day. The best weeks don’t come from a frantic Sunday reset or a perfect productivity system. They come from many small, thoughtful decisions that accumulate over time. If you’ve been waiting to feel organized enough, disciplined enough, or “together” enough to start living like the woman you want to be, let this be your reminder that you don’t have to wait for a perfect routine or a perfect Sunday. You can start building that momentum this weekend, one small decision at a time.
Josie Santi, Senior Wellness Editor & Podcast Host
Josie has been an editor and writer for The Everygirl since 2017 and became a certified Holistic Health Coach in 2020. As the Senior Wellness Editor, she oversees, writes, and edits wellness content, as well as reports on wellness trends and interviews the industry’s leading experts. Listen to Josie on The Everygirl Podcast.
