If you find yourself feeling tired, pressed for time or drained before the start of a new week, it’s not by mere happenstance.
“It’s because the world is designed to steal your time and energy from social media to the crazy headlines that make you feel helpless, [to] endless work to-do lists,” bestselling author Mel Robbins said on her self-titled podcast last week.
Social media fatigue has risen in recent years, studies show, as mindless scrolling leads to mental exhaustion. The country’s stagnant labor market can make work — or unemployment — particularly stressful, and waves of geopolitical news only add to the potential for emotional strain.
Robbins, a former lawyer whose experiences with anxiety and poor mental health led her to become a mindset coach and motivational speaker, uses a “simple” exercise to get her joy, focus and energy back each week, she said.
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The exercise may be simple, but it isn’t quick: Robbins completes seven different tasks over the course of seven days, and starts over again when each new week begins, she said. She does it “every week,” she added.
Here’s how it works.
Do a brain dump
Robbins recommends starting every new week by dumping all of your thoughts onto a piece of paper.
“I have done this for years,” she said. “Take out a piece of paper, and you just start writing down everything that is in your head, and it’s going to be random stuff … You’re going to start writing things like, ‘I’ve got to pick up the dry cleaning. I’ve got to make lasagna. I’ve got to call my mother.”
Journaling for at least 15 minutes a day can boost your problem-solving skills and help you recover from traumatic experiences faster, studies show. Robbins’ version helps her feel mentally lighter, and shows her just how many pent up thoughts are preventing from being clear-headed throughout the week, she said.
Mark up your list
After doing your brain dump, cross out or erase all the items you don’t actually intend to do that week. By doing so, you’re parsing your mental “junk drawer,” keeping the items that’ll help you have a happier, more productive week and letting go of the thoughts that just take up space, said Robbins.
“[If] you’re not doing it this week, cross it off,” she said. “Zero guilt — you are just claiming space.”
Set a priority
Look at your revised list and ask yourself, “What’s the one thing on this list that, if I make progress towards it by this weekend, I’ll feel really good about myself?”
Take your pencil, pen or marker and circle it — the bolder, the better, Robbins said.
You don’t necessarily have to commit to getting it done, especially if it’s a big task,