📆 Weekly planning I actually enjoy

It doesn't have to be chaotic every Monday morning.

Dec 05, 2025

POV:

Your Monday morning starts by with your phone. There are six Slack messages from your boss, 14 text messages from a group chat of people from a city you don’t even live in, and a New York Times notification about something that is most definitely not “good news.”
You open the Slacks, read the texts, and find yourself scanning the article quickly, barely reading the names of the people quoted.
You sigh.
You make a cup of coffee and sit down at your desk, already flooded with other people’s opinions before your first meeting.
Speaking of, you tap the invite and hop into the Zoom.

This is the kind of morning that followed me around my twenties. Now, I don’t have “a boss” and I get to work for myself, so the number of Slack messages has definitely decreased, but it’s still a comfort zone trap that I tend to fall into. You know, the one where you let other people decide what matters to you.

A mentor once told me that opening up your phone first thing in the morning is like having hundreds (if not thousands) of people yelling at you before you’ve even had the chance to decide what you’re having for breakfast. That was over 10 years ago (shoutout Antonio) and it still stands.

There are a lot of pieces that go into extracting oneself from the reality of that kinda morning. I may not be able to unsubscribe you from the group chats or turn off your Slack notifications for you, but I can at least share what has worked for me.

Full disclosure: I don’t do this every Monday, but I try to do it as many Mondays as I can.

5 pillars of a Monday routine I actually enjoy

1. No phone.

Listen, I didn’t invent this one, but it does make for a better morning. I sleep with my phone on Airplane mode (it goes into Airplane mode at 2AM because I set an automation to do so, if you want a how-to on that, just email me!) and in the other room. My alarm is the Hatch, so I don’t need my phone to wake up. Anytime I get a little lazy with myself and drop the phone on my nightstand before bed, 9 times outta 10, I’ll be checking email before I’ve put my feet on the ground. So no, my addiction isn’t cured, but at least it’s in the other room.

I try to get at least 30 minutes of no-phone time in the morning. Maybe that’s journaling, or taking a walk, or just sitting on the couch with the pups. By the time I usually get my phone, it’s for a reason, rather than just out of habit.

2. A good cup of tea.

With the weather getting colder, most of my mornings now start with a cup of tea. I like to alternate between a lemon/ginger cube and Raazi’s English Breakfast tea. I don’t know why the world works like this, but pouring any type of milk (except almond, it curdles) into a breakfast tea first thing in the morning is probably one of the most satisfying visuals you could ever experience. I’ve been really loving Raazi’s tea and love Arjun Narayen’s, the founder, origin story, the packaging, and the fact that the tea bags are plant-based. No microplastics here! 🙅‍♀️

I like tea in the mornings, especially on a Monday, for three reasons:

It slows you down. You have to sit there and drink it before it gets cold because cold tea on a cold day is not the vibe.
It’s easy to make. I love me a latte, but I have trained my roommate (aka boyfriend) to make those for me because I don’t like reading instructions and the espresso machine is a whole thing. It’s also loud! They don’t tell you that on Instagram, the loudness. I’d rather heat up water to the perfect temperature in my ridiculously expensive kettle and plop a bag in a mug.
It warms me up. It’s cold. I like to be warm. Simple as that.

3. A few simple questions to reflect.

Diving straight into my todos each week always felt really difficult because I didn’t know how to balance my personal and professional sides or prioritize my week so both got the time they needed. Starting with my 3-2-1 reflection has been a great way to ground my week in gratitude, celebration, and what to shift. I like these prompts because they are easy to remember and make it less about what did I do, and more about how I felt.

3-2-1
- What are 3 things you’re grateful for from last week?
- What are 2 things you’re proud of?
- What is 1 thing you want to do differently?

4. A brain dump.

If you’re anything like me, you think of ten things to do every minute of every hour. I have tried to build complex systems for my todos, but nothing seems to stick. Really, I’ve tried just about every app. The only thing that seems to work is a physical notepad + Google Tasks because I can see it on my calendar (visual girlies, you get it) and I don’t need to add another app to my stack.

At the start of a week, I brain dump all the random tasks onto this simple Life/Work todo list pad. I’ve tried about six monthly/weekly planners and this is the only thing I’ve used consistently for 6+ months. Brain dumping helps me just get things onto paper and out of my head. I can decide later if I need or want to get that thing done.

5. Prioritize & plan.

In order to figure out what I can actually get done, I look at the week ahead to see what events, meetings, or work-to-be-done that’s already slated on my calendar.

Then, I ask myself:

What do I need to do vs. want to do?
Am I making time for what matters? For me, that means:
- Solo time
- Homework
- Writing
- Volunteering
- Movement
- Time with people I love
What are my top 3 priorities of the week? What would make this week a success?
- This goes onto a sticky note on the master todo list.

Then, I can slot todos into my Google Calendar as events (if it’s errands or appointments) or as Google tasks (if it’s something like following up with someone, paying a bill, or completing homework).

How do you plan your weeks?

Do you have a go-to app or process? I’d love to hear! I think everyone’s style is so different, and it’s fun learning what people do (or don’t do) to set their weeks up to be supportive.

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