It’s time to stop waiting until the last-minute to ask “what’s for dinner”.
If you’re an entrepreneur, you understand every minute counts and every new decision takes away a sliver of your brainpower. That’s exactly what it does when you don’t plan dinner in advance.
Think about it.
You have a long stressful day making 100 decisions. When you finally log off, the last thing you want to do is make one more decision. A major decision which impacts how well you sleep, your energy level the next day, and ultimately a decision that affects your entire future (sounds dramatic, but read below).
What else might happen?
• Your business doesn’t come close to reaching it’s goal for the month
• The talented team member you just hired takes a “better job offer” elsewhere
• You blow your budget for the week since you only have time for takeout meals
• That weight gain you’ve been working so hard to fight off…well, it’s back
I’ve gone down this rabbit hole before, ordering takeout food 90% of the week.
I’d wake up after barely sleeping (even after a bottle of tums), with brain fog that felt like the worst hangover ever. This would spill into my morning by disrupting my workouts, then prompting me to choose the more “convenient” breakfast option (hard to resist an NY bagel), and ultimately causing me to make poor decisions all day.
It was a F’ed up version of groundhog day which I couldn’t figure out how to stop.
Which is why I want to share this with you.
Planning your weeknight meals Sunday morning is proven to reduce decision fatigue & increase focus.
If I could go back in time, I’d sit down for 10 minutes every Sunday morning to plan my weeknight meals.
I’ll break it down into simple steps for you:
Find somewhere quiet (or plug in headphones) to sit with a timer for 10 minutes.
Write down your schedule for the week ahead (i.e. happy hours, family obligations, late night work sessions, etc.).
Now pick 1-2 nights you’ll order healthy(ish) takeout food, instead of ordering something fast & greasy adhoc. My wife and I do sushi Wednesday nights.
The remaining nights you’ll need to choose an easy recipe or two. You can batch cook these ahead of time (make 1-3 portions worth), or simply stock the fridge with ingredients to cook on a less busy weeknight.
Make your life easy by grocery shopping with a few simple tricks I explain here.
At first this system for weeknight dinners might be tough. But I promise every Sunday morning you do this will continue building upon your habit, and over time you WILL be consistent.
• No more arguing over “what’s for dinner” while you’re tired after a long day
• You’ll sleep like a baby after eating a healthy meal, meaning you will wake up with more focus and clarity to make more strategic business decisions
• Those weeknight takeout options will give you something to look forward too and feel more like a well-deserved “reward”
• Your business will grow exponentially since you’ll be a more efficient leader that is properly energized and has more brainpower for what matters through the week
I’ve been on the other side of this (the wrong side) and you can trust me that it sucks. Don’t fall into the same pattern I did by taking the easy route every night with unhealthy dinner options, just because they are easy.
If you follow this simple framework, you will feel the positive difference faster than you think. That will compound over time.
Thanks, talk to you again next Sunday am.
Steven
Meal Planning OS
P.S. If you haven’t seen it already, make sure you download my free Grocery List Blueprint which will set your grocery shopping on auto pilot.
Also let me know if you’d like me to cover anything in particular. Just reply to this email.
