The Experience
Imagine shutting down your laptop Friday afternoon with the intent of doing some work over the weekend. Imagine telling yourself “I had a long week. I’m spent. I deserve to shut down now. I’ll do some work over the weekend.” before heading out of the office. In a blink of an eye, it’s now Sunday morning. You tell yourself “I can knock out whatever I need to do” in the morning, but the next thing you know, it’s now 2 PM - no work has been done. Your friends want to hang out but you tell them “I am swamped, let’s hang out next weekend.” Now, it’s 9 PM - nothing done - and you power up your laptop with the dread of seeing a swarm of emails coming into your Inbox from your client. After wasting your entire weekend not in the present moment, your hands are cold and clammy on a Sunday night. This is a place where you might find yourself; you are experiencing the infamous Sunday Scaries. Yikes!!!!
Why This Wrecks Your Life
This situation torpedos overall fulfillment in life, and it’s not exclusive to consulting but very common among anxious high achievers. The main reason why this is so important to address is because the Sunday Scaries strip you of your time with friends and loved ones. You’re not 100% present with them because your attention is split between them and the unknown that’s coming up at work on Monday. Or, you’re thinking about what you didn’t get to on Friday. Whatever your mind is concocting, you’ve wasted a ton of energy and time. Your body treats worrying about work just as bad, if not worse, than working itself.
My Lightbult Moment
This was me every Sunday and it reminded me of my days procrastinating until the night before a college exam. I eventually realized I couldn’t keep throwing away every weekend like this; I deprived my family and friends. I ultimately needed a system to protect my time. I came to the realization that there was hope. Of all the Sunday scaries I’ve had over the years, I did not recall one instance the following Monday when a Partner or client yelled at me, let alone fire me. I knew it was all in my imagination which can run wild. With that, I came up with a routine or formula that worked!
My Anti Sunday Scaries Playbook (no more than 15 minutes)
The following are steps I follow along with rationale behind them. They help alleviate the Sunday Scaries. Just like working out, this muscle weakens when you’re out of practice or forget.
#1. Label Emotions: Write down on any piece of paper the topic emotoins you’re feeling. Mine were usually: “Guilt”, “Shame”, “Embarrassed”, “Worried”, “Super Anxious”, “Bad”. Any adjectives you can come up with. The process of writing ensures your mind actively focuses as opposed to letting your labels flee. These negative emotions are what you want to get rid of. But in order to do that, you have to take it a step further.
#2. Label Negative Thoughts: Write down your thoughts associated with these emotions. Even if you don’t have a thought except for a feeling, try your best to articulate the thought that follows the emotion. When you write them down on paper, you will see how absurd and distorted your thoughts are. Mine were commonly:
“I’ve procrastinated for way too long.”
“Crap, I’m going to let my client down.”
“Holy cow, I am going to get fired.”
“If I lose this job, I’ll be on the streets.”
“They are never going to like me.”
#3. Reframe Negative Thoughts: This is one of the critical steps you will need to take. Next to the negative thought, reframe it in a positive and constructive manner; basically, it’s seeing the cup as half full as opposed to half empty. To do this, read your negative thought and think objectively about your thought. Often times, you will find yourself commiting a number of common mental fallacies, just to name a few:
Jumping to Conclusions (e.g., “Holy cow, I am going to get fired.”)
Maximizing the Negative (e.g., “The quality of my work is shit.”)
Overgeneralization (e.g., “My entire weekend is shot”)
All or Nothing (e.g., “Today, it’s do or die”)
(Note: We will touch on many more in future posts)
Example Entry
Date | Emotion | Negative Thought | Reframed Thought |
|---|---|---|---|
8/24/25 | Worried | Holy cow, I am going to get fired. | Of the 100s of Sundays, I’ve never been fired the following week due to work I did not finish over the weekend. With those odds, I will likey not get fired |
8/24/25 | Guilt | I’ve procrastinated for way too long. | It’s still early Sunday morning, there is still time left. I can’t assume I’m out of time. |
The next time Sunday night rolls around, don’t default to panic mode. Grab a pen, do the three steps, and see what happens. Write down the worst thought and reframe it. While you have momentum, scope out what needs to get done and make a decision whether the work can wait until Monday or must be done on Sunday. 9 out of 10 times, it can wait based on my experience. Once you go through this process, shut down that laptop. You will feel lighter on your feet. Even if you win back just one Sunday, it’s worth it. Sunday Scaries are like hangovers: avoidable, predictable, and 100% self-inflicted!!!!!
And if you’ve got your own Sunday Scaries hacks, reply and share—I’m collecting them for a future post.