Bo Eason: How Top Performers use Sunday to Rock Monday

So many people start the week with complete dread—as the song goes, *just another manic Monday.*Worse, the Monday dread starts to seep into Sunday, and then Saturday and Friday—and suddenly there is no space for the present moment.

But that is not how it has to be. It’s not how the happiest, most successful and productive people live their lives, and it should not be how you live yours. To rock your Monday, you must own your Sunday. To learn how, we caught up again with Bo Eason, author of the national best-seller, “There’s No Plan B for You’re a Game” (St. Martin’s Press, 2019).

For Eason, an NFL legend, acclaimed Broadway playwright and performer and international story coach, Sundays are dedicated to recovery for the whole family. Eason says, “Unless there is a trip planned to the farmers market, my wife Dawn and I will have massages and then Axel, my son, and I will watch game film together, and I’ll spend time with each of my two daughters, Eloise and Lyla. We always have Sunday family dinner. It’s a day that we reset and reconnect, recover and recharge for the week to come.”

In his book, Eason breaks down exactly what you need to do to be the best in the world at what you do—and why that matters to your life and to the world. The book includes four crucial steps as well as a set of 16 rules to guide you to the best life, including rule # 14, I will be a Champion at Recovery.

Here is your Sunday playbook, so you can hit Monday like a boss.

Recover like a champion

Eason’s advice is to guard your recovery time and make it part of your life. This is how the best stay at their peak: They become the best at recovering and build it into their training schedule.

Depending on the week of training, and the recovery needed, what does your Sunday recovery need to look like for you? Take time to move your body—even if just a walk or bike ride or a game of catch in the yard. Then set aside dedicated time for recovery, stretching, sauna, massage or whatever TLC is needed to regenerate your tissues and restore your energy reserves.

Review your declaration

Every day, and especially on any given Sunday, you must review your declaration and evaluate your relationship to your commitment. Eason says this over and over again. “When you make a declaration, you cut off your options and simplify your life immensely.”

Then you must be ruthless about the pursuit of that dream. Set time each Sunday to be with your dreams—write them down and read them out loud. “What I’m teaching you here is dream big, dream huge, be totally unreasonable with your dreams,” Eason says. “Your dreams can and should get bigger. Your declaration should grow.”

Examine your story

“I love this quote in ‘King Henry:’ ‘All things are ready if our minds be so,’” Eason says. Once you have set a declaration and have a plan, you must commit to it day in and day out. Along the way, as you might expect, obstacles, challenges and distractions come up—all the things that can deter you from your dream.

You get to choose what is more important. Says Eason, “Your dream, your declaration take precedence over everything else.” Block time to consider all that has passed as well as the week that is to come—this is your story, Eason says, “physically moving through time in the real world, embodied through you.” He adds, “You get to write the story.” Use this time to decide if the story is unfolding as intended. If it isn’t, then determine and decide what you do you need to do to reset your course.

The ability to be the best at what you do is your birthright, according to Eason. Ready to declare what you want to achieve and become the best in the world at what you do? Eason’s book shows you how.

Images: Todd Cribrari, Inspiro Studios