It’s that time again — Sunday morning. And for about 80% of professionals, the Sunday Scaries are already lurking.
That sinking feeling that your brief taste of freedom is ending.
The mental checklist of all the stuff waiting for you tomorrow.
The subtle shift from “weekend you” back to “work you.”
I’ve been an entrepreneur more than half of my life — a card-carrying TGIM (Thank God It’s Monday) type who genuinely gets excited about diving back into work.
Yet somehow, I still feel that weekend-closing anxiety creeping in as Sunday unfolds. As we remind our kids that it’s a week night, and we all begin to prep for the routine and expectations ahead.
It’s amazing how deeply rooted this feeling is in our collective psyche.
And how powerfully it drives our purchasing decisions.
The Sunday Scaries, in fact, create the PERFECT buying trigger:
When anticipatory anxiety kicks in, your dog brain starts catastrophizing about the week ahead. Suddenly that online course, productivity app, or comfort purchase feels not just appealing and cathartic, but necessary.
Meanwhile, loss aversion has you grieving your vanishing weekend. Your brain scrambles to recapture that feeling of autonomy, often through retail therapy.
And then there’s our deep need for control. When Monday feels inevitable and overwhelming, making a purchase decision — ANY decision — gives you back a sense of agency, even if just for a moment.
I love how clever brands tap into this weekly psychological pattern.
They know when you’re most vulnerable to making comfort purchases and position their products as Sunday saviors. Not selling to you: they’ve got your back.
THEY’RE the antidote to your scary pain. (At least for today.)
Product Payoff: Both Bath & Body Works and Calm have mastered Sunday timing. Bath & Body Works’ “Self-Care Sunday” campaigns drop when weekend anxiety peaks, with customers spending 22% more on Sunday evenings than other days. Meanwhile, Calm strategically offers “Sunday Reset” meditation content exactly when anxiety spikes, helping drive its growth to 4.5 million paid subscribers and a $2 billion valuation — by jumping on specific needs at just the right psychological moment.
The weekly cycle affects us all differently, but understanding these predictable patterns reveals opportunities to genuinely help people through difficult transitions. Not just sell them more stuff.
Action for today: Sketch out your ideal customers’ WEEKLY emotional journey. (If you ever wonder why you created buyer personas, here’s a perfect use case.) Are there predictable peaks of anxiety or transition where your product could provide genuine relief? The calendar might be your most powerful — and underutilized — marketing tool.
Want to explore how to ethically leverage psychological triggers like the Sunday Scaries? Tap that reply arrow and let’s chat about timing-based marketing opportunities. Or reach out to my team of consumer psychology experts at Graphos Product.