Many look at weekends as two days that go quickly. A weekend, however, is a lot longer than you think. There are 60 hours between that 6 p.m. Friday logout and that 6 a.m. Monday alarm clock. Even if you get some shuteye for 24 of those hours, you still have 36 waking ones to work with.
Thirty-six hours is plenty of time for relaxation, fun and more importantly, recharging your physical and mental battery. Unfortunately, not everyone gets to enjoy the weekend. Some do Saturday and Sunday activities that don’t make them feel energized or refreshed.
If you want to be successful in your job and your life, you’ll want to have great weekends becausethey’re instrumental to workday success. Your goal is to make sure your weekends leave you motivated, not disappointed or exhausted. This way, you can hit Monday ready to go.
Make the most of your days off by taking note of these six suggestions:
- Look for a New Hobby
Highly successful individuals use every minute of their free time doing something they love doing. Here are few examples:
- Sir Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Group, plays chess
- Warren Buffet, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, plays the ukulele
- Former secretary of state Condoleeza Rice golfs
Don’t waste your time scrolling through Twitter or sleeping off hangovers when you could be doing something more productive with your life. Pick up new hobbies that you love. If you like crafting, for instance, you could trymonthly scrapbooking subscription boxes to make an awesome and personalized scrapbook. Who knows? Your new hobbies could turn into a lifelong passion – or better yet, a possible income stream.
- Unplug from Work and Tech on Saturdays
Many employees never truly leave work at work. Their mobile devices allow them to connect to their work e-mail and read messages even after the 5 p.m. whistle blows on Friday.
Even the hardworking employees in the office, however, need time to disconnect from any work-related stuff. On weekends, make the conscious decision to take a “tech Sabbath,” even for a few hours.
While you’re unplugged, do fun activities, such as visit a museum, take a hike or go fishing – all without your smartphone in your pocket. If you’re getting the itch to check your work e-mail or look at what people are posting on Facebook, entrust your mobile phone to a trusted friend or family member.
- Work Out Your Body
At the beginning of the year, a lot of people committed to hitting the gym or working out to lose weight or stay in shape. Then, life happened and many forgot about their New Year’s resolutions.
Although you can’t blame yourself for neglecting to exercise because of urgent and important stuff in your life, you can make up by using your free time wisely. The weekend is an excellent opportunity to get your body moving.
Consider starting your Saturday by jogging or going to the gym if it’s open. If you knock off working out early in the day, you’ll have the energy to do everything else you have planned for the rest of your weekend.
- Spend Quality Time with Your Family
People who have a hectic work schedule on weekdays may not have time to take their spouse for a romantic diner or eat supper with their kids. Don’t be an all-work-and-no-play type of person.
Use your weekends to do fun activities with your family. Play with your kids and spend quality time with your spouse. If you’re by yourself, meet up with your friends and connect in more ways than just sending an SMS or communicating on social media.
You only get to live once, so you might as well enjoy it with the people that matter most in your life.
- Schedule Downtime
Filling your Saturdays and Sundays with different activities can be fun. Doing this to the extreme, however, can take its toll both physically and mentally.
Instead of scheduling every second of your weekend on productive activities, set aside some time to chill by yourself. Take this as an opportunity to recharge your physical and mental battery. You could read a book, play computer games or simply do nothing.
- Prepare for the Week Ahead
Many employees wake up in a groggy panic on Monday mornings. These individuals have clearly failed to mentally prepare themselves for the workweek.
Every Sunday night, analyze all the jobs and errands you need to do throughout the week. Then, come up with a plan on how you should tackle them. This way, you can wake up on Monday ready to take up whatever gets thrown at you.
Don’t let your weekends go to waste. Spend them wisely by following these six suggestions.
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