With articles covering the never ending benefits to limiting your workdays to expand efficiency and creativity, how could I possibly justify working weekends? As it turns out, our weekends can be more productive than previously imagined. Unless your boss is forcing you to work every weekend, working during this time can be extremely rewarding and fruitful. I would argue, even, that weekend work contributes more to one’s well being and success than work week tasks.
Peace
For those of us who don’t necessarily have to work on the weekends (yet we do anyway), a Saturday morning sunrise is beautiful tranquility. An early rise on a Saturday or Sunday morning is a treat. The smell of sweet morning dew. The gentle breeze of a world slowly stirring to life. What better environment to work in?
Rarely do we get the opportunity to capitalize on these times. The times of peace. The morning routine that shuffles most of us out the door before we’re even fully awake is gone for today. When it really hits you that you don’t need to go in to work the morning routine becomes calm and uplifting. It is during these times, I argue, that we do our best work.
Exercise
The peace of a weekend morning is a gift. You don’t even need to explicitly work. Go for a run, ride, or walk. Go hit someone in a boxing gym. Play some pickup basketball or return some volleys at the tennis court. Do some laps at the pool. Physical activity has been shown to boost creativity. Does this even count as work? Of course! While you’re running on the empty streets of your neighborhood, doing laps in the pool, or sinking threes like no tomorrow, your mind is churning through the challenges of your business. Kill two birds with one stone. This is the pinnacle of efficiency people. The exercise will keep you healthy, allow you time to think, and give you the energy needed to implement the solutions you’ve come up with. What more could you ask for?
Focus
Do you ever wonder how productive you could have been without the endless phone calls, emails, and employees during the week? Weekends allow us to take a step back and look at our business objectively.
This is the time for BIG thinking. For strategizing. For planning. For reflection. Creativity needs space and time to flourish. Two things that are in short supply when you’re being pulled in ten different directions during the typical work day.
While most of us don’t have the luxury of completely unplugging during the weekend, take this (albeit brief) period to step back and look toward the future. Where do you want to be in a month? How about six months? A year? These questions are too big for the week when we’re focused on just getting through the endless pile of things to do during the day.
Conclusion
The weekend is the perfect time to get creative. These rare periods of silence and sequestration from the busy world around us provides TIME. Time to reflect, plan, and strategize. Get out there, work up a sweat, and bust through your mental blocks. Get work done every weekend. Just don’t overdo it.
Live a little too.
