Ah the glory of the 5 day weekly grind, all for the excitement of 2 days off. Who doesn’t love Saturday and Sunday? This post is about how to optimize your enjoyment during the 2 measly days off per week while you still have them. I say while you still have them because hopefully, if you are like me, you are working towards living everyday as the weekend. I am going to go through how I currently view the weekend in order to optimize my happiness instead of just letting it drift past.
I’m lucky as this weekend is Memorial Day so I will be getting Monday off. Woo! This means my ‘work day’ to ‘play day’ ratio is 3:4 as opposed to the norm of 2:5. This is huge! It increases my ‘play day’ percentage from 28.5% to 42.8%. There are 3 things that I like to make sure that I do every single weekend (even if I only get one day off) that I’m going to out line. I will also say what they are going to be for me this weekend and the importance of why every one should be doing them.
The first is to make sure you try something new every single weekend. This can be anything from trying to read a new book genre to something crazy like learning to drive a dirt bike. This is important because it will make the weekend memorable. When you look back during the week it won’t feel like the weekend floated past. It will give you something interesting to talk about when people ask. This doesn’t have to be anything expensive, for example my ‘try something new’ task this weekend is to go to the Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium in Montreal to see two shows about the galaxy and the stars. It’s $14 and supposed to be a great time.
The second thing I do every weekend is learn something new. This ties in with the first goal as most likely, if you are trying something new you are going to learn something new as well. Another great way to learn something new that I use daily is to listen to podcasts. I personally recommend The Tim Ferriss Show*, as there is an episode for every type of person there. My challenge for you next time you are driving in the car, find a podcast that interests you and put it on instead of music. I did this challenge and I cannot remember the last time I have listened to music while driving, I always have a podcast on. Not only am I learning but I feel I am more alert and don’t get sleepy while driving.
The third and easiest weekend goal is to treat yourself. This doesn’t have to be anything massive. For example last weekend I treated myself with cinnamon roll pancakes from The Pantry, a delicious breakfast restaurant in New Haven, Connecticut. They were $4 and worth every penny, along with the 4 hour sugar crash that followed. You deserve to treat yourself because, until you can live every day as your weekend, you made it through another grueling week!
Once bonus thing that I personally try and do every weekend (or even every day) is enjoy the world around you. Make it something small, like the cloud outside your window, the sound of a bird, the sun, or even the rain. Last night I biked to the ocean and once I got there I sat and listened to the waves hitting the rocky piers for some time before biking home. Think about the natural phenomena behind the small things and get curious about them. This is a wonderful time to be alive, make sure you don’t take the small things for granted.
*Don’t worry about it Tim, this one is on me.
LearnToBeCurious 