How to Make Your Weekend Last Longer
The weekend can be a little disappointing. You’ve had a long week, so you want to relax. But there is also a laundry room to catch up, shop in the store, and attend football games. Before you know it, Sunday night is already approaching and you are feeling something new but not rested before the next week.
Writer Joanna Goddard recently discovered a trick to make her weekend seem longer and more rewarding – making a movie date with a friend on Sunday night.
I realized that no matter what I did all weekend, the anticipation of Sunday night – and its afterglow – stretches every day and takes away Sunday fears. Rather than anticipating work, your mind is preparing for the evening’s adventure.
Likewise, you can start your weekend with a firm Friday night or Saturday morning routine that will help you feel refreshed from the past week and ready for the weekend ahead. And these chores won’t bother you that much because you, too, have this awesome Sunday night routine to look forward to.
My personal favorite way to start the weekend is to go to the local farmers market with my husband and son on Saturday morning. We each have our favorite stands and walk around eating cheese samples and buying grilled food for dinner.
Of course, your favorite weekend routine might look completely different. I asked Lifehacker staff what rituals they have for the weekend. The most popular response was good coffee + bad TV (although editor-in-chief Melissa Kirsch prefers the New York Times crossword over bad TV, which is probably why she is the EIC).
Financial writer Lisa Rowan volunteers at a local animal shelter every Saturday morning, officially making her the nicest person in the state. The writer Nicole Dicker cleans her apartment on Friday nights, so she wakes up on Saturday to see a clean house; Meanwhile, health editor Beth Skorecki kicks off her Friday with a beer mug because “this week is damn DONE and I don’t have to get up at a certain time in the morning.”
If you find it difficult to come up with a perfect daily routine, make a list of simple things that will make you happy or help you feel refreshed, and think about how to include them at the beginning and end of the weekend. According to Laura Vanderkam , author of What the Most Successful People Do on the Weekend, the benefits of a happier weekend can seep into the work week as well . Vanderkam tells Forbes that weekends are the secret weapon of professional success.
“You have to get on Monday to start,” she says. “To do this, you need a weekend that rejuvenates you, rather than tiresome or disappointing. Cross-training makes you a better athlete, and exercise, volunteer work, spiritual activities and hands-on education make you a better worker than if you were just working all the time. “
But Meg Selig, author of Changepower! “37 secrets of success in changing habits” , writes for “Psychology Today,” that we should not be afraid to change the time on the time of the habit . A good daily routine should be strengthening and enjoyable. If they’ve started to lose their luster, it might be time to change and try something new:
Whether a good routine is calming or restrictive may depend on what you need in your life right now – solid woods to support you and fuel your creativity, or a renewed sense of self from opening up to new experiences.
So if cleaning on Friday nights is no longer for you, try a beer on your porch.