For Work-Life Balance, Work on Sundays
When you walk home on a Friday night, are you worried about work all weekend? Do you end up doing the job so you don’t get overwhelmed on Monday morning? Here’s a wild idea: get in the habit of working every Sunday night.
Lexi Reese, COO of online HR firm Gusto , is a meticulous planner. “Without a plan,” she says, “you can quickly start living the life you regret.” She has to leave the office at 5 every day, even when she runs a startup. So every three months she sits down to draw up her calendar; then every week she corrects it. And every Sunday night after she and her husband put the kids to bed, Reese analyzes the work week ahead.
If you are like me, you were overcome with a wave of physical disgust at the thought of working Sunday night. But if you are like me, you may also realize right now that you are already spending Sunday night worrying about getting back to work. And maybe, just maybe, if work is already ruining your weekend, you can get something out of it.
This does not mean that you have to do most of your work on Sundays (unless you really want to). This means planning so you can spend Monday morning at work and not catching up. This means looking at your calendar and deciding whether you need to reschedule or cancel certain appointments if you really want to get the job done.
Two days before the Sunday night session, Reese ends the work week with a Friday afternoon checkout. What has she achieved, what has not been achieved, what needs to be changed? Once again, she stops by briefly on Mondays and Wednesdays after lunch. The point is to adjust the course every couple of days, instead of realizing that she should cancel the appointment or push back the deadline at the last minute. It doesn’t fire every time, but it makes Reese’s regular work week less chaotic.
So if you’ve already struck a work-life balance and feel great on the weekends, and if you never have to apologize for a last-minute cancellation, or if Sundays are too sacred, forget about it all! If you can do all of this at 5 o’clock on Friday, you will have more strength. But if the job is taking up your personal time, perhaps sacrificing some of your time will help you restore the rest.