If you’re reading this, you’re probably not whiling away the weekend at a ski lodge or even catching your kid’s school play. No, instead, once again, you’re stealing time from yourself to give back to your employer. If so, you’re not alone: according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 34 percent of employed people work on an average weekend day. Still, you’d probably prefer to get some actual rest from your labors; certainly, your productivity would benefit from better work-life balance. Here’s how to reclaim your time off.
(Photo Credit: Death to the Stock Photo)
1. Stop wasting time during the week.
How much time do you spend each day checking social media, or chatting with co-workers, or reading various extracurricular websites? Odds are, you don’t know. Keeping a log of how you spend your day can be illuminating in this regard. In principle, it’s similar to the food diaries kept by many dieters to keep them honest about their calorie intake. If you look at your log and see that you’re spending five hours a week looking at puppy pictures on Facebook, you might opt to spend that time differently and get more free time on the weekend.
2. Take real breaks.
Why do workers waste time on the job, especially when they know they’ll have to make it up during their free time? In short, because there’s only so much creativity you can squeeze out of one tired brain, before you run out of juice.
Instead of staring at your screen so much, get up and take an actual break. Walk around your office, get a drink of water, or best of all, get outside and run around the block. Do anything you can to get your blood flowing and give your eyes and brain a rest.
3. Resist useless meetings.
If you’re the boss, think carefully before you plan meetings for issues that might be better addressed over email or in a smaller, more casual group. If you’re not the boss, enlist your manager to help you resist mandatory attendance at meetings that won’t further your team’s goals. You’ll probably still wind up going to a few that you’d rather skip, but thinking carefully about your schedule will help free up as much of your schedule as possible.
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