Something I've noticed over the past few weeks that I didn't realize before is the finite mental capacity we have each week. If we're going all-out day after day, it's recipe for burnout, loss of motivation, boredom - you know, all the fun stuff we simply assume is a just a necessary part of the work (hot take: it's not).
My week looks a little something like this: Monday through Friday, I spend anywhere from one to a few hours coding, learning - whatever it looks like to push me in the direction of where I want to be in the future. During those days, I give myself until around 6pm to do it, and if I don't - well, I just don't get my work done for that day (which I don't like, and which doesn't happen often, mind you).
After 6pm on weekdays, I dedicate my time to purely non-work activities - reading, spending time with my friends and loved ones, being outside, building a puzzle, watching Mad Men.
And then weekends, I don't code. I don't work. I don't stress out about sending in job applications or getting back to every email. Or at least I try my hardest not to.
Weekends are sacred and restful. And this is a huge transition from how I treated off-time in the past. Before, I was going nonstop, pushing myself well past any limits that may have been there. Now, I have a healthy separation between work time and rest/play/decompress time.
Restful weekends and evenings allow for us to recharge and get excited about the work we get to dig in to the next day or week. When Friday rolls around, I can really feel the difference in my energy level compared to Monday when I was fresh and ready to roll.
I love Fridays, but - dare I say - I think I may now love Mondays more.
This post was originally published on February 28, 2020 on my blog.
Top comments (0)