Happy Weekend!
During my career, I have observed successful business people, whether they were in sales, in leadership or self employed and have heard them talking about some similar habits on weekends. Based on seven top habits that I have seen, here are my recommendations for your weekends.
1. Entertain yourself and enjoy the time with your loved ones
You need a real break with a week of business on Friday evening; empty your mind from the stress which comes with the desire and drive to achieve goals. Get together with the loved ones, friends, family or lover, dine out, take your kids to watch a movie, party and socialize. Cook a meal if you like that, paint, sing, dance, take pics or do that hobby which gives you energy and pours the stress out of your body and refreshes your mind. The more you were busy or stressed during the week, the more you’ll enjoy your time out or your partying time during the weekend. The harder you worked during the week, the harder you deserve to play on Friday night.
2. Finish that report and Declutter the desktop
If you have unfinished work from the week that you absolutely need to do before Monday morning, Saturday morning is the best time to do it. You are fresh and you want to get it done to avoid the rest of the weekend to be ruined by that work. That report to write, this blog article to post or slides to add to your presentation; all of these are best done on Saturday morning.
Declutter your desktop, both the physical one and the virtual one. It feels good to check the boxes of that to-do list which has been built up during the week. Pay the bills, renew contracts, order repairs, etc. Running the to-do list may also mean, shopping, laundry, home organization, car detailing, or similar tasks.
3. Sleep during the weekend
If you had to wake up early during the week or had to travel and missed some sleep time, catch up during the weekend with that Saturday afternoon nap or by sleeping in on Sunday morning. Most people need an average of 7.5 hours to keep the level of energy and performance up. Some people need more, some need less. I know I need 8 hours. Depriving yourself from sleep on a longer period has awful consequences on your health. Don’t sacrifice your health for anything. Without your health every other goal or achievement is worthless and you won’t be able to enjoy them.
4. Sportive Activities & Outdoors
If you miss one or two gym sessions during the week, catch up during the weekend. You live in a suburban or countryside? Then enjoy the outdoor activities. You are in a big city? Then get out to somewhere to see further horizons. If you can’t leave the city, at least go to a rooftop to look at the horizon faraway, even under the rain. It’s refreshing and the different perspective (literally) of looking 20 miles away breaks up with the monotony of your week in full urban surroundings 24/7. Of course if you are lucky enough to live near mountains or beaches, there is no excuse for missing your weekly hike, or your by-the-beach walk.
5. Meditate or Reflect on your achievements and on yourself
Make sure you spare at least 30 minutes if not more for isolation, reflection, meditation or prayer. If you are spiritual or religious, go to the venue which helps you looking inside, in an isolated corner. If you are atheist, Sunday morning is a perfect time for meditation or simply reflection on you, your deep desires, your satisfactions, your achievements during the past week and before, and the lessons learned.
It’s that time of the week for creating positive energy with a positive outlook. Review things which bothered you and plan how to avoid them in the future. Review things that didn’t go as expected and clearly articulate the lessons learned from them. Repeat that learned lesson a couple times. And finally review things which did go well and celebrate them. More and more successful people do this on a daily basis, so do it at least on a weekly basis and see for yourself how it empowers you.
6. Read a book, Take a course, Learn
Read a book in 30 minutes or less. Yes, you can. There are several apps giving you the resume of a book, in audio, in less than 30 minutes. Blinkist is one of them. I personally read a book every day during my sports time; I do one hour long hikes daily, and listen to a new audio book during half of that time, and enjoy the nature for the rest. You won’t like every book you start reading, and you are not obliged to finish them all. Even those you don’t like, enrich you as you have learned about a different perspective although you don’t agree with them. While those you like, teach you something in a short period of time, and in an efficient way.
Learning is not just through books. At MEDDIC Academy, in a short period of time, we have already contributed to sales efficiency of thousands of Enterprise Sales Executives. You have online courses in any area nowadays where in less than an hour, you can learn a life changing concept, like a sales methodology. Investing your time in learning is the activity with the highest ROI. So go for it.
7. Plan your next week
Sunday afternoon or evening, take at least 30 minutes to plan for your next week activities. Review your quarterly and annual goals both personal and professional. Reflect on what activities will help you achieve them. Define priorities. Then, confirm appointments, review and put a final touch on that slide deck, check travel itineraries, remove unnecessary meetings from your calendar and make room in your calendar for activities which will help you achieve your goals.
I hope this helps and would love to read your feedback. What other activities you have on weekends that I didn’t mention?
