Learn what you are doing wrong on the weekends and what you should be doing instead.

This is Day 5 of our 31 Ways to Get More Done series. To read all the posts in order, visit the introduction post to see the outline of the whole series.

I recently received a review copy of Laura Vanderkam’s book What the Most Successful People Do on the Weekend: A Short Guide to Making the Most of Your Days Off.

Contrary to what you might be expecting this post to be about, I’m actually not going to advise you to plan a lot during your weekend.

In Laura’s books, she gives great advice on how to view the weekends differently.

I can personally relate to the book because every Monday I feel like I never got anything done that I wanted to do during the weekend. Saturdays are usually spent at my son’s sporting events and then Sunday seems like a blur.

It starts off with my guilt that I didn’t wake up early enough or have myself together enough to attend church. Then, I usually fix a really nice, big breakfast for my family to sit down together and enjoy. The afternoon is spent on laundry, cleaning, errands, visiting grandparents, and my attempt to get ahead and prepare for the week.

But after reading Laura’s book, I realized that I’ve been thinking about this all wrong and need to change my approach. Feeling torn in so many different directions and feeling like I never get anything done is not the way you want to feel after the weekend.

Yes, I do a lot of things, but do I finish any of them? Do I end the weekend feeling relaxed, refreshed, or recharged? The answer is quite simple and honestly a resounding no.

So, what does Laura advise in her book?

• Limit the must do’s. Limit the number of things that you must get done over the weekend.
• Break down tasks. Split them up into smaller tasks that you can complete during the week or lower your standards to get them done on the weekend.
• Plan fun. Yes, I said it. PLAN fun. Make it happen.
• Break your weekend up into chunks. Friday night, Saturday morning, etc. so that you have things planned or plenty of time set aside for yourself and your family. (If you sign up for my email list, you can find a
• Don’t work. Not once in this book did Laura advise catching up on work or getting ahead on work during the weekend.

I highly encourage you to check out the other tips she shares in the book to help you avoid doing any work on the weekend.

More Resources to Help You Make the Most of Your Weekends (affiliate links):

• What the Most Successful People Do on the Weekend
• 168 Hours
• Family Fun Night

Ideas for How to Spend Your Weekend:

Speed Cleaning: The Friday Fast Five

Prep the Night Before

Date nights: How to Keep the Romance Alive

8 Tips to Make Sunday Night More Fun

Read other posts in the 31 Ways to Get More Done series.

Original Photo Credit via Creative Commons License – Paul Fundenburg

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