Do Your Weekends Rejuvenate You?

I came across an article by Laura Vanderkam "What Successful People Know About Weekends." The title alone intrigued me. I was wondering if there is a secret that I don't know. I decided to find out!

Here is a quote from the beginning of the article:

We all look forward to weekends. But are you really making the most of them?
Few people are, because we tend not to think about weekends holistically. Here's one way to look at it: There are 60 hours between 6 p.m. Friday and 6 a.m. Monday. Even if you sleep for 24 of those hours, that leaves 36 hours for other things. That's the equivalent of a full-time job. Yet many of us hit Monday morning with a vague sense of having squandered our precious downtime on activities that didn't help us recreate.

This article made me think about my weekends. As I looked back at my weekends over the last few months, I was sadly surprised to see how few plans I had made that would really work to rejuvenate me and make me ready for Monday morning. Sometimes I was so tired by Friday evening that the only thing that I could do was to drag myself to the gym and then collapse on the comfy chair in my living room. On a few Saturdays--when we haven't had a snow or a freeze issue--I was able to drag myself to the gym again. Yeah, I had a few coffees or lunches with friends and my regular soup kitchen volunteer once a month, but I had not CONSCIOUSLY planned really any of those events, they just happened.

In her article, Laura walks the reader through a 3-step process to make the most of your weekend:

1. Ask what you would like to do with your time. Laura writes how we tend to spend our weekends on just completing have-to-dos. So what can we do to change that? Make a list! She tells us to write a list of 100 or even better 1000 things that you would like to do or have in your life. Things that would make you and your loved ones happy. Journal, here I come.

This is the beginning of my list:

• hang pictures on the wall
• work on my OLW project
• create/make cards
• meet friends for coffee or lunch
• see a movie
• gym!!!
• fresh air (should be easier once the weather gets warmer)
• Skype
• cook something new 
• discover a new restaurant
• write my celebration post
• blog every day in March (had to include that :)
• comment on at least a few blog posts

2. Make a plan. Laura talks about anticipation and how it can make us ever happier. I know that looking forward to a dinner with friends this past Sunday night made me happy many days in advance. In the article, Laura gives specific examples of how to plan your weekend (it really is worth reading her whole article; it isn't very long). I don't have my next weekend planned yet, but maybe in March, one of my posts will be a planning for my weekend post.

3. Honor the Sabbath. This last point that she makes is beautiful! It does not really matter if you are religious or not, but making sure that your work does not take more than a few hours on one day of the weekend, helps you to go back on Monday refreshed and rejuvenated. "Spend at least one of your weekend days focused on family, community, inspiration, gratitude, and the larger questions of life and you'll hit Monday in a different frame of mind." I don't think that I could have said it better!

I am off to thinking about my next weekend and how I can make it a better one. How I can plan activities that will rejuvenate me and get me ready for the following busy week. 

How do you organize or plan your weekends? Do you go back to work on Monday mornings feeling refreshed and ready for a new week?