During the week you work really hard, but you take it easy on the weekends— that’s the mantra many of us have, but little do you know, some of your weekend habits are actually killing your career! Most of us tend to sleep in, work a few hours a day if we need to catch up, and write some overdue email responses, but these habits and more aren’t doing your career any favors.
Below, we are going to discuss five weekend habits that kill your career; if you discover that you have some of these habits, it’s okay; you have plenty of time to change how you use your weekends!
Sleeping In
One might think that sleeping in on the weekends will help you recharge and get your energy back, but this is incorrect; when you do this, you’re disturbing your body clock which is used to you waking up at the same time during the week. When you disrupt the sleep pattern that your body knows, you’ll feel it; you’ll be tired and groggy, and you’re also wasting a few precious hours by getting those extra z’s, which you could’ve used productively.
It will be hard to get used to, but try to wake up at the same time you do for work— you’ll eventually get used to it, just like with every other habit or routine you have, so give it a shot. Those extra hours of sleep aren’t really helping you recharge, and you’re missing out on a few hours that you could’ve used to do anything .
If you truly want to be successful and advance your career to the next level, a great first step is to wake up early on the weekends.
Busy Busy Busy
If you’re the type of person who is always on the go, you may want to slow things down on weekends if you want to be successful; if you’re constantly busy with work, you’re exposing yourself to so much stress that your productivity, even your health, can drastically decline. You don’t want to burn yourself out before you’ve reached your career or life goals, so take it easy on the weekends.
Now, you don’t want to just vegetate for 48 hours straight, slumped on the couch watching SportsCenter all day; instead, do a few light activities so that you have something to do but you’re not putting in a ton of effort. The weekend is a time for you to recharge, but you don’t want to get too carried away with the relaxation.
If you have to do something for work, limit the time spent on that activity to 2-3 hours for the whole weekend . If you want to have something to do during the weekends that’ll distract you from work, find something you’re passionate about or do some (light) chores around the house.
When you give your mind a break from work and engage in some other activity, you’re opening your mind up to new ways of thinking; that hobby or those chores could help you find the solution to a problem you’ve been dealing with.
Too Much Fun
On the other hand, you don’t want to throw your responsibilities to the way-side on the weekends and just get turnt out of your mind; you still want to take some time to think about your career, whether you think about goals for the coming week, or where you want your career to be in five years. You should think about the company you work for or own, and go over any plans for the future, or even think of areas that need improvement; just brainstorm and don’t forget to write those thoughts down too, so you don’t forget.
While you do want to enjoy yourself and free your mind and body from work, take an hour or two throughout the weekend to contemplate, brainstorm, and just envision where you want your career to go. Once you have a plan, no matter how rudimentary, enact upon it; don’t prevent yourself from reaching your goals.
Always Plugged In
During the weekend you might feel like you need to remain tethered to your email and work phone, but if you truly want to have a successful career, you need to know when to unplug and relax. If you are able to have a few hours on the weekends to yourself, turn off all of your devices and do something relaxing, putting zero focus on anything but relaxation.
If you work with a ragtag team that always seems to have a weekend crisis, set up a specific time during the day for you to answer emails, phone calls, etc. Instead of worrying all day about whether or not you got an email about the business burning to the ground, take half an hour at a preset time to attend to your business duties; don’t forget, this is the weekend, after all.
When you give yourself a break from the world, you’re able to come back refreshed, and you might even have started to think about things in a different way, all because you took some time to zone out the world.
No Monday Game Plan
If you approach the coming week (let alone the coming month or year) with a plan of action, you’re going to waste a lot of time at work creating the plan for all the things you’re going to do at work, which isn’t going to send you up career ladder. If you create a to-do list for the upcoming week, you’ll be able to get right to action on Monday, rather than spending more than half the day creating a plan of action.
When you know what’s on your schedule for the week, or even month, you’ll feel less stressed and the tasks that you need to do will seem less daunting. Once you’ve got a to-do list or plan written out, you won’t be worried about forgetting to do an important task, and you’ll be able to focus on the job at hand.
Most of us have some weekend habits that aren’t doing us any favors, but it’s never too late to change! Whether you’re climbing the first rungs of the corporate ladder or you’re only a few years away from retirement, there are some things you can do on the weekend that’ll help your career; these routines aren’t hard to get into, but once you do, you’ll be glad you did.
