Better Weekends?

In numerous conversation these last 5 weeks, I have made the comment “I am not sure if every day is a work day, or every day is a weekend”.

I am not really looking for an answer as each day is proving equally satisfying, energising, stimulating and fulfilling.

It has got me wondering though about what I will now call “squandered weekends”.

We often meticulously plan our working days. We might make “To Do” lists, schedule the same time of the day, or the same day of the week to perform particular tasks and commute to and from our work place adhering to a regular routine of departure times and method of travel.

But how often do we get to Sunday evening and feel a lack of fulfillment about the weekend that was?*

I also wonder for those times when we lament the return of the working week, if a greater sense of fulfillment about the weekends activities would lesson such lament, therefore making the arrival of the working week ahead one to more look forward to than to dread?

In some 30 years of traditional employment, I was never a maker of a “To Do” list. I also rarely planned my workdays unless they involved travel. Sure, I had a broad framework for the day, but rarely an actual plan.

Interestingly, since moving to a more “freelance” existence, I have begun to make a daily “To Do” list, which includes a combination of my actual work activities and also a range of other things which may be social, athletic, reading, calls to make, shops to visits, websites to review and any number of other things.

And, I do this seven days a week.

I am not questioning my past work habits or methods, I will leave that to others to ponder.

What I am wondering is if my weekends would have been far more interesting and fulfilling if I had actually planned my ‘non-work’ time activities more precisely or even had a broad framework for my weekends. All too often I would answer the Friday afternoon question “what’s on for the weekend” with “I haven’t given it much thought really – I don’t know”.

However, if I had been asked on a Sunday night, what’s on for the working week, I would have easily answered.

Our leisure time is important for health, balance, family and renewal, so surely, we should pay it the same care and attention we give to our working life.

I will leave that with you ponder this clear Brisbane, Australia Saturday evening.

*For those who have a working week spread over weekends, substitute with “days off”