How Weekend Productivity Can Lead to Success

My day yesterday was the epitome of a “lazy Sunday.” While I did laundry, made dinner and washed some dishes, I honestly just sat around in sweats and switched back and forth between football games and House Hunters on TV.  I thoroughly enjoyed every single second of my R&R, but I can’t help but feel a tad bit guilty.

In college it was so easy. Weekends were spent drinking too much at night and then recovering the entire next day. Rarely did I get anything accomplished besides eating horrendously greasy food and catching up on Real Housewives.Now that I’m working so much during the week, I’m exhausted by the time Friday rolls around and want nothing but to lie in bed sans hangover and get a grip on my exhaustion.  #PostGradProblems

Recently I came across this Forbes article titled, “14 Things Successful People Do on Weekends.”  I decided to do a little compare and contrast on the article and realized if the tasks listed are a true measure of success, I have got a lot of work to do:

• Make time for family and friends.

          Check! I have some pretty great friends and an awesome family, so this is always an easy one for me.

• Exercise.
  Fail. But don’t worry – I’m starting back to the gym tomorrow. (I swear I haven’t been saying that every day for the past six weeks…)
• Pursue a passion.
• Ummm….*Crickets*

• Vacation.
  Fail. Getting pulled into work on a Monday that should make for a long weekend crushed my camping/hiking dreams this time.
• Disconnect.
  Check! I can’t even log on to my Gmail account without someone at work G-Chatting me. Yesterday I practiced the art of “Go Invisible”.
• Volunteer.
  Fail… I got nothin’.
• Avoid chores. 
• Fail. Working 55+ hours during the week leaves me no choice but to clean and do laundry on the weekend.

• Plan.
  Fail. The beau and I have been “talking” about a pre-Christmas ski trip for the past six months. We’ll see if it actually happens. Heck, I can barely plan my meals for each week.
• Socialize.
  Check! I kicked butt at Scattegories Friday night with some great peepskiis.
• Gardening/crafts/games/sports/cooking/cultural activities.
  Check! I threw a bunch of ingredients into a crock pot. Totally counts for cooking.
• Network.
  Fail. As a girl in PR, you’d think I’d thrive in any atmosphere where I can network. Truthfully, I hate it and if I have to network during the week, I avoid it on the weekends. (Clearly something I need to fix.)
• Reflect. 
  Check/fail. I’m not sure. In typical Millennial fashion, I did spend some time thinking about all the wonderful people and things in my life, but at the same time started stressing about all the things I want to have/do that my bank account won’t allow.
• Meditate.
  Does praying to the football gods for a Redskins victory over the Cowboys count? If so, then Check!
• Recharge.
  Check times five! Certainly caught some Zzzs this weekend.

For past several months, my argument has been, “I work enough on my career success during the week. No need for that on the weekends.”

But after failing a majority of the 14 tasks that make people successful this weekend, I realize it’s probably time for some change. Normally, when I read these types of articles, I start to freak out thinking I’m living life all wrong and I’ll never become “successful”. I’m going to take this little evaluation as incentive to be more productive on the weekend and teach myself to save some energy for my life beyond work. This evaluation was a reminder that being successful isn’t all about work, work and more work. It’s about learning to balance work with all of the other things you love to do in your life.

As driven career girls, the sooner we can learn how to love our careers and our lives at the same time, the better. We’ll be much happier with the lives we’ve created – what’s more successful than that?

Let me know what you do outside of work that gets you a little closer to your balanced, successful lifestyle!