Well, I was. The fact though was that I never thought about how I could best use my time; I just whined. Why? Because I didn’t knew how!
Last weekend, I implemented a simple idea and it turned out to be one of my most productive weekends ever!
And since it was so liberating and useful, I thought I should share it. Here’s how you can do more things / get more things done during weekends:
(1) Eat healthy.
This is the most important rule I’ve learnt. Drink plenty of water so smooth blood circulation enables your brain nerves to function properly. You’ll also be able to rationalize and make decisions more efficiently.
I often experience improved body/mind coordination and hand/eye dexterity as well just by going through a 1-day fruit diet. A healthy diet also keeps me energized and thus allowing me to do more work, and work much faster.
(2) Sleep early so you can rise early.
This is the second most important rule I’ve learnt. By sleeping early, I’ll be able to get the kind of quality rest that I need so my body and mind can perform at an optimum level.
Sleeping early allows me to rise early, and that’s a perfect start to the weekend: The cool morning breeze blowing at my face just feels absolutely revitalizing; the morning air is also clean and refreshing, filling up my lungs with new oxygen that instantly gets my intellectual engine running.
Sitting down at the coffee table facing my front lawn, I would make myself a hot cup of black mocha, place it beside my laptop and begin working. I found that the first 2 hours after waking up are my most productive working hours and since then, I have been sleeping and rising early every weekend.
Quoting one of Benjamin Franklin’s advice: "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise"
Well said, sir.
(3) Plan your weekend activities.
If you want to schedule what you are going to do, you must first know what you want to do. Create a plan that lists all the activities you want to do but had been putting off for far too long.
Think about what you want from all aspects of life. Incorporate the most important things that you want to achieve into your schedule, take mine for example:
- A healthy lifestyle – Exercise/Work outs, cooking a healthy meal, reading, etc.
- An industrious career – Blogging, reviewing my investment portfolio and looking through new corporate annual reports, etc.
- A clean and neat living environment – House cleaning tasks, home improvement, and other household chores, etc.
- A leisurely lifestyle – Shopping, TV, social gathering, and other entertainment activities.
Depending on how your dream lifestyle is, plan your weekend accordingly.
(4) Schedule your plan.
Next, schedule your plan so you can look at the best way of turning your dream lifestyle into your reality, and you do this via a schedule.
How to Schedule? Good question.
I was once the type of person that never wanted to know how to schedule. I simply never had a schedule because I didn’t want to get tied down by one. I always preferred having the ‘freedom’ of doing whatever I want, whenever I want it. Little did I know, this perception of ‘freedom’ was completely inaccurate!
While it is theoretically correct to say that I have the time to do a lot of things because I didn’t have schedule to keep to, the reality wasn’t so. I actually spent most of my time thinking what to do next, and ending up doing nothing much except continuing “thinking” of things to do… never actually doing it -- what a complete waste of time.
I later realized that a schedule does not tie me down at all -- since I’m the one who’s in control of my own schedule. A schedule actually provides me ‘freedom’ because it allows me to do whatever I want and plan a time for it. I simply decide what to do, squeeze the activity into a timeslot and voila! I’m free to do it.
To give you a rough picture of how your schedule can look like, please refer to my other blog post where I shared: My recent weekend schedule. You can use it as an example and begin drafting the kind of lifestyle you want. Simply schedule it down and LIVE IT!
For more beginner's tips about scheduling, you can also see: Tips on How to Schedule.
(5) Follow the schedule and evaluate the schedule.
Planning is only going to be as good as execution. If you can’t follow your plan, all the plans in the world wouldn’t make a difference. Take action and stick to your schedule.
I never had a schedule before and having to follow one is quite tricky to be honest. If you’re like me, here are some tips to help you stick to your schedule: How to Stick to a Schedule.
We also need to know that not all plans work. Plenty will fail and most schedules will NOT give you the form of satisfaction you want. Change your schedule when necessary and keep tweaking it until you find the most fulfilling one.
Look back at your old schedules, and see what you would like to change or which activities you might want to cut out. After all, you are trying to schedule in accordance to your dream lifestyle.
Closing Notes:
To increase the productivity of your weekend, first adopt a healthy lifestyle and get plenty of rest ahead of the weekend, so you shall have the strength, stamina and energy to perform your desired activities. Ensure that you have your activities planned out and proceed with scheduling. Follow the schedule and make changes whenever necessary. You will soon find that your weekend has a lot more to offer than just sitting around lazing all day.
"Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions." – Benjamin Franklin.
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