Sunday, March 10, 2013

Review of What the Most Successful People Do on the Weekend

Bismillah.

I recently listened to a quick talk on making better use of weekends, What the Most Successful People Do on the Weekend: A Short Guide to Making the Most of Your Days Off (by Laura Vanderkam)

Mrs. Vanderkam central thesis is to strategically plan weekends for two main reasons: anticipating enjoyable events adds value to overall happiness derived from an activity + there are too many hours in a weekend not to plan, however lightly.

I listed some notes  from the Mrs. Vanderkam's guide. Feel free to check it out.
  1. Make a weekend plan. Weekends is all about things you want to do. You need to hit Mondays refreshed and rejuvenated.
  2. Don't wait till Sat to plan the weekend. Plan 3-5 anchor events (3 hours each). Increase the joy of an activity by planning,optimize your bliss. 
  3. Ask yourself what will you really enjoy doing, and make a plan, and stay committed to it. 
  4. Most of us think of weekends as Sat and Sun. Friday 6pm to Monday morning,  60 hour blocks: 24 hours sleep, there are 36 hours left. Would you take a job,  without knowing what you will do?
  5. Loafing time needs to be consciously chosen.
  6. Choosing labors.of different sorts,  yes, your weekend needs to be different thank work week
  7. Make a List of 100 dreams- anything you want to do. Weekends are precious, they ought be cultivated. .
  8. Simply knowing that you will leave the house will give you more order in your life.
  9. Exercising,  spiritual,  and socializing. Choose from one event from each category will make an optimal portfolio. 

Specific action items for weekends
  • Use your mornings
  • Create traditions : Fulfilling habits lead to happiness
  • Schedule downtime
  • Make time to explore
  • Plan sometime fun on Sunday night

If you want to read it for yourself, check it out on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/What-Successful-People-Weekend-ebook/dp/B00AEDDPP0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362924058&sr=8-1&keywords=Laura+Vanderkam

2 comments:

KareemibnRajab said...

Great info. I'd like to know how much of a difference this has made on your weekends thus far.

Nabilrab said...

Kareem, thanks for the comment. A loose weekend structure/plan has made the weekend more productive and enjoyable. It is all about consistency, the weekends with plans turn out to be more focused and productive. Time is valuable, and the more we respect ourselves, the more we respect what we do with our free time.