Tag Archives: organisation

Four Tips to Revolutionize Your Weekend!

Are you counting down the hours till you can leave the office and enjoy the weekend?

Perhaps you’re looking forward to a quick Saturday morning run and then drinks and dinner with friends in the evening?

Or is this more like you?:

You get home on a Friday, exhausted mentally but then struggle to switch off from work. Because of that you wake up in a sweat at 2am panicking because you can’t remember if you sent your boss that promised email.

Then you wake up on Saturday groggy and grumpy and in the mood to pick a fight with your boyfriend. You don’t mean to but you just can’t seem to turn your brain off from work and relax and enjoy the weekend.

If that sounds like you then I can completely relate!

Until I started doing these 4 simple changes I really struggled to unwind at the weekend. So Sunday evening would come round with me wondering where the weekend had gone and why I wasn’t I feeling rested and ready for the new week ahead.

So here they are. 4 achievable yet effective tips to change your weekend from washout to wonderful:

1. Achievements list
Every Friday afternoon get into the habit of taking five minutes to write down all of your achievements – both at work and in your personal life.

Maybe you delivered a great presentation at work or implemented a new system. It could be that you tried a new bar with friends and managed to get to the gym twice in a week.

Write down at least 10 things but aim for 20. I tackle the task by going through my diary to see what meetings I’ve had and what I got from them.

2. Gratitude
With your achievements list done spend another two minutes writing at least 20 things in your life to be grateful for.

It could be something as seemingly insignificant as a sunny day, lunch with colleagues or a painting done by your kids.

If you initially struggle try thinking of things you would miss if they weren’t in your life.

3. Brain dump
Spend a few minutes writing everything down that’s on your mind: things that you need to still do at work, things you need to do at home, the shopping on the way home etc, etc.

With everything written down you can move on to the last stage: planning the week to come.

4. Plan the forthcoming week
With your brain dump complete go through every point and schedule it in for the next week. Then make a note of anything that you need to do that coming weekend – such as picking up a present for a friend.

By doing this brain dump and planning the next week you won’t wake up with the cold sweats at 2am on Saturday morning worrying about what you haven’t done.

I use these Worksheets to block out activities and then know what I’m doing and when:

The weekend is time for you to enjoy yourself, relax in front of a movie enjoying a takeaway with deliveroo delivery or catching up with friends and family.

Follow these simple tips and you’ll find that you start the weekend on a positive note and end it ready to embrace the week ahead.