"Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don’t need to escape from?" – Seth Godin.
Oh, sing it to me Seth you seductress. You had me at “I went to a canoe camp.”
Have you ever opted to go to work instead of doing something fun, and then you sat at work miserable about it? “Had I known that this is all we’d get done today, I would have gone skiing.”
No, you wouldn’t have. You likely used work as an excuse for why you can’t do the things you love when the truth is you don’t get to do as much of the things you love because you’re disorganized and don’t get enough work done when you need to.
Have you ever opted to go have fun instead of doing something productive, and then the whole time you were on the ski hill or golf course or in your garden you guilted yourself incessantly about how uncommitted you are to be a professional?
I certainly have and it’s a horrible feeling. Work hard, play hard. Or even better: Work smart, play hard.
Fix this problem by doing the following:
Get more vacation by managing your week, your month, your quarter your year.
Weekly.
Monday and Friday don’t schedule any client interactions. That way you can come into work every week and kind of ease into it. If I have important calls on Monday, I think about them Sunday. I have had a long weekend at work for years now. I tend to set up my week on Mondays and tidy up my week on Fridays unless I’m planning to have fun.
When I choose to have fun, there is zero work done. I don’t take a call. Fun days are as important as the days when I focus, which are …
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
I jam them full of calls, meetings and when required speaking engagements. I try to never speak on Mondays or Fridays because it ruins my weekends. There are exceptions of course.
Why don’t you make this your new policy right now?
From here on in, don’t schedule anything on Mondays or Fridays.
Move all meetings to Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.