Basically taking care of whatever can't be done through the week. There is also a need to relax, should your job be demanding, but if you have an idea in mind, it's important to spend some time to do some research on it and bootstrap it.
What are you hoping to find out with this question? So called “productive” people do as wide a variety of things on the weekend as everyone else. Some people are productive in 30 hours per week, and some people are productive because they work 80 hours per week. Some people make furniture, some relax to Netflix, some read academic papers, and some get extra sleep. Since we’re on HN, many startup founders spend their weekends working.
I am not OP, but I'm interested in this question too.
To be honest, I'm not too sure what "everyone else" does on the weekend either, and am curious about that also. Sometimes I end up intending to be productive, but end up more-or-less procrastinating and neither being productive nor genuinely relaxing. I've often wondered whether to attempt to be more disciplined and productive on the weekend (e.g., work, exercise, piano practice, read "serious" books, etc.), or to embrace relaxing and absolving myself temporarily of any responsibilities.
I would very much welcome any testimonials from anyone who has made either decision!
Some people have good health and boundless energy. For such people, spending more hours working can pay off -- at least, in the short run. They may actually be heading towards burnout without realizing it.
Some people don't have that kind of energy. Pushing themselves too hard actually hurts their productivity in the short term.
It can also vary over time for the same person. Maybe some weeks, they can do more, but other weeks, they really need some recharge time.
Wisdom is almost always specific to a particular set of details and is about a person having deep knowledge of that specific situation and acting on it in an informed manner. It tends to not generalize as well as we would like.
> Wisdom ... tends to not generalize as well as we would like.
Ain't that the truth!
I should maybe make it clear -- I'm not really asking for advice. Rather, I would find it very valuable to read how a variety of people have answered this question for themselves.
There is an inevitable bias to what we can observe other people doing: if I decide to show up to the gym, or to some social activity, or whatever, then I can see other people who have made the same decision. But one doesn't really get the opportunity to see firsthand how people spend their downtime.
Rather, I would find it very valuable to read how a variety of people have answered this question for themselves.
I agree with this idea. It would also be nice if they fleshed out the how with some of the why in their case (without violating their personal sense of privacy, preferably).
To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with curiosity. And I wonder the same thing and have similar questions myself. I just wanted to better understand the question because as stated, it’s open ended enough that it might not yield very useful answers, and it feels like there’s a larger question underneath.
If the real question is whether to relax vs be more disciplined, it’s a good question, but hard to answer. We’d have to dive a little deeper on what being “productive” means - that’s an open ended criteria that people define for themselves. Some people don’t feel productive unless they’re working, some define productivity in terms of important things does per hour of work and refuse to measure weekend productivity.
It’s all over the map. Maybe the important questions are, “what are you trying to get done this week/year/lifetime”, and “what does it all mean?” ;)
Try using an app like Daylio to track habits and mood. Then try both ways, work your ass off for 4 or 5 days, and then just chill and do whatever for 2-3 days. Then try splitting up your day so X number of hours are hard productivity and the rest of the day is more relaxed. See what works for you.
I am definitely not a constantly productive person, but a productive weekend day for me usually involves waking up on the early side (5-6am) and then hydrating, eating and fitting in some type of home exercise.
Late morning (10:30-11?) go to a cafe with my wife. This time can be social and relaxing, but can easily turn into an opportunity for reading or working on something for a couple hours. I like to bring my laptop to cafes and find it is a very good atmosphere for me to focus.
At this point it might be getting close to dinner time. If I have done everything I described then I probably am already satisfied with my productivity, but if I am behind on household chores I might listen to music and clean the kitchen after dinner. Now I can finish out the night with some Netflix or vydia feeling like I earned it.
There are a few different permutations to this. Some weekends both Saturday and Sunday might look like this, others one day could have a more involved social event planned. I find that if I start off the morning similarly then the rest of the day tends to go well, so my advice is to master your morning so that you transition into the middle of the day with energy and momentum.
Judging by other comments I guess you're right. I think OP was asking the wrong question. Maybe the question should be "How", not "What". I would be very much interested in how ones could improve a particular skill in their weekends, what is their strategy/schedule? How long they've been doing it?
* Sleep
* workout
* some computer games
* grocery shopping
* hacker news and some other forums
I read on weekends quite a bit. Currently reading Release It! Design and Deploy Production Ready Software. Outside of weekends, I really only read books during my commute in the morning.
I also wrap up laundry on weekends- bed sheets, towels, clothes.
I do cleaning my apartment on weekdays and so on weekends, everything is pretty clean generally aside from laundry. I will dust and vacuum the apartment and clean the bathroom over a couple days in the week and so it never accumulates to feeling like a big task.
I might go out shopping for clothes or books (there’s an amazon book store in walking distance) with my spouse. Occasionally we go out to eat on weekends.
The kitchen we never have to devote time for on the weekends. My spouse and I have a strict rule to never leave a dirty kitchen overnight. We cook a few times each week in quantities to last the whole week and we promptly wash cookware and dishware.
On Saturdays, I wake and get to the office by 4am, just like a regular workday. The only difference is I'll leave around 9-10 am (vs 5-6 pm M-F) when the family is awake. Let's me catch up on things I missed during the week.
Sundays I'll try to keep my mind off work but still find myself thinking of things.
So you’re working ~13h per week day and ~6h per weekend? To be honest that doesn’t sound healthy at all. What are your reasons to work that much, if you’re willing to share?
Usually I'm trying to balance out many things, which makes it more difficult than the weekdays:
- getting more sleep
- working on my side startup
- getting some form of exercise
- reading all the things I've queued up during the week
- errands around the house
- spending time with family
The weekends, I find, are more hectic than the weekdays. There's no set schedule and it changes every weekend.
I tend to work Saturday morning for a few hours on something I find interesting work or otherwise and then do housework and get ready for the next week. Saturday nights I might go out with friends. Sundays I try to see family or friends for brunch and then relax and cook
I wouldn't call myself productive, but I take a great pleasure in Security bounty hunting. My day to day work doesn't leave me a lot of freedom to spend a few hours focused in something.
Family time. Getting ideas for blog topics, write up a few pointers and .. Working out. Catching up with friends. If you are doing Forex, then spend a couple of hours analyzing last weeks' results and begin charting for the next. Read the news. Catch a movie. Listen to a full album. Do the groceries shopping for the week (while listening to that full album).
If I am not currently reading a book, I go through my phone's photos and pick my next read (evertime I walk into a Waterstones I take photos of the books' covers I find interesting.
Edit/addition: I email myself articles I want to read, chores I need to do, brainfarts I want to explore, and these must either be done, or take a place in my calendar, or (my favourite) be deleted :)
The first thing I do is a list of the things I want to. The list could have anything from chores like cleaning and laundry, to reading or playing games, alone time sometimes makes the list too as does work and/or hobby projects I want to spend time on, etc. I sort it and I try to work through it.
No idea whether I'm productive, but generally, 2h in the morning of studies, then cook, eat, rest, 2-3h in the afternoon for studies, and then rest.
By studies, I mean whatever I deem productive to studying... At this moment, I'm doing a math mooc, but I did certifications as well, new technologies, or simply engage in second work when I had one.
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[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 156 ms ] threadTo be honest, I'm not too sure what "everyone else" does on the weekend either, and am curious about that also. Sometimes I end up intending to be productive, but end up more-or-less procrastinating and neither being productive nor genuinely relaxing. I've often wondered whether to attempt to be more disciplined and productive on the weekend (e.g., work, exercise, piano practice, read "serious" books, etc.), or to embrace relaxing and absolving myself temporarily of any responsibilities.
I would very much welcome any testimonials from anyone who has made either decision!
Some people have good health and boundless energy. For such people, spending more hours working can pay off -- at least, in the short run. They may actually be heading towards burnout without realizing it.
Some people don't have that kind of energy. Pushing themselves too hard actually hurts their productivity in the short term.
It can also vary over time for the same person. Maybe some weeks, they can do more, but other weeks, they really need some recharge time.
Wisdom is almost always specific to a particular set of details and is about a person having deep knowledge of that specific situation and acting on it in an informed manner. It tends to not generalize as well as we would like.
Ain't that the truth!
I should maybe make it clear -- I'm not really asking for advice. Rather, I would find it very valuable to read how a variety of people have answered this question for themselves.
There is an inevitable bias to what we can observe other people doing: if I decide to show up to the gym, or to some social activity, or whatever, then I can see other people who have made the same decision. But one doesn't really get the opportunity to see firsthand how people spend their downtime.
I agree with this idea. It would also be nice if they fleshed out the how with some of the why in their case (without violating their personal sense of privacy, preferably).
If the real question is whether to relax vs be more disciplined, it’s a good question, but hard to answer. We’d have to dive a little deeper on what being “productive” means - that’s an open ended criteria that people define for themselves. Some people don’t feel productive unless they’re working, some define productivity in terms of important things does per hour of work and refuse to measure weekend productivity.
It’s all over the map. Maybe the important questions are, “what are you trying to get done this week/year/lifetime”, and “what does it all mean?” ;)
Late morning (10:30-11?) go to a cafe with my wife. This time can be social and relaxing, but can easily turn into an opportunity for reading or working on something for a couple hours. I like to bring my laptop to cafes and find it is a very good atmosphere for me to focus.
At this point it might be getting close to dinner time. If I have done everything I described then I probably am already satisfied with my productivity, but if I am behind on household chores I might listen to music and clean the kitchen after dinner. Now I can finish out the night with some Netflix or vydia feeling like I earned it.
There are a few different permutations to this. Some weekends both Saturday and Sunday might look like this, others one day could have a more involved social event planned. I find that if I start off the morning similarly then the rest of the day tends to go well, so my advice is to master your morning so that you transition into the middle of the day with energy and momentum.
* Sleep * workout * some computer games * grocery shopping * hacker news and some other forums
I read on weekends quite a bit. Currently reading Release It! Design and Deploy Production Ready Software. Outside of weekends, I really only read books during my commute in the morning.
I also wrap up laundry on weekends- bed sheets, towels, clothes.
I do cleaning my apartment on weekdays and so on weekends, everything is pretty clean generally aside from laundry. I will dust and vacuum the apartment and clean the bathroom over a couple days in the week and so it never accumulates to feeling like a big task.
I might go out shopping for clothes or books (there’s an amazon book store in walking distance) with my spouse. Occasionally we go out to eat on weekends.
The kitchen we never have to devote time for on the weekends. My spouse and I have a strict rule to never leave a dirty kitchen overnight. We cook a few times each week in quantities to last the whole week and we promptly wash cookware and dishware.
Sundays I'll try to keep my mind off work but still find myself thinking of things.
- getting more sleep - working on my side startup - getting some form of exercise - reading all the things I've queued up during the week - errands around the house - spending time with family
The weekends, I find, are more hectic than the weekdays. There's no set schedule and it changes every weekend.
If I am not currently reading a book, I go through my phone's photos and pick my next read (evertime I walk into a Waterstones I take photos of the books' covers I find interesting.
Edit/addition: I email myself articles I want to read, chores I need to do, brainfarts I want to explore, and these must either be done, or take a place in my calendar, or (my favourite) be deleted :)
Saturday is Pizza Night -- homemade of course.
A few hours on Sunday to take care of the side business.
Sometimes I think about something that requires a little bit of peace and quiet away from the office.
By studies, I mean whatever I deem productive to studying... At this moment, I'm doing a math mooc, but I did certifications as well, new technologies, or simply engage in second work when I had one.