The workweek passes quickly in a whirl of meetings, errands, and carpools, and you arrive home on Friday night feeling drained. To avoid letting the stress of the work week spill over into your weekends, consider using a few of the simple strategies outlined below. You owe it to your sanity to do so.
Prioritize Using The Eisenhower Box
What is significant is never urgent, and what is urgent is seldom necessary," stated Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th president of the United States. It's simple to mistake the two, urgent and essential, when life gets chaotic.
Even though it may seem critical, responding to every communication in my inbox is unnecessary. Is there something more productive I could be doing with my Time? Something that would help me advance in life.
However, when I take the time to think about my work this way, I typically conclude that only some emails in my inbox need my immediate attention and that there are more significant things to be done.
Regular Morning Exercise
Even if you aren't a morning person, try to get your workout in first thing in the morning because it will free up Time in the evening. Do you find it hard to get out of bed in the morning? Try some of my suggestions for getting up early to work out.
Plan Meals Regularly
Meal preparation can be a pleasant experience for some, but it is just another tedious task for the vast majority. And for many, the concept of preplanning one's meals may be pretty novel; do you still "wing it" when it comes to eating? The advantages of preplanning one's meals are numerous.
You may save money and time while improving your diet and eating habits. This is logical, right? When hunger hits at work, it's far less likely that you'll go for a chocolate bar or chips if you have a healthy option already prepared and at your desk.
An excellent way to save time and relieve stress throughout the week is to devote some Saturday or Sunday to meal planning and preparation. And you don't have to spend your whole weekend in the kitchen, doing dishes and going to the supermarket.
A 10×10 Challenge Might Simplify Morning Clothing Choices
Lifestyle and fashion blogger Caroline Proctor came up with the 1010 challenge. The concept is straightforward: you can only wear items from your chosen capsule wardrobe for ten days.
Aside from this one guideline, nothing else is set in stone, so that you can approach this task with your unique ideas and methods. Limiting yourself to 10 items of clothing for a week and a half may sound limiting and scary.
Still, careful preparation can help you save Time in the morning by eliminating the stress of "not knowing what to wear" and propel you to experiment with new combinations of clothing.
Set One TV Night
Spending a lot of time in front of the television (or "boob tube") wastes valuable Time. To avoid wasting Time in front of the tube, I now set aside one night a week to binge-watch all my recorded TV episodes.
I prefer to watch a few hours of the TV once a week instead of a few hours every night because it allows me to truly unwind when I know I have a few of my favorite series to watch. I also avoid wasting Time by skipping the ads with the fast-forward button.
Make Sunday Your Beauty Night
To save time throughout the week, I like to perform all of my time-consuming beauty regimens at once on Sunday night. For instance, I'll give myself a manicure and a deep-conditioning treatment for my hair.
Wednesday or Thursday Is Your Errand Day
During the week, I always have unexpected errands to run. I prepare a list and do all my chores in one day instead of attempting to cram them into my already-packed schedule. I chose those days since my list of tasks had grown, and I had more time on the weekend.
Take 5 Minutes Every Night To Clean
I'm sure everyone can spare a quick five minutes. You might not believe that tidying up your home for five minutes will make a difference, but I assure you it does! The five minutes may be used to do everything from picking up loose items about the house to processing mail, loading the dishwasher, cleaning the kitchen countertops, etc. You'll be glad you completed these minor jobs before the weekend arrives.
Do Laundry Midweek
Laundry is a chore I'd instead not do on the weekend, so I try to get it done during the week. Midweek, I'll do at least one load of laundry and keep the rest for the weekend to wash, dry, and fold. A little goes a long way.
