Quiet Weekends: Loading fonts into your work week reduces “Sunday angst” and burnout
Not surprisingly, the career advice we’ve all been secretly dying to hear—that there are benefits to starting the week with a lie-in and tackling your to-do list at a leisurely pace—went viral.
However, according to one career expert, starting the week with the essentials can be counterproductive.
Instead, workers struggling to strike a work-life balance should prioritize their work to make room for a quieter end of the week. Enter “quiet weekends”.
What is a “quiet weekend”?
Despite rising workplace trends aimed at increasing worker autonomy and enclosing personal time, discussions about mental health and overwork are still growing, according to a Glassdoor study, suggesting workers are still struggling to find a good work life balance. Meanwhile, mentions of the word burnout have reached record highs over the past year.
That’s why Jill Cotton, career trends expert at Glassdoor, encourages workers to try Quiet Weekends.
Rather than chaotically trying to catch up on a Friday and starting the weekend stressed out, this means maximizing your productivity earlier in the week so you can really unwind and relax when you log off from work for the week.
This might seem like freeing Fridays (if that’s your last workday of the week) from long meetings, tough deadlines, or tasks that can’t be done in one day.
“Unlike quitting quietly, quiet weekends aren’t about slogging along and doing whatever it takes to keep from losing your job,” says Cotton. “The tasks set aside for the quiet Friday often require special focus or extra headspace and can be done alone. Done right, quiet weekends can be a smart tactic for employees to maintain their work-life balance and get the most out of their jobs.”
Why it works
Working at full speed every day and filling the calendar to the brim is not sustainable. In addition, adequate time off from work is crucial for mental health, as well as creativity and productivity.
“But when you head into the weekend still wired from a stressful week, two days may not be enough to unwind and unwind from your job,” Cotton warns, adding that it could be at the root of Sunday anxiety .
By taking on fewer big tasks on a Friday, workers can avoid the feeling of panic as they rack their brains in bed trying to remember where they left off at the end of the week – and consequently picked up again on Monday must be tomorrow.
“Quiet weekends can help employees unwind completely at the end of their workweek—protecting their precious days off and allowing them to recover and get back to their best after the weekend,” explains Cotton.
5 tips to implement quiet weekends
As tempting as the idea of an unofficial four-day week might be, this workplace hack doesn’t give you a license to not work on a Friday.
“Treating quiet weekends like a day off is a big no, no,” Cotton warns. She summarized her advice for those who want to try the trend in 5 tips:
- Be transparent about your quiet weekend. If you want to use Friday for focused time, structure your week in advance and be open to those who may need your input to get their tasks done so they can plan their workload effectively too.
- Be open to change. Quiet weekends may not be possible every week – and that’s ok. Last minute projects can fall on your plate, but with extra free time scheduled for the end of the week, you’ll have the mental capacity to tackle it and still head into the weekend on a positive note.
- Don’t break your team’s trust. By keeping your last day free of meetings and tough deadlines, you can be available when your boss or co-workers need you. Quiet weekends aren’t days off—make it clear that you’re still available on your focused days.
- Prioritize important tasks on Fridays that will make your Monday a success. This reduces the risk of Sunday anxiety.
- Be realistic about what you want to accomplish on your quiet day. Set goals that you can achieve by the end of the week so that work doesn’t linger on your mind all weekend.
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