What the Most Successful People Do on the Weekend

by Laura Vanderkam

First, you have to commit to taking time off—to keep a Sabbath of sorts, and carve out space for rest in a frenetic world. But second, you have to realize that this rest time is too precious to be totally leisurely about leisure.

“You have to set an appointment to go off the grid as surely as to go on it.”

Success in a competitive world requires hitting Monday refreshed and ready to go. The only way to do that is to create weekends that rejuvenate you rather than exhaust or disappoint you.

There are sixty hours between the moment you crack open a beer at 6 p.m. Friday and the time the alarm goes off at 6 a.m. Monday. Sixty hours is a decently high percentage of a 168-hour week.

You have fewer than 1,000 Saturdays with each child in your care before they’re grown up.

These numbered weekends pass whether we think about how to spend them or not.

In a world of constant connectivity, even loafing time must be consciously chosen, because time will be filled with something whether it’s consciously chosen or not—and

other kinds of work—be it exercise, a creative hobby, hands-on parenting, or volunteering—will do more to preserve your zest for Monday’s challenges than complete vegetation or working through the weekend.

“Man is so made that he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another.”

Dominique Schurman, CEO of the stationery company Papyrus, calls exercise “almost a job requirement. It allows me to kind of release the tension and clear my head.

Failing to think through what you wish to do on the weekend may make you succumb to the “I’m tired” excuse that keeps you locked in the house and not doing anything meaningful within it—even though we draw energy from meaningful things.

a good weekend needs a plan.

anticipation—accounts for a big chunk of the happiness gleaned from any event.

The happiness boost came before the trips, stretching out for as much as two months beforehand as the holiday goers imagined their excursions.

The experiencing self seldom encounters pure bliss, but the anticipating self never has to go to the bathroom in the middle of a favorite band’s concert and is never cold from too much air conditioning in that theater

I find that three to five anchor events, spread over the sixty hours between that Friday beer and Monday alarm clock, should give you a nice balance.

When you plan enjoyable things ahead of time, you magnify the pleasure.

Simply knowing that you and the kids will be leaving the house for the afternoon can add order to the day.

the researchers found that these women were happiest when exercising, engaging in spiritual activities, and socializing.

Happy families often have some special weekend activity that everyone loves but no one has to plan each time.

These habits are what become memories—and comforting rituals boost happiness.

you can combat the Sunday-night blues by scheduling something fun for Sunday evening.