WEBVTT - Weekends are real days too

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is that weekends are real days too. Even

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<v Speaker 1>if you only do something on weekends, that means you

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<v Speaker 1>are doing it regular When it comes to life, Tuesday

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<v Speaker 1>is not more important than Saturday, and knowing that opens

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<v Speaker 1>up all sorts of possibilities. I have studied time and

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<v Speaker 1>the time narratives we tell ourselves for a great many years.

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<v Speaker 1>One of the most common narratives I encounter is that

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<v Speaker 1>if you have a full time job, you probably don't

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<v Speaker 1>have much time for other things, such as seeing your family.

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<v Speaker 1>People throw around on statements like that, like, oh, if

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<v Speaker 1>you work full time, you will never see your kids,

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<v Speaker 1>and maybe on the surface, it seems to make sense.

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<v Speaker 1>After all, doesn't full time mean the full amount of

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<v Speaker 1>your time? But there are one hundred sixty eight hours

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<v Speaker 1>in a week. If you work forty hours a week,

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<v Speaker 1>so a standard full time job, and sleep eight hours

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<v Speaker 1>a night, which is fifty six hours per week, that

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<v Speaker 1>leaves seventy two hours for other things. To be sure,

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<v Speaker 1>there is commuting and chores and showering, but presumably you

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<v Speaker 1>see your family for fairly large chunks of this seventy

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<v Speaker 1>two hours too. Even if it's only for part of

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<v Speaker 1>the seventy two hours, it is a long way from nothing.

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<v Speaker 1>When I first made this argument many years ago, someone

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<v Speaker 1>countered with this statement, well, maybe, but a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>that time occurs on the weekend. I pause through this

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<v Speaker 1>critique for a while. Was the implication that weekend hours

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<v Speaker 1>aren't real hours, that if you want credit for spending

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<v Speaker 1>time with your family, the only hours that count our

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<v Speaker 1>ten o'clock on Tuesday. I don't know, but I do

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<v Speaker 1>know that many people are walking around with these types

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<v Speaker 1>of assumptions. If you do something on the weekend, well

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<v Speaker 1>that's just the weekend. It's Monday to Friday that matter.

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<v Speaker 1>This narrative plays out in all sorts of funny ways.

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<v Speaker 1>Someone who goes to the gym Monday, Wednesday and Friday

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<v Speaker 1>might talk about their regular exercise routine and share how

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<v Speaker 1>they make time for it. Someone who goes to the

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<v Speaker 1>gym on Saturday and Sunday is a weekend warrior, only

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<v Speaker 1>doing it on the weekend. But that is only one

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<v Speaker 1>fewer times per week than the other person. If our

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<v Speaker 1>weekend warrior managed to exercise at some point on Friday,

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<v Speaker 1>they would be doing it just as many times as

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<v Speaker 1>our regular Jim goer. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are real days.

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<v Speaker 1>What you do on these days counts as much toward

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<v Speaker 1>your life as whatever you do Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

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<v Speaker 1>One of the rules I talk about in Tranquility by Tuesday,

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<v Speaker 1>my most recent time management book, is that three times

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<v Speaker 1>a week is a habit. Whatever we do three times

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<v Speaker 1>a week is happening frequently in our lives enough so

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<v Speaker 1>to be part of our identities. Three is often more

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<v Speaker 1>doable than every single day, which most people don't do.

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<v Speaker 1>In any case, people talk about doing something every day,

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<v Speaker 1>but what they often mean is Monday to Friday, and

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<v Speaker 1>that is not every day. It is only five days

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<v Speaker 1>a week. Okay, we are skipping two real days. What

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<v Speaker 1>all this means is that if there is something you

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<v Speaker 1>want to have fit into your life and you seem

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<v Speaker 1>to come up short during the workweek, simply aimed to

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<v Speaker 1>do it Friday, Saturday and Sunday, many times people have

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<v Speaker 1>at least somewhat more discretionary time on these days. Perhaps

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<v Speaker 1>there is some benefit to spacing things out, but there

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<v Speaker 1>is even more benefit to just doing things whenever it works.

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<v Speaker 1>If that happens to be on the weekends, well so

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<v Speaker 1>be it. I was thinking of this during the past

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<v Speaker 1>week when I got to Thursday and I realized I

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<v Speaker 1>hadn't managed to run at all. I could have lamented

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<v Speaker 1>this that my busy schedule left me no time to run,

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<v Speaker 1>but instead I decided to run when I could do

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<v Speaker 1>it on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. And just like that,

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<v Speaker 1>I had run three times a week. I still felt

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<v Speaker 1>like a runner. It didn't happen every day, and it

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<v Speaker 1>didn't happen Monday to Thursday, but it didn't have to.

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<v Speaker 1>So many other things can benefit from this same mindset.

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<v Speaker 1>Even if you can't have family meals Monday through Thursday,

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<v Speaker 1>maybe you could have pizza together on Friday, a Saturday

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<v Speaker 1>pancake breakfast, and hamburgers together on Sunday, and just like that,

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<v Speaker 1>you are a family that eats together. Maybe you often

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<v Speaker 1>travel during the week, but you could be the person

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<v Speaker 1>putting your kids to bed and reading them bedtime stories Friday,

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<v Speaker 1>Saturday and Sunday, and just like that, you are a

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<v Speaker 1>person who does this regularly, even with all you have

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<v Speaker 1>going on. Weekends are real days too, and when we

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<v Speaker 1>see that, it opens up possibilities even in very full lives.

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<v Speaker 1>In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and

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<v Speaker 1>here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

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<v Speaker 1>I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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<v Speaker 1>your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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<v Speaker 1>me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod

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<v Speaker 1>that's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.

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<v Speaker 1>You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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<v Speaker 1>podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast

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<v Speaker 1>is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,

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<v Speaker 1>I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is

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<v Speaker 1>a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from

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