Citizens of the World: A Stoic Podcast for Curious Travelers - Upgrade Your Weekend

Episode Date: June 21, 2020

Let’s talk about upgrading your weekends. I learned about this concept from Laura Vanderkam, the time management expert you heard on the episode on how to Stretch Time so You Can be More Productive and Pursue What You Love.Laura says that having a great weekend requires some planning, even for free spirits who are up for anything. Because a little structure can actually allow us to be more free, and avoid that disappointment that can come on Sunday night when we think, “There was so much I wanted to do and I didn't do any of it.”In this mini-episode, Laura shares how we can make more of our weekends in a few simple steps. We recorded this pre-covid, so you might get wistful when you hear us talk about restaurants and festivals. But surely there are fun things that you can be enjoying while we’re still in the pandemic. And if you’re listening to this in the future, then I hope you enjoy your dinner out this weekend and savor your freedom and good company. postcardacademy.cosarahmikutel.comDo you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free Conversation Cheat Sheet with simple formulas you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you’re in a meeting or just talking with friends.Download it at sarahmikutel.com/blanknomore and start feeling more confident in your conversations today.

Welcome to the Postcard Academy, a show about travel, living abroad, and location independence for people seeking a more meaningful freedom-fueled life. I'm your host, Sarah Micatel, an American who first moved abroad on our own at age 18, and who has been permanently enjoying life in Europe since 2010. I am so glad you're here. My guests and I will share with you how we made our travel, living abroad, and location independent dreams come true, and how you can too, because you will never have this day again. make it matter. Let's talk about upgrading your weekends. I learned about this concept from

Laura Vandercombe, the time management expert who you heard on the episode on how to stretch time so you can be more productive and pursue what you love. Laura says that having a great weekend requires some planning, even for us free spirits who are up for anything, because a little structure can actually allow us to be more free and avoid that disappointment that can come on Sunday night when we think. There was so much that I wanted to do and I didn't do any of it. In this mini episode, Laura shares how we can make more of our weekends in a few simple steps. We recorded this pre-COVID, so you might get a little wistful when you hear us talking about restaurants and festivals. But surely there are some fun things that you can do this weekend.

I myself am going to go and meet my friend's new puppy tonight, so I'm excited about that. And if you're listening to this in the future, then I hope you enjoy your dinner out this weekend and savor your freedom and good company in whatever restaurant you find yourself in. All right, let's jump into my conversation with Laura. Here's the thing. I think leisure time is too precious to be totally leisurely about leisure. And I know the idea of planning a weekend, like that just makes some people completely bristle. Like, oh, I plan my whole week. You know, I have my outlook calendar is set in 15 minute blocks. Like, no, get your hands off my weekend.

And I am not saying that you're going to plan every 15 minutes on the weekend. and send like calendar invites for dinner or anything like that. But I think that by putting a little bit of thought into the weekend, you can make it so much better, like vastly increase the chances that you will do things that you want to do. So one way to think about this is maybe a couple days ahead of time, like Wednesday, Thursday, think about what three things could I do this weekend that would add to my energy levels. And it doesn't have to be elaborate stuff, but, you know, in general, people feel most energized by socializing, by doing physical activities, by doing spiritual activities. Those are all great things to do over the weekend. And many times, these things

require some sort of logistics. Like if you're going to do something social, probably you need to let the people you're doing the social thing with, no, that you would like to do the social thing with those people. And, you know, come up with a rough idea. And again, it doesn't have to be exact. But like if you're saying, you know, we're going to go out to dinner on Friday night, well, you know, it helps to know roughly when that's going to happen, what neighborhood, even if you haven't chosen the exact restaurant or anything like that. But, you know, why not choose a restaurant? Like if there's somewhere you want to go, like then you'll get the reservation. You won't be stuck waiting and you'll, you know, be able to think ahead of time about the wonderful cuisine and how exciting this is going to be. So, you know, just three things or so over the weekend. Because people say, well, I want to do nothing. Well, you won't do nothing. You'll do something. But, you know, it might not be nearly as rejuvenating as if you put a tiny bit of thought into it. I like the idea of anchor time. So there's like five big blocks of time in the weekend. So Friday night, Saturday day, Saturday night, Sunday day. Sunday day. And like you said, you don't have to fill all five spots. But when you know like those are the blocks of times that

you have to work with, then it seems more manageable. And like, oh yeah, like Saturday, it would be awesome if we went to like this festival that's happening and then actually make a plan of it. Yeah. And what happens is that people don't think about that until like Saturday, you know, I don't know, noon one or two. And then they're calling people around. Be like, well, we should go to this festival. Well, it's a day festival and it's done when it's dark. And you know, getting to four o'clock anyway. And it's like, well, you know, if you thought about that, like you weren't doing anything of consequence Saturday morning, you could have made it happen. But by not thinking about it. it ahead of time, you don't. The one other thing I would say with that sort of time blocking on

the weekend approach is people might want to schedule something fun for a Sunday night. That tends to be an underutilized block of the weekend, but by putting something fun on Sunday evening, you will spend your Sunday day looking forward to that thing as opposed to starting to think about Monday. And I know that a lot of people, even people who enjoy their jobs, can wind up with a little bit of Sunday evening trepidation, little Sunday scaries. And this is one of the best ways to get rid of that. Two things that you said that I think really resonate are like plan your Monday on Friday. So you don't have to worry about it. And then do something fun on Sunday night.

And I really like how that can stretch time. Yeah. No, I mean, that's one of the reasons to plan your weeks on Fridays. you know, A, so you have a plan and you know you will accomplish your most important goals for the next week. But it also means that you're not leaving the work week wondering what's going to happen Monday morning. And one of the things, like as we discussed, that contributes to those Sunday scurries is knowing that you've got some stuff that's going to hit Monday, but you don't know what it is. You don't have a plan to deal with it. And so your brain just keeps looping it around thinking, well, what can I do?

What can I do? and then your brain is already at the office rather than still enjoying your leisure time. So better plan, make a plan on Friday. You know what's going to happen on Monday morning. You know what's waiting for you. You know how you're going to deal with it. And then you can relax. Don't have to think about it until then.

Okay. Key takeaways. One, prepare for your upcoming week on Friday so that you don't have what you have to do on Monday weighing on your mind all weekend. to make a plan on Wednesday or Thursday for what you want to do on Friday night, Saturday day, Saturday night, Sunday day, and Sunday night. So those are just five big blocks of time. And maybe you do want to just chill. Plan you're chilling so you don't end up doing that all weekend long and then end up full of regret on Sunday night. And three, remember that what you

do on Sunday night is especially important as people often get the Sunday night blues thinking about Monday, so give yourself something really fun to look forward to you on Sunday night. All right, I hope you have a fantastic weekend. That's all for now. Thank you so much for listening and have a beautiful week wherever you are. Do you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free conversation sheet sheet with simple formulas that you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you're in a meeting or just talking with friends. Download it at sarah micotel.com slash blank no more.