I am taking today off.
It sounds weird, as it's Saturday, but it's a pretty big deal for me. I have gradually moved to a point where I don't treat weekends differently, and it's been amazing. Bear with me; I promise it will make sense in a bit.
My wife goes out with the baby daily, and I sometimes join them when work allows. The best part is, it doesn't have to be during the weekend. I still work most of the time during my waking hours, including over the weekend, but I get to take 1-2 hours off whenever I like, which is the main benefit of working for myself.
I am the CEO and co-founder of Magnimetrics - a startup building a cloud FP&A platform for SMEs and solopreneurs. Therefore, I rarely take a proper break. The last vacation I took was a 4-day ski trip in January (it's November now). Keep in mind that I still had to take two work calls to review a financial model in those four days. And, with the baby coming this summer, we didn't even once make it to the beach.
Once in a while, we will spend the weekend with some friends, renting a villa or something like that. It's great to spend a night or two with friends, having a barbecue, having a few beers, etc. However, I still get up early and work on all those trips while the others sleep in.
Today, we are visiting my parents, who live out of the city. We do this on some weekends so I can work and my wife can take a breather while my parents are playing with the baby. It's a win-win for everyone involved, apart from my mom's cat, who always feels neglected and shows it.
I am usually quite tired over the weekend, so I work less, but I felt abnormally spent today. So, I closed my current Excel project and put the laptop away, instead opting for my Switch. I have been playing Ori and the Will of the Wisps lately, which has been taking forever to finish, as I only play 3 to 4 hours a month (plus I am a casual/poor gamer). So, I decided I wouldn't work and opted for some relaxing playtime on the porch.
My mind started drifting, and I thought about the importance of taking breaks and, most notably, why it's so hard to do so. We all know we do larger quantities of higher-quality work when we are well-rested.
Then why do so many of us keep grinding when we are falling asleep, and it's 2 a.m.?
I just want to finish this task, and I will go to bed.
Oh, let me just clean my inbox to have a fresh start tomorrow, and I will go to bed.
I am wrapping up these emails, and I will go to bed.
I want to hustle for one more hour, and I will go to bed.
Sounds familiar? I've heard hundreds of those excuses (and that's all they are) from entrepreneurs running their own businesses. And I've probably told a thousand of those myself. And they kept me working and pushing just a little more, just one more task. All this while fully understanding that going to bed and having a good night's sleep would set me up for a much more productive next day.
There's no magic formula here. But I am sure we can all agree that rest is essential to productivity and success. I won't even go into the health stuff...
So, why work on weekends then?
I am a big fan of Alex Hormozi and most of his ideas around building a business. I can't entirely agree with some of the stuff he preaches, but most of it makes sense. The 5-day workweek is a relatively modern invention from the late 19th to early 20th century. The US established it by the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938. What did people do before that? They rested more regularly, some cultures having more structure around this than others, but mainly, people rested when time allowed or when they felt the need.
Over the past few months, I consciously stopped considering Saturday and Sunday as mandatory rest days. I try to rest when I need it and work when I have rested. I know this is not always possible with a job and social obligations, but I try to dictate my own rest days as much as possible. Doing this even for 15-20% of the time can significantly boost your overall productivity. After all, it's much better to nap for 2 hours in the afternoon and then work later into the evening than grinding half-asleep and half-assing the job. The best part is that more and more managers realize this and give their teams as much flexibility as possible.
And that's why I am not working today.
So, try it for yourself, even for a week. Rest when you feel tired, and work when you are rested. Of course, be honest with yourself, don't just feel tired all the time.
I guess that's all for this week's issue. I will start sending another email every week with some curated links of exciting things I've read over the week, so subscribe to the newsletter if you haven't already and invite your friends and colleagues to do the same.
Thank you for making it to the end. As always, you get extra brownie points for your support!
Till next time,
Dobri