7 Ways to make the most of a short weekend

The sense of urgency to get in as much rest and fun as possible before it slips away, sleep expectations, and the siren of attention called social media. These are some of the big dreams that have to be realised in the two-day vacation.

Perhaps our needs have outgrown the weekend. That is okay. Here are some tips to tailor your weekend to fit you.

Manage your expectations and attitude

Set realistic goals. If you bombard yourself with plans and activities you reduce your chances of getting satisfaction and meaning from any of them.

Prioritise from the most valuable and work your way down as the day winds down.

Keep a positive attitude. Avoid setting your plans with a negative tone. For example, instead of saying "I don't want anything to disturb me this weekend" say "I'm going to enjoy some alone time."

This way your mood will not be ruined if people inevitably interrupt you. You will be in a better mood to handle disturbances and plan how to respond.

Don't oversleep

After running around for five days on stress hormones, if you oversleep your body will crash badly.

Weekends are not time to compensate for poor sleep from the work week. You will wake up tired, with a headache, and generally in a bad mood.

Sleep is part of rest but not all of it. Get your full eight hours and do other restful or energising activities.

Spread out sleep and rest through the week so you don't feel the need to squeeze all your sleep into the weekend.

Weekend mindset

Wanting more from your weekend might be a sign that your expectations or beliefs about it are not being met.

However, those expectations and beliefs might be harmful and incompatible with you or your lifestyle at the moment.

You might also need to get a better mindset about it.

A study published in the Harvard Business Review in 2019 using 400 employees as participants, found that those who treated it as a holiday, rather than a standard weekend, enjoyed it more.

The difference was not in activities or expenditure, it was the mindset that set the mood and brought more meaning and happiness.

Plan in advance

You are more likely to honour planned activities than spontaneous ones.

Planned activities are also given more thought and are less likely to be thrown out for something else.

Even if you trust your willpower to think up something and do it, plan it ahead for formality.

You will also be able to allocate time and see that you have more time than you might think.

The bonus is you have something to look forward to.

Room for spontaneity

Leave space to be spontaneous in your routine and planned activities.

You will feel more relaxed about it. It also adds variety which is important to differentiate it from your grind.

Don't fall for Sunday night blues

Sunday night blues is that feeling of dread and apprehension over the end of the weekend.

Your Sunday may start great but by the afternoon, you want to rewind the clock.

Don't give in to this feeling because it wounds you twofold. The anxiety is unnecessary because the week will always come, better to figure out how to embrace it.

Secondly, all the joy from your weekend is stolen as your mind focuses on the negative feelings around Monday.