You don't deserve time off on the weekend...you deserve click-bait headlines?
Posted 05-15-24
The present-day concept of the relatively longer 'week-end' first arose in the industrial north of Britain in the early 19th century and was originally a voluntary arrangement between factory owners and workers allowing Saturday afternoon off starting at 2 pm on the basis that staff would be available for work sober and refreshed on Monday morning. (via Wikipedia)
Why do you want to spend two whole days each week not working?
The weekend is a made up concept. There’s no law of nature requiring it. Most modern workers owe a tremendous debt to the aforementioned 1800’s factory workers who apparently struck the exceptional deal ‘we agree not to show up drunk on Monday morning so long as Saturday’s a half-day.’
And yeah, I wouldn’t want to work in a factory 6 or 7 days a week, either. Seems physically grueling and unsafe. But if you’ve got a desk job, you could theoretically work every single day.
So why don’t you? Listen, obviously, we have other obligations and desires in life:
But a very strange thing happened when I finally found work I loved - my life’s work. I stopped feeling forced to work on the weekend. I felt forced to stop working on the weekend.
This is what I mean when I say you don’t deserve time off on the weekend. You deserve work so appealing and motivating that your time off is no longer the only relief you look forward to each week.
Yes, I want you to enjoy your weekends with your family and friends, but I also want your career to be so inspiring, you just might voluntarily get up early on your Saturday to squeeze in some work before the kids wake up.
I want you to be a just little bit disappointed when you’re forced to take time off from your work on the weekend.
This is not a prescription for workaholism. Establish your priorities and boundaries, and stick to them. If you really don’t want to work on Saturday & Sunday, or whatever constitutes a weekend for you, of course that’s fine.
This is a prescription for finding your life’s work - work you love that integrates seamlessly into your life. When you are doing work that makes sense for you, there is no need to seek 48 hours of mimosa- and/or televised sports-fueled respite from it.
(Want help finding Your Life’s Work? Book a free coaching session)
I write from experience. One Saturday morning not too long ago, I was up at dawn working away, when I heard the telltale creak of a door announcing my youngest daughter’s arrival in the living room. Damn, I thought, I was hoping to get another hour of work done. The thought shocked me. Yes, I’ve done plenty of weekend work in my career, but always at gunpoint. (Proverbially.) I’d never before felt this strange feeling of being a little bit disappointed because I wanted to do more work.
Yes, I stopped working, and made pancakes for the kids. (But didn’t oil the door hinge.)
You can find work that blurs the line between weekend and weekday, in the best way possible. Sure, official working hours may remain Monday to Friday 9 to 5 or whatever, but you’ll feel like it’s the weekend all week long, when you love your work.
Subscribe to my Substack for more content like this, click here
The present-day concept of the relatively longer 'week-end' first arose in the industrial north of Britain in the early 19th century and was originally a voluntary arrangement between factory owners and workers allowing Saturday afternoon off starting at 2 pm on the basis that staff would be available for work sober and refreshed on Monday morning. (via Wikipedia)
Why do you want to spend two whole days each week not working?
The weekend is a made up concept. There’s no law of nature requiring it. Most modern workers owe a tremendous debt to the aforementioned 1800’s factory workers who apparently struck the exceptional deal ‘we agree not to show up drunk on Monday morning so long as Saturday’s a half-day.’
And yeah, I wouldn’t want to work in a factory 6 or 7 days a week, either. Seems physically grueling and unsafe. But if you’ve got a desk job, you could theoretically work every single day.
So why don’t you?
- Some of us have kids
- Most of us have friends
- All of us have Netflix.
But a very strange thing happened when I finally found work I loved - my life’s work. I stopped feeling forced to work on the weekend. I felt forced to stop working on the weekend.
This is what I mean when I say you don’t deserve time off on the weekend.
Yes, I want you to enjoy your weekends with your family and friends, but I also want your career to be so inspiring, you just might voluntarily get up early on your Saturday to squeeze in some work before the kids wake up.
I want you to be a just little bit disappointed when you’re forced to take time off from your work on the weekend.
This is not a prescription for workaholism. Establish your priorities and boundaries, and stick to them. If you really don’t want to work on Saturday & Sunday, or whatever constitutes a weekend for you, of course that’s fine.
This is a prescription for finding your life’s work - work you love that integrates seamlessly into your life. When you are doing work that makes sense for you, there is no need to seek 48 hours of mimosa- and/or televised sports-fueled respite from it.
(Want help finding Your Life’s Work? Book a free coaching session)
I write from experience. One Saturday morning not too long ago, I was up at dawn working away, when I heard the telltale creak of a door announcing my youngest daughter’s arrival in the living room. Damn, I thought, I was hoping to get another hour of work done.
Yes, I stopped working, and made pancakes for the kids. (But didn’t oil the door hinge.)
You can find work that blurs the line between weekend and weekday, in the best way possible. Sure, official working hours may remain Monday to Friday 9 to 5 or whatever, but you’ll feel like it’s the weekend all week long, when you love your work.
Subscribe to my Substack for more content like this, click here