I take saturdays completely off. I might take the evenings of a few other days off, but saturdays I *have* to take off. Jim Davies, a hardworking, successful cognitive scientist, showed me how this works; definitely read about his philosophy here. It struck a chord with me because I'd read a Garison Keillor advice column years ago about a man who was being driven almost to insanity, on the tenth year of his PhD, stressed out every single day and yet no longer making any progress at all. "Mr. Blue" advised him to take one day completely off, to reconnect with life and at least briefly lift the burden of his career worries.
So that's what I've done every week for about 10 months now. I kept it up all through the writing of my masters thesis, through many other scary deadlines, breaking my rule only twice that I can remember and that was when I was just getting used to it. It *is* possible, and a glorious thing.
Some saturdays end up being about rest and self-indulgence, like spending most of it catching up on some tv show, but many are about having adventures and trying new things. What I've really come to treasure is the looseness of the day. Saturdays are for serendipity and digressions, randomly running into people and spending the next 3 hours hanging out. On saturdays my theme songs are "The 59th Bridge Song" by Simon and Garfunkel and Mr. Tambourine Man: "I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to."
Today was a great example. I slept in late after going dancing last night (friday nights are the other time that I almost always take off), then wandered downtown to get my hair cut. Afterwards I strolled on Princess St, as I often do of a saturday - it's the long main street in Kingston and offers constant interest in the form of shops and people. I lunched at a deli I'd never been in before, and tried a czechoslovakian pickle recommended by the counter lady. Then I went with Jamal and Michelle for a matinee of the ridiculous, wonderful spectacle of Ghost Rider. For dinner I ate enormous amounts of sushi served in a wooden boat with Meghan and Tyson. And now I'm writing in this blog. Soon I will watch an episode of Friday Night Lights, or read my book about Baltimore homicide detectives. All these things I do because I feel like them, without the tiniest bit of guilt or having any obligation to think about work once (although it's not uncommon that I get good ideas on my day off! That loose mindset is great for creativity)
I can justify this not just for my sanity, but for productivity. The flipside is that I put in a nearly-full day of work on sunday (often getting a slightly later start). It's nice and quiet in the office, completely free of distractions. Sunday is frequently my most productive day of the week. I used to have weekends that were two days where I could never fully enjoy myself and yet got hardly anything done. Instead I have a great time on saturdays, and on sundays get more done than I used to in two days - usually more than on any other day of the week.
Give it a try!
3 comments:
Right on! Yesterday was a total day off for me too, and I certainly enjoyed it. I don't have a ritual of keeping Saturdays off: I have more of a free-market system for free time (the "price" of my time floats like a supply-and-demand commodity, with the "value" of free time proportional to some combination of how stressed & unfocused I'm feeling).
In any case, it was warm and sunny, and I had a great bike ride. I feel totally drained, energized (not a contradiction) and alive. Days you don't forget add to your subjective lifespan.
Take it easy!
LeDopore
Thanks for the great comment on your day off! I strongly agree about the subjective lifespan - a long stretch of similar days working can be compressed into very few memories, so that 4 unique saturdays can occupy as much mental real estate as all the other days of the month!
This corresponds perfectly with the research that was in the news in the last week or so that people who take naps are more productive than those who don't. I come home from a day at work, and do a little web browsing, reading a few blogs, then often I can get into doing something fruitful in the evening.
A whole day with nothing but loafing is great for the same reason -- but not mainly what most people would think, namely recharging. I think it's more a matter of stepping back and creating distance from our ongoing work and problems, to allow us to come at them from a new perspective. We sleep on problems for the same reason, too. There is much to be said for persistence, and one likes to think that one has the appropriate amount of that, but there's also the objectivity which allows us to see past our biases and preconceptions to angles and solutions we might not otherwise see.
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