Wow, has this ever been a long week. For some reason, a perfect storm of craziness in every aspect of my life converged into 5 hectic days. On weeks like this, success is often replaced with survival as the ultimate goal.
Why am I telling you this? Because I’m sure I’m not the only one that had a long week. I have come to realize that, next to raising kids, running your own business seems like the most difficult problem to solve. And, just like with a happy family, creating a successful business is an amazing feeling. The problem is, to finish off the family analogy, you usually have to spend a lot of time overextended, stressed out, and worried in order to get to your ultimate goal.
If I could offer one piece of advice today, it’s to try to accomplish one thing this weekend that has nothing to do with work. Make it something enjoyable, and something that’s been on your “someday/maybe” list for a long time. Although we all bend over backwards to check off the items on our work to-do list, how many times have we ignored the “go watch a baseball game with your kids” we wrote on our list last week/month/year?
“Overnight success” usually take 20 years to develop, so taking a day off isn’t going to ruin you. In fact, I bet you’re more productive next week as a result. Here are a few suggestions.
read a book (no, not a business book)
(really) listen to an album from start to finish (bonus points if it’s a band you just discovered)
finish that home improvement project you started…oh God, has it been that long?
have a camp out with your kids in the backyard
try to replicate your favourite dish from your favourite restaurant
Whatever it is, the point is that you enjoy it guilt-free. The emails, tweets, comments, and texts will all be there on Monday morning, but your family and friends will be back at work and school.
If you do accomplish something fun this weekend, tell me about it (on Monday). Share your stories in the comments, or send me a message on Twitter.