Do you find yourself fretting about work over the weekend? As an entrepreneur, it can be easy to let work spill over into your personal life. Setting boundaries and reframing your task list can help you finish your workweek strong so that you can actually enjoy your weekend. Listen in for how to do that!
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Keep Fridays Chill & Do Things You Enjoy
I also think it’s important to not plan too many work-heavy projects for Fridays. You’re probably ready for the weekend, so lean into that! Put tasks that you enjoy on Fridays. Maybe put fewer things on your list! My husband works for Google, and one thing they are famous for doing is letting their employees spend 20% of their time on tasks that they just enjoy doing. What if you did that for your Fridays? What if it was a time to do more things that you enjoy?
Reframe Your Task List
I used to get to Fridays and be overwhelmed by everything on my task list that I didn’t get done. Now, I choose to reframe that. If there are tasks that I didn’t get done, they obviously weren’t that important. We make time for the things that are important. So if there are leftover tasks, I put them on my list to plan for the next week when I do my Monday Goal Setting calls at 10am. Instead of being upset that I didn’t get everything done, I celebrate what I did accomplish and move everything left to the next week. A little word to the wise. If you move something over more than 3 times, it’s a good sign that it’s not important and you can just get rid of that task altogether. Reframing can go a long way!
Manage Expectations
Another way to finish your workweek off strong is to simply manage your expectations. Just like I don’t plan to get a lot of stuff done on Mondays, I also don’t plan to get a lot of stuff done on Fridays. So when I don’t get a lot of stuff done on those days I’m not mad about it! I know that my big task days are Tuesday – Thursday. In fact, that actually makes me MORE productive on those days. By having Mondays & Fridays be more relaxed and more focused on things I enjoy, it’s almost like I’m making my workweek just as fun as my weekends. Having my days be slower like that also gets me EXCITED to work on Tuesday – Thursday. I really do love what I do! So adjusting my mindset helps me be more productive, more excited, and have more fun!
Set & Maintain Boundaries
If you’ve set a boundary for yourself like stop work at 6pm every day, stick to it. If you don’t want to work on the weekends, stick to it. And think about what systems you can put in place to help you stick to that! For me, I have to leave my computer in my office over the weekend. If I have it near me I will just instinctively get on my computer to work. But it’s not focused work or planned work so it usually doesn’t end up being that helpful, and it keeps me from enjoying time with my famliy! Set those boundaries and stick to them! But guess what – it’s okay for your boundaries to change. It’s all about experimentation and seeing what works for you and what will help you finish your workweek strong.
Avoid Checking Email over the Weekend
One of my boundaries is not checking my email over the weekend. That was a HUGE game changer to finish my workweek strong. It may be hard to do this at first, but the more practice you get the easier it will become. I used to have all of my work emails forward into my personal inbox. So I would get emails in my inbox that were work emails. I’m the type of person that can’t leave things undone. So when I saw the emails I would want to respond to them. Now, I have the work emails in separate inboxes so that I actually have to sign into the work account to view those emails. If I don’t see that I have an inquiry I’m not stressing about it!
Automation is Your Friend
A lot of people say they can’t do this because they don’t want to leave their clients hanging. I get that. But can you set up an automation that will get them the important info like your FAQs when they inquire right away? And can you actually TELL THEM your work hours so they know that you’ll get to their email when you’re back in the office? Some people push back on automations because they are afraid they will sound robotic. They don’t have to! Write your automatic email just like a regular email in your normal tone of voice. Let your clients know you are excited to talk to them. They will value your time more if you set that boundary with them too!
That’s all I have, friends! If you missed last week’s episode on How to Start Your Workweek Off Right, listen in HERE.
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