Why designing your perfect work week matters.
A perfect work week could be a title that is laughed at and, don’t worry, I get it. I guess what I mean by this is, your work week doesn’t have to be one that kicks you down into the dirt by the end of Friday. You can, in fact, plan your work week to better suit you, even whilst maintaining a 9-5 and I think that should be your exact focus. Too many of us are simply surviving the weekdays to get to our weekends, let’s start to improve our experience of all days in the week, but first, a short story to get us started..
One of my best friends and I were having a chat, many moons ago, about what it meant to ‘have it all figured out’. He told me the story of a co-worker at his new workplace that was not only top salesman for the state, but the happiest person in the office. What made him different to all of the other people in his office? How did he come to work and make a positive impact on his customers lives, as well as the company he worked for? Well, the answer was simple, he took care of his own life first. He had a daily routine of waking up early enough to pack the car, drive down to his favourite beach and have an early morning surf or swim, all before he even thought about heading into the office.
To stop and smell the roses is one of life’s lessons that we often avoid, often to our detriment, and, in my experience, we always need to do it most when our foot is planted firmly on the metaphorical gas pedal and nothing worse could be imagined than having to ‘pull over’ from our destination for even just a pee stop which would make the rest of the trip so much easier and enjoyable. I can only speak for myself, but since the COVID19 lockdown in place, I had been without the responsibilities I once had; work, family gatherings, events etc. and, without the standard routine of work to attend to, I have no longer been able to use any number of my old excuses to avoid focusing on what my ‘perfect’ work week would look like. Time, energy, extra commitments, staying back late at work were all excuses that were gone in one single day.
A forewarning before I go any further, but what I have realised is that a dream life isn’t set in stone and that there is no need for it to be perfect at all - it is all about making the most of what you have in front of you right now. For me, lacking the financial resources I had prior to COVID19, I spent majority of my last pay check on an order at Lechturm (Notebooks) and LAMY (Pens and ink). Do more with less has always been my motto as a teacher, but it has meant more to me in these past 5 months than I could have ever known. So how exactly did I go about making my perfect work week now that I had a blank canvas and no excuses?
What I am asking you to consider, dear reader, is at least making one aspect of your day a gift to yourself. For example, I used to think my ‘me time’ was taking my dog, Ellie, for a walk. It was just as much for me as it was for her, right? No, I learnt very quickly that I wasn’t making room in my week for time that was just for me, therefore something was always still missing. Seneca has a wonderful quote that I think fits perfectly with my next point..
“Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.”
When you treat a day as if it is important, and not just combine your work week into a 5day write off before your weekend, then you can design it to be it’s fullest.
Designing your perfect work week begins with
1) Identifying what is currently missing in your week that you would love to be doing. Write out a list of your top 5 (it may be hard to consider more than this if you are a busy individual but if you want to consider having a fortnightly routine where activities are rotated then aim for between 5-10).
2) Acknowledging and visualising what investing time into these activities/experiences etc. would be like if you could dedicate 30-60mins per day on them. How would you feel? Would this result in other positive impacts to the rest of your day? Would you be able to relax better at the end of your day? How could this result in other positives?
Every action has a reaction and, to me, even throwing one activity, just for you, into your work week will be like throwing a pebble into a still pond. It will make waves and result in further changes in your life that you didn’t expect. But first, it just starts with planning one thing for yourself.
3) Schedule these ideas, once a day, into your work week. Challenge yourself to see if you can create a routine that allows you to use your work day for these positive moments. This will mean that you are now alleviating pressure off of yourself by simply relying on the days you have off of work altogether. This is important, and for me, it meant waking up 2hrs earlier than I ever used to which also meant I had to go to bed 3hrs earlier than I used to. An entire shift in my perspective on life had to occur for me to gain 45minutes for my one activity per day but it worked wonders. I chose to fit mine into my morning schedule so that, no matter what, I was able to start my day on a high and not feel like I simply wasted my entire day at work up until I got off of my shifts. I already won the day before I even got started.
4) Hard work and dedication. Two words that may not be commonly associated with fun and happiness, but they are the key to finding the ways to make time in our daily lives. You will be challenged, you will have to alter your routine, you will quickly be tempted with alternative options which are easier and sweeter - but you will need to stay on course. The moments in which you invest in yourself, the way you want to, are some of the most precious moments in life you will have so don’t treat them lightly. Work hard to protect them and stay dedicated to fitting at least 1 into your day, each day.
If we come back to the example of the early morning surfer, finding a way to make his dream week possible on a daily basis, we can quickly begin to see that, despite putting energy into 1hr of surfing each day, things may get in the way of him having a great day - there may not be any surf, once he gets to work his boss may be in a and mood, once he drives home he could get a flat tire when he was already planning to have dinner with his wife and children and was already running late due to commitments at the work place. Woah. Pause for a second.. designing these islands of relief, through creating this space in your day, is what will allow us to find calm in stormy weather. You don’t slog through the work day to get to your activity, instead you engage in that exercise because life, your health and your happiness are as important (If not MORE important) as your career and financial commitments.
Work can be used as an excuse for having a crappy work week. Things that we tell ourselves to feel better about our situation sound a little like ‘One day I will have more time so it is okay that I didn’t get to XYZ today’, ‘One day I will be able to work part time and have weekends off so I can XYZ every week’ , but sometimes these excuses are just our way of avoiding responsibility for our actions and putting off the hard work it takes to make each day as fulfilling as it could be, right here, right now, with only what we have in front of us.
If those 4 steps weren’t enough, here are my extra top tips that will really help to boost the effectiveness of this exercise:
Start engaging in rituals that clearly outline your start and end of day.
Begin implementing periods of social media blackout.
Give your senses some down time whilst you are awake.
Get into new environments that your normal routine would currently allow for, indoors and outdoors.
Do things that make you happy AND improve your physical health
Focus your attention on things you have been putting off that would improve your quality of life.
You, my reader, have a chance each day, to seize the goals and desires in front of you. Only you can place the ladder between where you are and were you want to go, but first you must define where you want to climb to and whether or not it is worth your time. Who knows, maybe once you achieve your goal, you will notice exactly where you want to place your ladder next. Everyday brings us a new opportunity to engage in a life worth living - don’t take the present moment for granted.
Please note: The Pavlosophy blog is general advice only. For further information please consult your healthcare professional.
