Working Weekends May Actually Be a Good Idea While most people start working to earn their bread and butter, that isn't necessarily the only reason they continue to work. Work has become more about seeking purpose in life

Out of the 24 hours a day, how much time do you spend at work? Or doing anything that is related to work, like traveling or getting ready for it? I am guessing maybe more than 9. So considering we sleep for more than 5 hours, we spend more than half of our day at work, don't you think it is not just another "activity' rather a monumental part of our lives?

While most people start working to earn their bread and butter, that isn't necessarily the only reason they continue to work. Work has become more about seeking a purpose in life.

Are you doing what you love?

You might have heard about the famous quote, "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." When we're doing what we dislike, we often feel the illusion of the time passing by slower than usual. It's because our work doesn't align with our purpose in life, therefore, we feel restless, confused and distracted during whatever time we spend on it. However, time usually flies when we do what we love.

Why do entrepreneurs work without counting the number of hours or checking what day it is? Because they are committed to achieving their goals and the most important part is that they are not working due to force, rather their own will. So, why do we have a specific number of days we work on? The sun rises every day, we talk to our loved ones every day, we eat and sleep every day. Then why is work an exception? The only reason is that you perceive work as a burden and it simply means what you are doing is not what you want to do, you just do it for the compensation you get for your time and energy?

Working weekends, unlike popular belief, can be helpful in creating a work-life balance for you. So, why do we differentiate between the days we work and the days we don't? Right now, the whole country is on lockdown and hence, all the people are working from home. Sometimes, we do not remember what day or time it is if we are so absorbed in our work. All days seem the same. This makes me think—is the concept of holidays on weekends and pressure to finish off the work in five days, just a made up gimmick played by our minds? Let's look at a few more reasons why working weekends can be a good idea.

Monday blues—What's that?

When we are no longer dependent on a specific day of the week to start our work, Monday blues kind of lose their very definition. Why leave the tasks pending for Monday when you can finish them before that, without any stress? Moreover, when you are doing what you love, "blues' do not come to occur very frequently, right?

Also, Monday blues are often experienced because we are anxious about work since Friday and then we get a two-day break where according to the "norms', we are to take a complete break from work. So, we lose touch and the flow of work and often end up stuck on Mondays between the pending tasks of last week.

Time management

When I say working weekends might be a good idea, in no way am I implying that we spend our whole lives "working'. However, if we distribute our week's work into seven days, instead of five, it will be easier for us to handle timelines and stress related to that on a daily basis. So, for example, if you were spending around 40 hours on work from Monday to Friday, wouldn't it be more comfortable for you to be able to spread the work over your week including the weekend as well? This way, you can engage in a better work-life balance every day of the week. I don't mean to convey the idea of not ever taking a day off, but just don't keep yourself from utilizing almost 30 per cent of the week for better planning of our work, just because of the conditioning we all have been subjected to. This way, you will be in a much better position for the next week and you might spare yourself from long hours of work and exhaustion during the weekdays. How is that not a win-win situation?

Work-life balance

As mentioned before, working weekends can help provide a better balance between our personal and professional lives. Since we are usually so swamped with work on the weekdays, we hardly get time to socialize even with our family members. But when we know that we have more time to complete our work, we are more relaxed and are able to engage in spheres outside our professional lives. When we are talking about providing flexibility at work, why not give it both ways and let people decide how they want to utilize their hours and workload throughout the week?

In the end, I would like to ask a question—Why is there a negative connotation always attached to "work'? Is it always stressful? Is it normal to feel tired after a long day of work but do you always experience burnout if you "work' too much? Have you ever thought of it this way that if you start accepting that work is a major part of your life, you might be more mindful and selective of your profession? And who knows, you might even love your work this time.