The Weekend Mentality and How to Overcome It

April 28, 2009

Take this test to find out if you suffer from “weekend mentality”.

Is the house that was neat and clean Friday morning in shambles when Monday rolls around?
Do you turn your alarm clock off Friday evening before you go to sleep?
Are your plans to “do nothing” when Saturday comes?
Do you dread Monday before Friday is even over?
Are your pajamas your work clothes for the weekend?

If you answered ”yes” to three or more of these questions, you suffer from “weekend mentality” and I can help you to overcome it! (If you answered an emphatic “YES YES YES” to even one of these questions, you should still read this article!)

What is “weekend mentality” you might ask? Well, since you are suffering from such a horrible condition, you have every right to ask that question. “Weekend mentality” is defined by such experts as … well, Me! … as the unwillingness or inability to do anything productive on Saturdays and Sundays thereby forcing the afflicted to be perpetually behind. Some who suffer from this condition are in such advanced stages that symptoms are seen even on Friday with rare cases extending to Thursday!

Seriously, I used to suffer from “weekend mentality” and it hampered my ability to stay on top of the things I needed to get done whether on my to-do list or in school tasks. I never seemed to be in front of things but always chasing my life and trying to catch up with what was happening. Case in point: Mondays were dreadful! I spent the whole week catching up, trying to get back on top of the things that needed to be done, and by Friday everything looked great again only to do it all over again next week. It wasn’t that I did absolutely nothing over the weekend, I just didn’t do as much as I did Monday through Friday.

I was talking with another home schooling mom one afternoon discussing how we do things around the house and I asked her when she did her grocery shopping. It was the one chore that I could not get to fit comfortably in the schedule without disrupting other more important events. She said, “Saturday” as if it were the most natural thing in the whole world.

My jaw dropped, my breathing became shallow and my eyes glazed over! You do a CHORE on Saturday? Whoa.

Okay, it wasn’t quite so drastic, but I certainly had never considered doing the grocery shopping on Saturday. I hadn’t really considered doing many things on the weekend in general. I had worked hard all week and wasn’t the weekend there for me to relax and put my feet up for a while? Not if your job is your family! I went home that afternoon with a new look on things and a new perspective on how to get things accomplished.

Since then, I have worked a seven day week. Oh, it isn’t nearly as bad as it sounds. I have time to sit in front of the computer and blog, don’t I? I find I have much more time to do relaxing things now that I consider each day a weekday and not a weekend. Mondays are now just another day in the week instead of that first horrible day from which to shrink away. I didn’t realize what a difference your mental outlook could have on just two days of the week.

Seven Rules to Overcome “Weekend Mentality”

You can have that same success if you’ll use all the time you have instead of just five-sevenths of it! Follow these simple rules and you’ll be on your way to a well-managed life.

1. Keep your alarm clock ON! One of my favorite moments on Friday was turning the alarm clock off and knowing I was going to be able to sleep in on Saturday morning. In doing this, I never accomplished anything extra in order to keep me ahead of things. I worked hard all week long to stay on top of all the spinning plates in my life only to let them all crash on Saturdays. Long before the kids get up, I can have dishes in the washer, a load of laundry in, the toys picked up and breakfast ready. It affords me the fun time (with no guilt) I want with my kids later in the day since we aren’t “doing school” on Saturdays. Apply this to Sunday as well.

2. Get dressed even if you don’t have plans that take you out of the house. Getting dressed into regular clothes does something amazing for your attitude. It’s almost as if it turns on a switch in your brain that gets you in the mode to accomplish something.

3. Prepare for the week to come. For me, Sundays are always the same so it’s a day that I can prepare for. Throughout the day on Saturday, when I walk by one of the clothes closets, I’ll set out clothes for one or more of the children. Then, during nap time or after they are in bed for the night, I’ll iron anything that needs to be ironed and put all the clothes for everyone in the family in one place. This saves a huge amount of time Sunday morning. I also make as much food ahead of time as I can. Since we have three services we get to attend and other activities each Sunday, we get home with just enough time to eat. If I can have easy meals waiting in the refrigerator, we’re less likely to go out and less likely to be late.

4. Be in a “work” mentality. The weekend is all in your head! In hindsight, the thing that hindered me the most was my mental perspective on the weekend versus the weekday. With the curriculum we have chosen for my oldest, we are able to do a four-day week, so Friday late morning is when my brain switched from work mode to weekend mode. Now that I’m ready to work no matter day it is, our life in general progresses so much more effortlessly.

5. Follow the same or nearly the same schedule. Part of why Mondays are so hard to get back to is that our Saturdays and Sundays are so different. Monday is easier when it isn’t such a drastic change from Sunday. This is not to say that things won’t be a little different – for most of us, our husbands are home more on weekends, we don’t do any or the same amount of school, we are able to make other fun plans such as dinner at a friends house or a day trip of hiking and a picnic with the family. But, the more we can keep things consistent, the happier and more efficient we will be.

6. Be on the lookout for things that need to be done. Many of these steps are things we do normally during the week as a home grown mom, but tend to get away from over the weekend. On weekends, I did what HAD to be done to survive which mostly included cooking, cleaning up from cooking, and some general pickup after the kids went to bed. By Monday, the laundry was piled up, dishes were in the sink and I was left thinking, “I’ll just not follow my schedule today and clean up the house so I can be on track the rest of the week.” Now, there aren’t any days that I *can’t* follow my schedule due to a messy home.

7. Spread out the work. Now, instead of trying to cram a week worth of work into four or five days, I can spread it out and my goals are much more attainable. In the case of my grocery revelation with my friend, now I could get all my housework and home schooling tasks done without being interrupted by grocery shopping. And, sometimes my husband even comes with me!

Of course, there is always room for a vacation day when you plan to be in your pajamas all day and sip coffee and play with your kids. But, if that is the exception and not the rule, just think how much more relaxing your day off will be knowing that your house is in order, the kids are caught up on school work, you are caught up correcting their school work and life is in order!