I don’t remember when I first stumbled upon Laura Vanderkam, but I am so happy I did – she, and her methods, have given me so much of my precious time back just by restructuring it – especially when it comes to the weekend!
Vanderkam is an author, speaker, podcaster, and mom, who studies time management. Her most recent book, Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done was exactly the fresh perspective I needed to boost my productivity in spite of being busier than ever. Vanderkams message is both inspiring and encouraging. If you feel short on time, she’s your girl! She has tools and data to help you make the most of your time. Time is such a gift and Vanderkam is all about making that gift truly give back.
My favorite book of Vanderkam’s is What the Most Successful People Do On the Weekend. Because, hello, I have weekends and I want to be successful! Or at least less stressed and more organized when it comes to our family’s “free” time 🙂 If you feel like your weekends get lost in a haze of errands and sports games and chores, you too, will love this book … it’s even short, so it won’t take you long to read or listen to!
The Method
Truly, What the Most Successful People Do On the Weekend is a must read, but, let me summarize, the basic philosophy is that every weekend has seven time slots that must be filled. Fill them, be productive. Don’t, and, well, they’ll kinda get lost. Here’s the slots to fill each weekend:
- Friday evening
- Saturday morning
- Saturday afternoon
- Saturday evening
- Sunday morning
- Sunday afternoon
- Sunday evening
See It In Action
Before Friday evening arrives each week, every weekend slot must be filled in. It can be something essential like grocery shopping, something restful like a nap, or something fun like a family hike. But the point is, every slot must get an assignment or else it will get lost and forgotten. Here’s a week at what one of our recent weekends looked like:
- Friday evening – Pizza night, family walk in the neighborhood, and baths for all the kids
- Saturday morning – Family pictures (trying to get ahead of the game for Christmas cards!)
- Saturday afternoon – Naps for the littlest ones, dad’s building project, mom on meal prep
- Saturday evening – Grandma arrives for a visit, so, relaxed hang out time
- Sunday morning – church
- Sunday afternoon – Lunch out for a birthday celebration
- Sunday evening – Chores to prep for the coming week
Without a plan we’d probably forget baths, my husband wouldn’t get time for his building project, and I bet we’d all crash Sunday evening instead of setting ourselves up for success for Monday. But, instead, thanks to this seven weekend slot method, we’ll be as productive as we can despite having a lot going on!
Give this method a try for your next weekend, I’m guessing it will prove to be awesome for your family too!