I’m pretty certain that the five-day working week is not a natural way to do things. If it was, nobody would loathe Mondays and very few people would get the Sunday night blues. But it often feels like we’re bound to it, like some contract we didn’t read the fine print on, but signed up for when we needed the money. Almost every business book nowadays also mentions this – that the five-day, 8 to 5 grind isn’t normal, and we should look to breaking that bond for ourselves. The best way to do this is with practice.
Let’s get honest
I know, you’re rolling your eyeballs while reading this and thinking “my boss will never go for this idea”. The thing is, your boss is just as human as you are, so get honest about it. You need one day off to just replenish your spirit and ease off a little? Ask for it. Plan for it. But do not ignore your need for it. Why? Because an unhappy employee doesn’t create an environment for productivity, and that’s not what your boss wants – promise. Rather than stress you out about asking for a day’s leave, start planning for one. Take a good, hard look at your calendar, to do list and deadlines and find a gap. Whether it’s in a month’s time, a week’s time, whatever – plan for it and put in your request well ahead in time. As a former team manager, I can tell you this – being able to predict someone’s absence a few weeks in advance, made daily planning a boatload easier.
Mental health day
Now that you’ve scheduled it, work towards it. Let’s put it this way – this will be YOUR day, so let’s make it the best one you can. Did you score an extra hour after that meeting? Use it to get ahead on some other tasks so you can “buy” some time, so you won’t need to worry about your to do list while you take that mental health day. It’s incredible what you can achieve and the amount of time you can use productively when you have a goal.
But what about the kids?
You’ve got a wonderful opportunity to spend the day doing whatever you like, but your kid still needs to get to school and the like? Ever thought about giving them the day off too? It’s entirely possible, if you pay close attention to their homework, classroom deadlines and the like. Very often, especially towards the end of a school term, there’s some ‘dead time’ where not much gets done, or classes are consumed by projects or days that are not curriculum-focused. Take a careful look at what’s happening and pick a day, then plan it. Oh, and yes, I know, school IS important. But a day off can do a lot to help your kid stay sane when dealing with the demands of school and, if you do it right, it’s totally okay for them to skip, once in a while. And by once in a while, I’m talking one day in a year, perhaps.
The surprise factor
When I was in school, my dad had a way of doing this that never ceased to amaze me. He’d be driving me to school and then just decide (or so I thought!) to keep on driving, straight past it. We’d go for breakfast in some fancypants café or I’d end up accompanying him to his work meetings (he was self-employed, so this was a little easier for him to do). So I never truly knew when it would happen and it would always be this epic surprise when he’d just decide to let me have a day off. I had always believed that he did this on a whim, but I learnt later on in life that he’d plan them, and gauge my mood to see if I could do with a day off, or a day spent exploring, rather than dealing with the demands of school. I do this with my kid now too, where she’ll wake up and start preparing to head off to school, only I’ll surprise her with a ‘Go back to bed’ or a ‘Let’s go out for breakfast’. But the truth is, I’ve planned that day for about a month before it happens, so the surprise is all hers, and the administration of it, all mine.
The best way to take a day off, for yourself, or your kid, is to plan it. Let’s get planning.
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