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Ask HN: What do productive people do on weekends?

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Re: Ask HN: What do productive people do on weekends?

#41

Post by Waterluvian »

All summer my wife and I would do the same thing every weekend.

We would find a town within 45 mins, any direction, that we haven't been to. We'd find a really nice park there and take our toddler and have a picnic. After that was unplanned. Sometimes we'd go home and take it easy. Sometimes we'd wander.

Re: Ask HN: What do productive people do on weekends?

#42

Post by unforeseen9991 »

I do the same thing on weekends that I do every day, but as a solopreneur who is single without kids and works from home, I have that flexibility. I typically laze around most mornings, meditation, cooking, reading, writing, long hot shower, exercise etc. Then I spend between 3-6hrs on productive things (revenue generating or in pursuit of revenue generation). Sometimes that will go much longer, depending on how into it I am, but rarely ever below 3hrs.

As mostly all of my friends are only fully available on weekends, that's usually the only thing that is different is that these activities that are in person usually only take place then.

The weekend as a thing is a very modern invention. I've found that i'm much more relaxed day to day and no longer have to "look forward" to a weekend for a break. I take those breaks as I need them. It did/does take a lot of cultivated discipline to make this work though, if you hate your work that's going to be a problem for this lifestyle.

Re: Ask HN: What do productive people do on weekends?

#43

Post by sacado2 »

Waterluvian wrote: post #41

All summer my wife and I would do the same thing every weekend. We would find a town within 45 mins, any direction, that we haven't been to. We'd find a really nice park there and take our toddler and have a picnic. After that was unplanned. Sometimes we'd go home and take it easy. Sometimes we'd wander.

45 mn is a rather small radius. Didn't you run out of unknown towns after some time? I'm pretty sure I've visited all cities in my neighborhood, at least those that are worth it.

Re: Ask HN: What do productive people do on weekends?

#44

Post by mirceal »

I am very weary of people that describe/brand themselves as productive. There is something about getting a lot of things done that is appealing to all of us, but in the words of a classic “it does not matter how fast you drive if you’re going in the wrong direction”.

Setting that aside, both during the week and during the weekend I optimize for physical and emotional health. Eat well, sleep, exercise, spend time with other humans (your family qualifies as humans :) ). On top of that, if time allows it: see, learn or experience something new. Reading is awesome for the learning part btw. If I ever “work” on stuff, it’s to scratch an itch I have or to align with the above.

Don’t worry about being productive, especially in a non-work related context. Find out what you enjoy and do that.

Re: Ask HN: What do productive people do on weekends?

#45

Post by foxish »

I tend to take one-off classes at Stanford to try and see if I can short-circuit some learning that would otherwise come the hard way. Aside from that, sometimes meeting other entrepreneurs, working on long term projects that I don't get to do during the week, and meeting friends to have a few laughs together.

Re: Ask HN: What do productive people do on weekends?

#47

Post by TuringNYC »

Wake up early on Saturday/Sunday. Endurance exercise -- usually relaxed long-distance biking ~20+ miles. In NYC it was limited, but in Washington DC suburbs, I keep strictly to country trails, so it is simultaneously also forest bathing, of sorts (http://www.shinrin-yoku.org/shinrin-yoku.html) Some days i'll walk instead of bike (~6mi) and listen to big-picture audio-books in the seclusion of the forest walk, so awesome.

Be back home by 11am. Before I had family, I used to read the rest of the day and go to restaurants/cafes with friends in the evening. Now, with family, I spend the rest of the day with family doing art, reading, puzzles, playground stuff.

After this, I sleep very well in the evenings because I'm tired to the bone. I'm incredibly productive on Monday/Tuesday after this sort of stress cleanse.

Re: Ask HN: What do productive people do on weekends?

#48

Post by lumost »

In addition to the great advice in this thread, I'd recommend finding something which doesn't involve a screen or work context that you can be interested in. The brain works best when it has a multitude of activities, and crises don't seem as large when you have alternate activities.
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