Ever notice how successful people tend to have similar habits? Sure, there are some nuances but overall, there are a lot of similarities in the habits they keep.
Here’s the thing: success doesn’t happen by accident. Yes, having natural talent helps and maybe there’s a little luck involved for some people.
But to be successful throughout your life and your career, that’s carefully curated through habits and consistent choices that don’t stop when the working week ends. And sometimes it’s as much about what you don’t do as what you do.
With that in mind, today I’m sharing 6 things that successful people simply never do on the weekends.
Do you recognize any of your weekend habits here?
Let’s dive in.
1) Forget to reflect and plan ahead
When Saturday and Sunday roll around, do you spend any time reflecting on the week that passed and planning for the one ahead?
Reflection is good for the mind and the uber-successful know this. They never forget to set aside a few minutes each weekend to reflect on the week that passed. They use the time to consider both their wins and their lessons. It’s vitally important to their success.
A Harvard study found that people who spend just 15 minutes per day reflecting on lessons they learned performed 23% better than those who didn’t. Research also finds that self-reflection boosts productivity as outlined by Jennifer Porter, Executive Coach.
And planning the week ahead is also crucial.
EVP and Chief Intelligence Officer at Knightscope, Inc., Mercedes Soria, explains how she spends 20-30 minutes on Sundays and gets her whole week planned out. “When you take the time to plan out your tasks and priorities for the week ahead, you are able to approach your work with a clear sense of purpose and direction”.
Soria shares that planning out your week ahead helps to;
- Reduce stress
- Improve productivity
- Enhance time management
There’s no doubt, successful people never forget to reflect and plan at the weekend.
2) Ignore family time
Is family time a non-negotiable on your weekend?
When you’re trying to carve out success in a high-flying corporate company or as an entrepreneur building your empire, it’s tempting to trade family time for work on weekends to get ahead. But it’s not something most successful people do.
One of Bill Gates’s “favorite pastimes” is spending time with his kids on the weekend, as outlined by Business Insider. Mark Cuban is another family man who spends his weekends with his kids eating dinner with them and putting them to bed.
Successful people never lose sight of the fact that everything they have wouldn’t mean much without the love and support of their family. And because of this, they never ignore family time on the weekend. Work is important but nothing matters more than family.
3) Skip exercise
We all know that we should be exercising regularly, right? And yet so many of us don’t.
Successful people take their health and well-being seriously. They simply don’t skip exercise. It doesn’t matter if it’s the weekend, they know that their physical activity is responsible for so many aspects of their health, both physical and mental. They can’t afford to mess with that.
At one point, Jack Dorsey was CEO of both Twitter and Square and due to his superhero time management skills, he was able to take Saturdays off. However, he still spent this free time doing physical activity to benefit his health and well-being. He’d spend Saturdays hiking.
As outlined in Men’s Health, Richard Branson “works out every day, but likes to keep things interesting with all sorts of activities. Kite surfing, singles tennis in the morning and the evening, and biking.” He also makes sure to work out in hotel gyms when he’s away from home.
It doesn’t matter how much success or money you have, you can’t buy back your health. Successful people are aware of this and as a result, they never skip exercise on the weekend (or any other day for that matter).
Do you follow their lead?
4) Waste lots of time on useless activities
How many hours do you think US adults spend watching TV per day?
On average, they spend almost 3 hours per day watching TV, between 30 minutes and 2 hours on video games. And the latest global data tells us that on average people are typically spending over 2 hours per day on social media.
Wow! Successful people don’t waste excessive time on useless activities like video games and social media like this. Sure, they allow themselves time to have fun and unwind but they don’t go overboard, spending hours on end on meaningless activities.
Billionaire, Warren Buffet, said it best “The rich invest in time, the poor invest in money” acknowledging that investing time in yourself and your education is the true secret to success.
5) Lose sight of their goals
Successful people never lose sight of their goals, even on the weekend. Sure, they take time to relax and enjoy family but they never forget what they’re working towards or do anything to jeopardize their goals.
Arianna Huffington uses weekends to catch up on emails, Jack Dorsey spends Sundays strategizing and reviewing feedback for the week ahead, and Daymond John, one of the ‘Shark Tank’ investors goes fishing.
Some of them choose to do some work to move them toward their goals, while others choose to focus on their well-being and fitness to keep them in tip-top shape so that they can continue to chase those goals for years to come.
The point is that successful people are always doing things that benefit them and move them towards their goals. They don’t throw away their progress every weekend and have to start two steps behind on Monday morning.
Their identity is wrapped up in their goals. It’s not something they want to or need to take a day off from. They’re driven to succeed, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year.
6) Lose sleep
How much sleep do you get every night?
We need about 7-9 hours of sleep per night but according to the CDC, one-third of adults in the US are getting less than the recommended amount. Successful people don’t allow themselves to be part of this statistic.
They know the importance of sleep and they don’t sacrifice it, even on weekends. As outlined by Forbes, sleep has many benefits including:
- Improves focus
- Increases energy
- Helps with stress management
- Improves problem-solving and decision-making
All of these are vital for successful people which is why they don’t skimp on sleep.
Whenever possible Jeff Bezos ensures he gets 8 hours of sleep. He prioritizes it. He says he needs it as it allows him to think better, he’s got more energy and his mood is better.
If you want to increase your chances of success, improving the quantity and quality of your sleep might be a great place to start.
Final thoughts
There you have it, 6 things successful people never do on the weekends. Are there any similarities with how you spend your weekends?
Everyone is different, right? And different approaches will suit different people but what shines through here is that successful people don’t pause their progress on the weekend.
They use the weekend to recharge, have fun, and engage in things that contribute to their success rather than hold them back.
