By Kimine Mayuzumi
Do you ever get to the end of the weekend and wonder where the time has gone? And then feel disappointed?
I have been there many times. At the end of the weekends, I was disappointed because:
- the weekend did not turn out the way I wanted;
- I was left with house chores I should have taken care of;
- I was so busy running around and taking care of others that I didn’t have me time ;
- we did not prepare food for the upcoming week; or
- I didn’t have quality family time.
How I want to spend my weekend could depend on: 1)how my past week went; and 2) what kind of week is coming up. Therefore, I need a pause right before the weekend. Then I could check in what physical and mental status I have been in. I could also ask myself what kind of weekend I want to have. That is one of the reasons why I recommend weekly planning (and week rereview) on Friday, not on Sunday.
Guess what. I created a resource sheet* for that – reflecting on the past week and planning the weekend. I have used it many times by now. Filling up the sheet has been symbolic for me to set a boundary between weekdays and a weekend. Doing this activity with my family (including 12-year-old and 7-year-old) together on Friday evening brings even more benefits.
The resource sheet for week reflection and weekend planning
This resource sheet has two pages – a page for reflecting on one’s past week and the other for planning the weekend. Here are 10 reasons why using this sheet rescues my weekend.
First, let me summarize why I do week reflection and weekend planning.
- Week reflection becomes a closure of the week for me to shift my mind to a weekend mode.
- Week reflection provides an opportunity for me to celebrate my achievements, express gratitude, and become compassionate to myself. All of these attentions to my week trajectory allows me to smoothly move on to the next stage (e.g., planning for the next week and weekend).
- Checking in my physical and mental state leads me to think of what kind of weekend I want to have. It is a continuous process of shifting from week reflection to planning for the upcoming week too.
- Weekend planning allows me to be more intentional for how I want to spend a weekend and how I want to feel at the end.
Then why this resource sheet?
- The contents of this sheet are easily shareable with others. When I share my reflections of the week with my beloved ones, it also becomes a connecting activity and brings positive energy. When I share my desired feelings and activities for the weekend, this also becomes a basis for my negotiation with my family.
- Having a reflection page and a weekend-planner page back-to-back would allow a smooth transition.
- The sheet has only five simple yet important questions that I could easily answer with a few words or bullet points.
- The questions on the weekend planner page encourage me to first pay attention to my status of being rather than doing. As such, it begins with how I want to feel rather than what I want to do.
- By listing descriptive words for one’s desired weekend, I meant to make it easier and more inviting for people to fill the form. I could just circle some words there or add my own words to describe how I wish to feel during the weekend.
- For those who want to allocate a specific date for their weekend activities, I added two blank boxes for both days, Saturday and Sunday. This is an option.
I am not advocating for planning for everything and every moment. I believe that we all need downtime like weekends to recharge our batteries and be stress-free when we can. But, without setting an intention to fulfill our imagined weekend, the time can quickly pass before we know it. Unstructured time and doing nothing would be great as long as our intention is there at the core without any expectations of getting other things done.
So how was my experience in using the resource sheet?
Oh, it was fun. Doing the activity with my family was especially effective in that they held me accountable for filling up the form and really thinking through what went on with my mental and physical states. It also became our shared ritual to shift from the weekdays to the weekend. And it was interesting to see what our kids had to say about their reflection of the week. My 12-year old son’s achievements were: Finishing all his work; finishing algebra test; and finishing violin quiz. I wouldn’t have known what my son had to do at school and how hard he had been working. More importantly, (I am also hoping that) he gets to celebrate even a small achievement by sharing it with his family. Finally, we had a great weekend by going to a cafe as my son desired and cleaned our house with our 7-year-old daughter leading and managing us. Great teamwork. I also reserved my alone time for an hour on Sunday afternoon to play ukulele.
Do you want to give it a try? You could use this with your beloveds or even by yourself. Print out the sheet by clicking here, and you’re good to go. Happy Friday!
*The resource sheet was slightly revised in April 2020 based on some users’ feedback.
Featured Image by Thought Catalog on Unsplash