Simplify Your Weekend with a Half-Baked Plan

The problem with planning for the weekend is that if you’ve earned any time to set aside goals and time management, it’s outside office hours.

It feels good to get off the clock. One of the most powerful benefits of a simpler life is creating to the time to do nothing at all. Jamming your weekend full of events is a bit like taking an overseas vacation — you feel like you need more time off just to recover from the all activity.

At the same time, that late Sunday letdown as you realize the weekend has slipped past isn’t much fun, either. A little scheduling can actually reduce your weekend stress, and that means a better start to the week.

Enter the Half-Baked Plan. It’s a three-point outline designed to improve you enjoyment of the weekend (while cutting down on the extra driving and expense of playing last-minute catch up). Want to give it a try?

Before the weekend, choose three things

Something fun. This can be any activity that gives you satisfaction, but it’s a great opportunity to do something with others: your family, your significant other, or a group. It needn’t be anything complex or lengthy. But if the thought of your fun item doesn’t make you smile, think of something else.

Something relaxing. Avoid the trap of feeling that you must fill every available hour. Rest is one of humanity’s most powerful blessings. There’s hardly an area of your life that wouldn’t be improved by relaxation — from creativity and mental clarity to personal relationships. It can take many forms: a luxurious midday nap, a message, or even light exercise. Make it happen.

One sit-down, home-cooked meal. There are few things more rewarding than preparing food, whether it’s for yourself or others. The health benefits of fresh, lightly processed food cooked in a well-run kitchen don’t require much explanation. But the time involved in a cooking a real meal might. Our hectic schedules have disconnected us from the process of bringing a meal to the table. Reconnecting with our food restores our connection to the land, to each other, and to something essential about being human.

So what makes this a half-baked plan?

This is actually the most important part. The plan is half-baked because it’s wide open for revision. Think of your three benchmarks as buckets. This is the weekend, after all: You’re entitled to the informality of personal time. But to keep things flexible, resist adding buckets. Three is plenty.

You can move a bucket. Say you planned something relaxing for Friday evening, but there’s a conflict. No problem. Since you’re not over-scheduling your weekends, it should be easy to reset.

You can change the contents of your bucket. A little structure facilitates spontaneity. That sounds counter-intuitive, but if you’re prepared for a Saturday outing, it’s a simple thing to change the destination. Just fill the bucket with something else.

You can empty your bucket. The plan serves you, not the other way around. Fun, relaxation, and good food are a great weekend foundation. But when in doubt, do less.

That’s the Half-Baked Plan. The people who have tried it say it helps. See if it fits your lifestyle — and please share your experiences in our Comments section.