This weekend, I shut my laptop and didn't open it again until Tuesday. My daughter had her birthday party. I wanted to actually be at it, not half at it. That meant roughly 7,000 sandwiches and enough party rings to sink a small dinghy. Turns out there's no such thing as enough party rings.
Steve took his son skating on Saturday morning, had meals with his family, and opened his laptop more times than either of us will probably admit. Partly because building something new gives him energy rather than draining it. Partly, if we're honest, because the website needs finishing and someone has to do it.
Steve at the rink
Neither of those is the problem. The problem is what happens when you don't notice which one you're doing.
Work doesn't usually arrive at the weekend as a decision. It creeps in. One email. One "quick look." One half-formed thought about Monday, sitting in the back of your head during the birthday party, the school run, the Saturday morning skate. You don't clock it happening at the time. You clock it on Monday, when you're still stressed, the work still isn't done, and, brucey bonus, you didn't actually get a weekend either.
That's the version worth avoiding. Not working, or not working. Whether you knew which one was actually happening while it was happening.
Work at the weekend, or don't. Just know which one you're doing.
Steve's weekend labour is finally live. Go and see what all that laptop time actually built → lifestack.studio.
Claire’s weekend’s labour of love