Being the head of the company comes with a lot of pros and cons. You might find that despite the success you’re enjoying, you have to sacrifice most of your free time. This makes weekends even more precious because it’s the time of the week that you can focus on nothing else but yourself. Whether you want to go on a short weekend trip or want to unwind with the family, you have two days to do it.
But first, you have to control your email check-ins.
Keeping Work Out of Your Weekends
Most businesspeople have their emails synced to their devices, which lessens the chance of you missing an important email from your investors, employees, or even IT companies you work with in Kansas City. There might be signs of a hacking attempt, or your investors might have a pressing question. The keyword, of course, is “might.” These occurrences don’t happen regularly, and you always being on the lookout for any emails that might spell disaster is only making your weekend unnecessarily stressful. Try as you might, you’re not able to unwind because a part of you is always worried that something has gone wrong.
The easy answer is to unsync your work email from your phone so that you will not be tempted to look at it on weekends. What happens if someone needs to contact you? They’ll have to wait for a reply on Monday, or they can call you if it’s urgent, and it often isn’t. Letting everyone know that you’re not on-call on weekends is also an excellent way to tell them to respect your time off, just as you respect theirs.
A One-time Check-in
You wouldn’t have gotten far in your career if you didn’t like to be on top of things, and that means addressing situations as soon as possible. If it’s too much to go two full days without answering emails, designate a one-time check-in during the weekend. During this time, you can reply to the urgent emails and get a good glimpse of what’s waiting for you on Monday. You’ll be prepared to tackle them during office hours because you will not be blindsided when you come back to work.
When should you check your emails, then? A good suggestion is to do it on Sunday evening. You’ve had your full Saturday without worrying about work, and you should have used your Sunday morning to relax and prepare for the week. Check your email after dinner and before going to bed to have a general idea of what your week will be like. It wouldn’t infringe on any of your weekend plans, and it will give you a head start for the week.
Nowadays, it takes effort to keep your work separate from your personal life. If you don’t want to feel burnout or hate your job, keep it in the office and use your weekends for activities that will recharge and prepare you emotionally and mentally for the work week to come.
