Treat this weekend like a vacation

Get more out of your days off

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is to treat this weekend like a vacation. If
you do, you may feel happier over the weekend and

(00:27):
more refreshed when Monday morning rolls around. Today's tip, like
some other recent ones, comes from Cassie holmes book Happier Hour,
How to Beat Distraction, expand your time, and focus on
what matters most. Holmes recounts that she and fellow researchers

(00:49):
Colin West and Sandford Devo used Gallup's US Daily Poll
data focusing on an item about how often you take
trips or vacations. Holmes explains, our analyzes show that those
who prioritize time for vacation enjoy more positive emotion and

(01:09):
less negative emotion in their daily lives, as well as
greater life satisfaction overall. Now, perhaps that sounds slightly obvious
and hard to do anything with. Having more vacation time
and trips would be great alas many folks have limited

(01:31):
days off and limited funds for travel. But Holmes and
her research colleagues decided to then explore a related topic.
They noted that many of us already have regular built
in time off are weekends every seven days, the majority
of people get two days off work. Now, it's not

(01:54):
quite the same as taking a Tuesday and Wednesday off
when everyone else is working, but it's not bad either.
So they set out to explore whether treating the weekend
like a vacation would have similar benefits. They designed an
experiment and told some participants, treat this weekend like a
regular weekend. That is, to the extent possible, think in

(02:18):
ways and behave in ways you normally would on a weekend.
They told other participants, treat this weekend like a vacation.
That is, to the extent possible, think in ways and
behave in ways as though you were on a vacation.
The next Monday, the vacationers were, in Holmes's words, happier,

(02:41):
less stressed, and more satisfied. Plus they'd been happier during
the weekend too. The vacationers spent less time on housework
and work and more time on some pleasurable activities, and
they were more present during the activities they engaged in.

(03:01):
Holmes concludes that mindset matters if you reframe weekend or
other time off as a vacation, you will behave differently
and get more out of this time. She advises, give
yourself a break during the breaks you already have. In
other words, you can get more vacation feelings even without

(03:25):
additional days off if you think of your weekend time
off differently. This has me thinking about ways people can
get more of the vacation feeling into their weekends. One
simple way to get into a vacation mindset may be
to create a calendar item for Friday at five o'clock
or whenever it is that you get off work, reminding

(03:48):
yourself to enjoy your vacation. Just think of all the fun, relaxation,
and connection you can enjoy in the sixty four hours
of vacation. For Monday morning at nine am, if you'd
like some sort of fruity drink with an umbrella in it,
we'll go for it. But whether that is happening or not,

(04:10):
try to feel like you are embarking on a few
well deserved days off, because well you are. If you
try treating your weekend like a vacation, I'd love to
hear how it goes. You can reach me at Laura
at Laura vandercam dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura.

(04:35):
Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've
got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at
Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a

(05:03):
production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit
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your favorite shows.