January 12, 2024 • 9 mins
Joe brought us a piece from the Wall Street Journal that gives you the components for the perfect weekend.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
According to the Wall Street Journal, these science backed schedule
for your perfect weekend has been discovered. There is some
flexibility here, but they point out that squandered weekends leave
you feeling less happy, less motivated at work. But those
who put a little planning and intention into their weekends
emerge on Monday feeling sessified. So how do you plan
(00:23):
the perfect weekend? Behavioral researchers and time management coaches suggest
breaking it into six components, and yes will yes, we
will post this under hotlinks at armstrong and geddy dot
com later today. We're having some weird computer problems, so
it might be delayed a little bit, but keep checking.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
So here are your six components.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Sleep, hobbies, socializing, exercise, work and chores. Work in chores
are the same thing and unscheduled time. So they came
up with this equation that has some flexibil But this
(01:01):
is the perfect weekend sleep seven and nine hours times
too simple enough. Don't deny yourself sleep on weekend weekends.
They point out later that you can catch up on
sleep from the week to some extent, but not entirely.
If you systematically deny yourself sleep, you can only catch
(01:21):
up partially. And your cardiovascular health will suffer for it.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
I freak anybody else.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
As I always interject with all these sorts of things,
having lived this experience, do you have kids or not?
Is such a huge part of all these sorts of things, right?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Well, obviously, yes, yes it is.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
You want to see though, if you can craft a
version of this that that includes your kids, if you
have newborn babies. The whole how much you should sleep
is hilarious. But anyway, so sleep seven to nine hours
times too, that's hobvious. Hobbies around two hours on the weeknd.
Try to get two hours in for your hobbies, and
(02:03):
they take a broad view of what your hobby is.
It can be reading a book, it can be cooking
a meal if you enjoy cooking, what have you.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
But spend two hours doing things you only do for fun.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Civil socialized, civil war battle recreations.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
That's what I do.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Oh yeah, yeah, reenacting. You put on the wool uniform,
run around in the Sun's fabulous.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Doing pickets charge a Saturday morning.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
It's good cardio. You end up dead if you've studied that.
But socializing zero to two events. I know, as far
as you're concerned, Jack, the more socializing the better.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Huh zero zundes right to me.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Let's see, I had to cancel something because somebody's sick.
I have at least one social event, and I think no, no,
I too.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
We have two social events this weekend.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Okay, and maybe we're I am more social right now
than I've ever been in my life, and I'm actually
enjoying it.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Well, awesome for people who like it, that's great. I
think I've had one social event on a weekend.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
In the last five years. Yeah, yeah, that sounds about
right for you. I'm enjoying it more than I ever have.
I'm getting used to it. I'm getting better at it,
which surprised me a little bit. But I don't want
to out better at it. I want people to stay
away from me.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Well, well, fair enough.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I was out last night, as a matter of fact,
with the book club widowers we call ourselves as the
girls were at the book club. We went to a
local bar and grill and had ourselves some burgers and beers.
I passed on the beers as I'm drying out.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
Anyway, Yeah, moving along.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
So we got sleep in, hobbies, socializing, exercise low more
than forty five minutes try to get more than forty
five minutes exercise this weekend. This is out to add
the perfect weekend. Jack the whole weekend forty five total. Yeah, okay, yeah,
Take a couple of a half hour walks, something like that.
Something like that. Working chores, make it less than two
(04:03):
hours if you can. Oh, you're talking, Joe. Are you
gonna clean the gutters?
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Honey?
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Honey, honey. The Wall Street Journal says to have the
perfect weekend, I need to work less than two hours
unplanned time, somewhere around three to four hours. That equals
a great weekend. Now we can break it down if
you want to sleep. Thing we already touched on a
little bit. The hobbies. Keep this in mind. Having a
(04:33):
hobby or an activity we engage in during our off
time just for pleasure has been linked to fewer symptoms
of depression, higher levels of happiness, life satisfaction, and even
reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and cognitive decline.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Your hobby could save your life. How about that?
Speaker 4 (04:49):
Huh?
Speaker 3 (04:51):
I know other people of my situation who well, you've
been through this, so you can speak to it. I
have not had many options for my weekends for so
long with kids that someday when I do, like head
into a weekend and I could do whatever, it'll be weird.
I don't even know how I'll manage that when I could,
you know, do a lot of work, do a lot
(05:13):
of exercise, do a lot I could travel, like it
not because it's always kind of spelled out by you know,
one kid's got a football game, and we got homework
we got to get done, and you know, laundry and
prepare meals for them, you know all that stuff.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Right. There's not a lot of decision making going on
for my weekends.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Oh yeah, And obviously among the various folks with various
lifestyles that we all have, this advice is ranges from
you know, I'm going to implement that starting this afternoon too. Yeah,
that's a fine aspiration. I'll try to work in fifteen
minutes to read.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Well, and then we have you got your families that
like the whole family revolves around the kids and their sports. Yeah,
I do not dig that. I never did that. I
don't think I would have done that. But you know,
you live your life the way you feel.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Fuh man.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Just when Henry was in football, it was amazing. Every Saturday.
How much of the of the day it took? And
I thought, Man, if my other kid was in a
different sport, I don't know how we do it, or I.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Don't know it was Henry in a travel team or
was it all pretty much local?
Speaker 2 (06:19):
It was local, but still you got away games.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
So between the home and away and getting there on
time and being there the whole game, and.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
It's a lot.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Yeah, yeah, I thought this was interesting the unplanned time
aspect of it. Scheduling on structured time may sound silly,
but failing to block out free time can leave us
filling it with whatever's right in front of us, like
working or mindlessly scrolling.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
No, don't do that.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
I am a crack monkey for scrolling through Twitter, partly
because I'll see stuff. Oh that's perfect for the show.
Oh that's great. I want to bring that up. Let
me get that link to that article. That's perfect for
the show. But part of it's just being a crack
monkey getting the endorphin shot. Anyway, if you can leave
unplanned a chunky party your Saturday or Sunday roughly three
to four hours, if you make your weekend packed and
(07:04):
busy as your weekday, you will not come out of
the weekend feeling refreshed. Well, that's that's semi obvious, But
I don't know, maybe it's not. I am a man
who craves leisure, so I am constantly on the lookout
for opportunities to not do stuff. I realize other people
are built differently. Then they go into socializing. Robust social
(07:26):
relationship ships are powerfully linked to physical and mental health
and longevity benefits. The weekend as a natural time to
take advantage of them. You know, I totally respect that.
I am trying very hard to be less isolated.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Do you think that's working for you? Yes?
Speaker 4 (07:45):
Oh, yeah, one hundred percent. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
I'm really concentrating on the whole to have a friend
be a friend, and real friendships take time. Now I
have a hell of a lot more time than you
do at this point. So again, this is you know,
either you can or you can't. It's aspirational. You know,
if I say you know, exercise is good for you,
(08:08):
and you scream, I have a doctor's appointment this afternoon.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
I can't got your.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Size, Well, then okay, okay, okay, just as much as
you can.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
That's a tough one. My dad's line was always do
you have time for a heart attack? You know, I
don't have time to.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Exercise, right, And the physical activity part of it, that's
well plowed ground.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
There's no need to go over that. But and uh, in.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Terms of working shores, pick out a couple of small,
achievable objects to see them through the finish line, rather
than trying to take on five things at wants for
a giant project. Tom, I'm gonna put away the spoons.
The dishes are clean. I'm just gonna put away the
spoon and just the tea spoons, not that, not the tablespoons.
Let's not get crazy here.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
The forks will continue to lay there on the towel
that probably should have been washed a long time ago
and dry.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Honey, if I bite off more than I can and she,
it'll ruin my perfect weekend. As described by the Wall
Street Journal, which we'll post later under hotlinks at Armstrong
and getty dot com.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
I love articles like this, and I always wonder if
any normal person ever looks at anything like that. Ever
for the New York set, I guess because I tweeted
out one from The New York Times last week. It said,
the perfect dinner time if you're eating before or after
six nineteen.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
You're doing it wrong.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
And I thought this for dinner table events. It's for
you to click on
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Armstrong and Getty
According to the Wall Street Journal, these science backed schedule
for your perfect weekend has been discovered. There is some
flexibility here, but they point out that squandered weekends leave
you feeling less happy, less motivated at work. But those
who put a little planning and intention into their weekends
emerge on Monday feeling sessified. So how do you plan
(00:23):
the perfect weekend? Behavioral researchers and time management coaches suggest
breaking it into six components, and yes will yes, we
will post this under hotlinks at armstrong and geddy dot
com later today. We're having some weird computer problems, so
it might be delayed a little bit, but keep checking.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
So here are your six components.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Sleep, hobbies, socializing, exercise, work and chores. Work in chores
are the same thing and unscheduled time. So they came
up with this equation that has some flexibil But this
(01:01):
is the perfect weekend sleep seven and nine hours times
too simple enough. Don't deny yourself sleep on weekend weekends.
They point out later that you can catch up on
sleep from the week to some extent, but not entirely.
If you systematically deny yourself sleep, you can only catch
(01:21):
up partially. And your cardiovascular health will suffer for it.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
I freak anybody else.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
As I always interject with all these sorts of things,
having lived this experience, do you have kids or not?
Is such a huge part of all these sorts of things, right?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Well, obviously, yes, yes it is.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
You want to see though, if you can craft a
version of this that that includes your kids, if you
have newborn babies. The whole how much you should sleep
is hilarious. But anyway, so sleep seven to nine hours
times too, that's hobvious. Hobbies around two hours on the weeknd.
Try to get two hours in for your hobbies, and
(02:03):
they take a broad view of what your hobby is.
It can be reading a book, it can be cooking
a meal if you enjoy cooking, what have you.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
But spend two hours doing things you only do for fun.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Civil socialized, civil war battle recreations.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
That's what I do.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Oh yeah, yeah, reenacting. You put on the wool uniform,
run around in the Sun's fabulous.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Doing pickets charge a Saturday morning.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
It's good cardio. You end up dead if you've studied that.
But socializing zero to two events. I know, as far
as you're concerned, Jack, the more socializing the better.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Huh zero zundes right to me.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Let's see, I had to cancel something because somebody's sick.
I have at least one social event, and I think no, no,
I too.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
We have two social events this weekend.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Okay, and maybe we're I am more social right now
than I've ever been in my life, and I'm actually
enjoying it.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Well, awesome for people who like it, that's great. I
think I've had one social event on a weekend.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
In the last five years. Yeah, yeah, that sounds about
right for you. I'm enjoying it more than I ever have.
I'm getting used to it. I'm getting better at it,
which surprised me a little bit. But I don't want
to out better at it. I want people to stay
away from me.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Well, well, fair enough.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I was out last night, as a matter of fact,
with the book club widowers we call ourselves as the
girls were at the book club. We went to a
local bar and grill and had ourselves some burgers and beers.
I passed on the beers as I'm drying out.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
Anyway, Yeah, moving along.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
So we got sleep in, hobbies, socializing, exercise low more
than forty five minutes try to get more than forty
five minutes exercise this weekend. This is out to add
the perfect weekend. Jack the whole weekend forty five total. Yeah, okay, yeah,
Take a couple of a half hour walks, something like that.
Something like that. Working chores, make it less than two
(04:03):
hours if you can. Oh, you're talking, Joe. Are you
gonna clean the gutters?
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Honey?
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Honey, honey. The Wall Street Journal says to have the
perfect weekend, I need to work less than two hours
unplanned time, somewhere around three to four hours. That equals
a great weekend. Now we can break it down if
you want to sleep. Thing we already touched on a
little bit. The hobbies. Keep this in mind. Having a
(04:33):
hobby or an activity we engage in during our off
time just for pleasure has been linked to fewer symptoms
of depression, higher levels of happiness, life satisfaction, and even
reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and cognitive decline.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Your hobby could save your life. How about that?
Speaker 4 (04:49):
Huh?
Speaker 3 (04:51):
I know other people of my situation who well, you've
been through this, so you can speak to it. I
have not had many options for my weekends for so
long with kids that someday when I do, like head
into a weekend and I could do whatever, it'll be weird.
I don't even know how I'll manage that when I could,
you know, do a lot of work, do a lot
(05:13):
of exercise, do a lot I could travel, like it
not because it's always kind of spelled out by you know,
one kid's got a football game, and we got homework
we got to get done, and you know, laundry and
prepare meals for them, you know all that stuff.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Right. There's not a lot of decision making going on
for my weekends.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Oh yeah, And obviously among the various folks with various
lifestyles that we all have, this advice is ranges from
you know, I'm going to implement that starting this afternoon too. Yeah,
that's a fine aspiration. I'll try to work in fifteen
minutes to read.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Well, and then we have you got your families that
like the whole family revolves around the kids and their sports. Yeah,
I do not dig that. I never did that. I
don't think I would have done that. But you know,
you live your life the way you feel.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Fuh man.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Just when Henry was in football, it was amazing. Every Saturday.
How much of the of the day it took? And
I thought, Man, if my other kid was in a
different sport, I don't know how we do it, or I.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Don't know it was Henry in a travel team or
was it all pretty much local?
Speaker 2 (06:19):
It was local, but still you got away games.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
So between the home and away and getting there on
time and being there the whole game, and.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
It's a lot.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Yeah, yeah, I thought this was interesting the unplanned time
aspect of it. Scheduling on structured time may sound silly,
but failing to block out free time can leave us
filling it with whatever's right in front of us, like
working or mindlessly scrolling.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
No, don't do that.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
I am a crack monkey for scrolling through Twitter, partly
because I'll see stuff. Oh that's perfect for the show.
Oh that's great. I want to bring that up. Let
me get that link to that article. That's perfect for
the show. But part of it's just being a crack
monkey getting the endorphin shot. Anyway, if you can leave
unplanned a chunky party your Saturday or Sunday roughly three
to four hours, if you make your weekend packed and
(07:04):
busy as your weekday, you will not come out of
the weekend feeling refreshed. Well, that's that's semi obvious, But
I don't know, maybe it's not. I am a man
who craves leisure, so I am constantly on the lookout
for opportunities to not do stuff. I realize other people
are built differently. Then they go into socializing. Robust social
(07:26):
relationship ships are powerfully linked to physical and mental health
and longevity benefits. The weekend as a natural time to
take advantage of them. You know, I totally respect that.
I am trying very hard to be less isolated.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Do you think that's working for you? Yes?
Speaker 4 (07:45):
Oh, yeah, one hundred percent. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
I'm really concentrating on the whole to have a friend
be a friend, and real friendships take time. Now I
have a hell of a lot more time than you
do at this point. So again, this is you know,
either you can or you can't. It's aspirational. You know,
if I say you know, exercise is good for you,
(08:08):
and you scream, I have a doctor's appointment this afternoon.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
I can't got your.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Size, Well, then okay, okay, okay, just as much as
you can.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
That's a tough one. My dad's line was always do
you have time for a heart attack? You know, I
don't have time to.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Exercise, right, And the physical activity part of it, that's
well plowed ground.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
There's no need to go over that. But and uh, in.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Terms of working shores, pick out a couple of small,
achievable objects to see them through the finish line, rather
than trying to take on five things at wants for
a giant project. Tom, I'm gonna put away the spoons.
The dishes are clean. I'm just gonna put away the
spoon and just the tea spoons, not that, not the tablespoons.
Let's not get crazy here.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
The forks will continue to lay there on the towel
that probably should have been washed a long time ago
and dry.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Honey, if I bite off more than I can and she,
it'll ruin my perfect weekend. As described by the Wall
Street Journal, which we'll post later under hotlinks at Armstrong
and getty dot com.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
I love articles like this, and I always wonder if
any normal person ever looks at anything like that. Ever
for the New York set, I guess because I tweeted
out one from The New York Times last week. It said,
the perfect dinner time if you're eating before or after
six nineteen.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
You're doing it wrong.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
And I thought this for dinner table events. It's for
you to click on
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Armstrong and Getty
Hosts And Creators
Joe Getty
Jack Armstrong
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