Not convinced: making Sundays better

Didn’t we just do this with Mondays? Now we’re attacking Sundays which, I grant you, are usually in a a bit of shadow because of the following Monday. And also they are nearly as boring as Bank Holidays. But there are ways to make them better:

Do Sunday on Saturday. [T]ake care of buzz-killing chores, errands, and commitments on Saturday, when you’re naturally in a better mood. This… leaves you open for ‘moments of unencumbered joy’ on Sunday when your psyche is in need of them most.

Become a forward thinker. [End] your workweek with a plan… Create a Monday-specific to-do list, line up necessary files, and tag e-mails that require attention.

How to Make Sundays Suck Less – Allison Stadd, 99U (5 March 2015)

Notice that citation is for 99U, not Real Simple. This is partly because I found it first on 99U but also because for once Real Simple is a sort-of real magazine: you go through it like someone has scanned each page of a print title. It’s good, it’s interesting, it’s just hard to link to a specific line of text.

So do go read the full 99U feature but then click through to Real Simple, would you?

Why productive people work on Sundays

I’m sorry, I don’t understand the headline. What’s Sunday?

Over on LinkedIn, Ilya Pozin – who gets a special badge marked ‘Influencer’, I think it’s like being a prefect – argues reasonably persuasively that Sundays are useful for work:

Sundays aren’t just for rest and recuperation. When used wisely, they’re actually the perfect way to start your week with a bang.

Mondays often feel like a catch-up day from the weekend. There’s usually a full inbox and things that need your immediate attention as soon as you walk into the office. To avoid this productivity-killing situation, I schedule some time for work every Sunday to get my week started with a clean slate.

Why Productive People Work on Sundays – Ilya Pozin, LinkedIn (27 August 2013)

I say he’s reasonably persuasive because if he were very persuasive I’d be working now. As it is, you can choose to read this as persuasive, you can choose to read it as inspirational and then on top of that you can have the extra choice of whether you’re going to get up this morning or just stay right where you are.