Take a random Tuesday off. Weekends are overrated.
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Weekends are predictable.
Everyone does the same thing at basically the same time. Parks are crowded. Restaurants are packed. Traffic is terrible.
Most importantly, your weekends are filled with obligations. Family and friends come over to visit. Kids’ birthday parties. Do some yard work. Shop. Laundry. Meal prep.
When was the last time you had a totally free weekend?
But if you take a random Tuesday off? Completely different ballgame.
On a Tuesday, you can go anywhere and it's probably empty. Go to the hot restaurant in town and you’re one of a few folks lunching. Hike that popular trail and you’ll probably see a few scattered people. Drive around at 2:00 p.m. and the roads are likely empty.
On random Tuesdays, none of your friends or family are expecting you to be free or available. Nobody’s created plans for you. It's your day.
On random Tuesdays, you get to see a totally different world. To see what your neighborhood or city looks like while you're normally cooped up at work. It's a 180-degree experience.
When I started taking random weekdays off, I felt like I had discovered a secret world. A world littered with retired people, stay-at-home parents, and night-shift workers. All living in this awesome, uncrowded Tuesday reality. A reality I never knew existed.
Don't announce it to anyone in advance. Don't make any plans. Just wake up on a random Tuesday and decide: today is my Tuesday.
Call in to work. Say you've got some personal emergency you have to deal with. Then do whatever you want.
The weekend “you” is predictable. "Random Tuesday you” can be anyone.
So, next time you want to take a day off, don’t make it Friday. Or Monday. That’s amateur hour. Pick a Tuesday.
It's the difference between cramming into a table for two or having the entire restaurant to yourself.
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The first Tuesday I went to the grocery store after leaving corporate was like a mini-vacation in itself 🙃
Totally agree! Weekends for me tend to feel more like a "to-do list" than the perceived "rest and relaxation" that's it often described to be.
I won't lie -- I employ the "Random Tuesday" approach quite often. Gosh it feels good! I've often referred to it as "Stealth Freedom", because I can go almost anywhere and do almost anything and have practically no crowds, competition, or expectations.
The last time I took one -- just three weeks ago -- my wife and I wandered through a museum, had a peaceful lunch at a place that's jam-packed on the weekends, got a couple's massage, and literally just felt the weight of the world fall off our shoulders for the entire day. It's hard to forget days like that!