Take the Labor Out of Labor Day
In my productivity coaching, I tell people to choose three things to do every day that will create opportunities for them to enjoy a fulfilling sense of completion and contentment. This is especially good advice as we approach next week’s Labor Day holiday here in the U.S.
Many of us misconstrue this breathing spell from our regular jobs as an assignment to toil all weekend at personal chores. I suggest instead that you take a moment to plan to do three activities that will permit you to say, “If I do these things, I will go to work Tuesday knowing I had a great couple of days off!”
Your first instinct is probably to flip through your mental file of pending things to do, where you’ll undoubtedly find some tasks on which you genuinely need to concentrate. In selecting your three activities, however, remember to heed the Law of Attraction.
The essence of the Law of Attraction is that by focusing on something, you draw more of it into your life. Set out to spend the holiday weekend whittling at your to-do list, and you will certainly pare away some nagging items. Yet if you fail to do every last thing in the limited time available, the more burdensome the unfinished chores will weigh upon your spirit. You will be more stressed and tired at the end of your “holiday” than when it began!
Now, you could take the attitude instead that the weekend will present at least some opportunities to relax, shed your worries and return to work well-rested. Which is exactly what you would find happening, under the influence of the Law of Attraction.
With that in mind, here are some suggestions on how to “bait your hook” so that you attract the sense of satisfying respite that Labor Day is intended to provide:
o Spend a day fully focused on enjoying your family without (gasp!) interruptions from the telephone on your desk or your hip. Likewise, ignore emails.
o Chat up old friends and make new ones.
o Eat Sunday breakfast in bed with the newspaper.
o Daydream; take a nap; have a picnic; watch a sunset.
o Instead of working on your house, enjoy it. Pretend it’s a vacation rental.
o Crank up your favorite music. If the mood strikes, dance or sing!
o Read that book you’ve been too busy to get to.
o Rent kids’ movies or revisit your favorite cartoons.
o Bowl; ice skate; swim; hike.
o Make an impromptu trip to an ice cream shop.
o Play a board game or do a jigsaw puzzle.
o Indulge in a hobby you love but have been neglecting.
o Write that poem, essay or short story—heck, even that novel!—incubating in the back of your mind.
You get the point. We Americans work longer hours than any other industrialized workforce in the world. Labor Day is a tribute to our dedicated toil and was not meant to be a self-imposed obligation to do even more.
Maybe it would help if we changed the name to “Savor Day”?
