Workplace Multiplier by Tola Akinsulire

Friday Edition: November 1, 2024

Welcome to the Workplace Multiplier newsletter. Published every Tuesday & Friday, we discover something crucial to help us on the way to winning at work and in life.

How to Set Yourself Up for a Great Work Week

You have probably heard people say Friday is the best day of their work week.

Some start Mondays living for Fridays.

I will not go into all the reasons for this.

A part of it is probably because of how drained people feel by the time Friday comes knocking.

By Wednesday, energy levels are waning and most people are just posting a show of performance.

I think a bad week starts from a bad weekend.

The weekend is meant to be a time of renewal. The problem is that people don’t set any intentions for their weekends.

No intention for renewal - just a few days to be off work.

One of the first things I learned in setting myself up for a great week is to protect my weekends.

Growing up in Nigeria, weekends were typically a busy social calendar - weddings birthdays, special events, and so on.

I taught myself to jealously guard my renewal times during the weekend.

Here are my thoughts on how you can protect your weekends.

1 - Set Renewal Intentions.

Yes, you have to set clear intentions. My renewal intentions for my weekends are themed in two areas - Rest and Family.

I am committed to spending time getting rest and enjoying family. These intentions design the map for my weekends.

2 - Plan Your Renewals

I practice weekly Sabbaths by creating time to zone out of everything else. A wonderful practice because it helps me restart mentally and physically.

Sabbath is an old practice from the Israelites during which they don’t work at all. I don’t go into the practice as legalistic as they do. Naa, that’s not for me.

My Sabbath could be a half-day Sabbath or a few hours of Sabbath.

3 - Protect Your Renewals

This is where the rubber meets the road.

You can set intentions and plan everything out, but you will always have those pesky interruptions coming into your life.

Your greatest superpower to defeat this is just “Saying No”

Yes, saying no to those pesky interruptions protects you.

But there are times you can’t just say no. Allow me to let you into another secret.

You can pay your way out of this. Let me explain better.

Once upon a time, I had an old colleague who was having her wedding on a Saturday at a location that was quite a distance. If I went for the event, my whole renewal plan for the weekend would burst. Renewal was very important based on the way I was feeling at that time.

So, what did I do?

I said “No and..”

To do the “and”, I went to shop for a wedding gift for her. I took it to her office the Tuesday before the wedding and personally handed it over to her. She felt so honored and she still says with a flourish “Tola gave me my first wedding gift.”

She was not hurt by my not showing up because I had communicated that I still wanted to honour her.

This is how you can say “No and..”

This is how you protect your renewal times.

I would be remiss if I let you go off thinking that you only practice renewal during the weekend.

Naaa…this is something you need to practice every day.

A few years back, as part of a Christian faith-based training, I did a session on the practice of REST.

You can watch the training by clicking here.

Even if you are not a Christian, I am confident you will find value in it.

The combination of these daily and weekly renewal practices will help you have the right energy to show up as your best self.

Every day.

All week.

Keep winning at work & in life.

Tola Akinsulire

I am a Workplace Multiplier

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Want to get in on some of the lessons I have picked up in my career? Get my eBook "21 Lessons I Learned in My Career - A Primer to Help You Become Better at Work". Get it here

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