10 Things to Do This Weekend That Have Absolutely Nothing to Do With Work

No networking. No catching up on emails. No Sunday-night preparation disguised as “just getting organised”. This weekend, try doing something that serves absolutely no professional purpose whatsoever.

If you lead a business or organisation, weekends can become suspiciously similar to weekdays. You might not technically be at work, but there’s an email being checked over breakfast, a quick job squeezed in before lunch and a few thoughts about Monday quietly occupying Sunday afternoon.

Even leisure can become strangely productive. We listen to business podcasts while walking, read leadership books on holiday and turn exercise into another set of targets to achieve. Apparently, simply enjoying ourselves without attempting some form of personal development has become revolutionary.

So, this weekend, we’re suggesting something different. Do something that won’t improve your CV, increase your revenue, develop your leadership skills or make Monday morning more productive. Do it because you want to.

Here are ten places to start.

1. Read something completely useless to your career

Put down the leadership book. Seriously. It will still be there on Monday.

Pick up a murder mystery, romance, science-fiction novel, celebrity autobiography, historical epic or whatever else keeps you turning the pages. The only requirement is that you aren’t secretly reading it because you think there might be a useful business lesson somewhere in chapter seven.

Reading for pleasure gives your attention somewhere entirely different to go for a while. And if you find yourself mentally transforming the protagonist’s journey into a metaphor for organisational change, you’ve gone too far.

2. Go somewhere you’ve never been before

You don’t need a plane ticket or elaborate weekend away. Find somewhere nearby that you’ve somehow never visited.

A town you’ve always driven through. A museum. A walking route. A market. A beach. A park. A restaurant you’ve passed a hundred times.

Leadership routines can make life surprisingly repetitive. We travel between the same places, speak to many of the same people and spend an enormous amount of time inside familiar environments.

A change of scenery doesn’t need to be dramatic to feel refreshing, and importantly, you don’t need to call it a “reset”. You’re just going out.

3. Cook something that takes far too long

Weekday food often needs to fulfil one important requirement: be ready quickly.

The weekend gives you permission to make something ridiculously elaborate.

Find a recipe you’ve never attempted, buy the ingredients, put some music on and accept that the kitchen may look like a small disaster area by the end.

It doesn’t even have to turn out particularly well. That’s part of the point.

Not every activity needs to end with measurable success. Sometimes spending three hours making something that everybody eats in 15 minutes is a perfectly good use of an afternoon.

4. Do something you’re terrible at

Adults have a terrible habit of gravitating towards things they’re already good at. Leaders can be particularly guilty of this because so much of professional life involves demonstrating competence. You’re expected to know what you’re doing.

So, find something where you absolutely don’t.

Try painting, bowling, pottery, paddleboarding, karaoke, gardening, dancing, baking or a sport you’ve never played before. Do something where there is a genuine possibility that a ten-year-old nearby will be considerably better than you.

Being bad at something can be enormously freeing when there are absolutely no consequences attached.

You don’t need to improve. You don’t need to practise. You don’t need to become competitive. Although we appreciate that last one may be difficult.

5. Have a meal with somebody and ban work from the conversation

This might be harder than it sounds.

Meet a friend, partner or family member and make work temporarily off limits. No updates about the difficult client. No discussion about what happened in Thursday’s meeting. No asking somebody what they think you should do about that staffing issue.

Talk about literally anything else. Films. Holidays. Food. Family. Books. Sport. What you would do if you won the lottery. The weird thing somebody said in the supermarket.

It can be surprisingly revealing to notice how frequently work normally finds its way into conversations.

The people in your life probably know you’re a leader. Give them the opportunity to spend some time with the rest of you.

6. Leave your phone somewhere else for an hour

Not on silent beside you. Not face down on the table. Actually somewhere else.

The modern smartphone has made it possible for your workplace to accompany you absolutely everywhere. You can be sitting beside a swimming pool hundreds of miles from the office and still be completely emotionally present in your inbox.

Try deliberately creating an hour when you cannot immediately check what has happened.

Go for a walk. Have lunch. Watch your child play sport. Sit outside. Read. Exercise. Take a bath.

Whatever you choose, allow yourself to experience it without simultaneously monitoring another world through a screen. The first ten minutes may feel strangely uncomfortable. That probably tells us something.

7. Watch something purely because it’s entertaining

Not a documentary about leadership. Not a TED Talk. Not a webinar you’ve been meaning to catch up on. Something gloriously unproductive.

Watch a terrible reality show, an old comedy you’ve seen six times, a ridiculous action film or an entire series that will contribute precisely nothing to your professional development.

Entertainment doesn’t need to educate you to justify the time you spend on it.

Sometimes laughing at something stupid for an hour is enough.

8. Do something you loved before work became so important

Think back. What did you enjoy before your diary became permanently full?

Perhaps you played football, went fishing, drew, baked, cycled, played video games, visited record shops, went to concerts, read for hours or spent entire afternoons wandering around without needing to accomplish anything.

Somewhere along the way, adulthood can turn leisure into something we squeeze around everything “important”.

Perhaps one of those old interests deserves another appearance.

You don’t need to become the person you were 20 years ago. But that person might have remembered something about enjoying themselves that you’ve temporarily forgotten.

9. Make a plan you’re genuinely excited about

Having something to look forward to is one of life’s underrated pleasures. Book the restaurant. Arrange the weekend away. Buy the concert tickets. Organise the barbecue. Plan the day trip. Message the friend you’ve been saying you need to see for the last six months.

It doesn’t have to be expensive or months away.

The important part is putting something enjoyable into your future that has absolutely nothing to do with achieving a professional goal.

Your calendar shouldn’t only contain obligations. Put some life in there too.

10. Do absolutely nothing

This may be the most challenging suggestion on the list. Do nothing.

Sit outside with a coffee. Lie on the sofa. Listen to music. Stare out of the window. Have an afternoon nap. Wander around the house doing very little of consequence. And don’t immediately start thinking about how this downtime will make you more productive next week.

Rest doesn’t have to justify itself by improving your performance. You’re allowed to stop simply because you’re tired. You’re allowed to have free time without turning it into an opportunity. And you’re allowed to enjoy a weekend without emerging from it as a better version of yourself.

Your weekend doesn’t need KPIs

There will always be something else you could be doing.

Another email could be answered. Another document could be reviewed. Another podcast could teach you something. Another hour of preparation might make Monday slightly easier.

But life cannot permanently be preparation for the next working day.

Leadership is something you do. However important it is, there are relationships, experiences, interests and wonderfully pointless moments outside it that deserve some of your attention too.

So, close the laptop. Ignore LinkedIn for a bit. Do something you’re bad at. Eat something nice. See somebody you love. Watch something ridiculous. Go somewhere new. Or spend an afternoon doing absolutely nothing at all.

Monday will arrive soon enough.

The weekend doesn’t need to achieve anything. Neither do you.

Keep looking after you

Wellbeing looks different for everyone, and sometimes the most useful thing is simply finding the right information at the right time. Explore more from Daily Round with our dedicated Women’s Health, Men’s Wellbeing and Wellbeing for Leaders sections, or head to the Leaders Library for our latest book recommendations, ideas and inspiration for life in and outside work.