Why You Should Think Twice About Wanting to Work on Weekends

Weekend is an invented concept, not some kind of natural phenomenon.

I prefer to work whenever I feel like to work. But I love my work, so I have no issues with motivation.

I also prefer to have days off on non-weekend days. That allows me to do errands and other activities in off peak hours.

I also like to take random days off without planning. Or take half day off on some random day when the weather is nice.

This flexibility is what makes me the most happy.

I have had a lifestyle business that pretty much allows me to work whenever I want for several years.

After a lot of experimentation I notice I roughly settled on a 9-5 weekdays + maybe an hour or so weekends (just to make sure things are running smoothly) work schedule (with exceptions / flexibility whenever the need arises so for eg. somedays I will take an extra hour during the day to run errands and work till later).

This helps me stay in touch with friends and family and feel better connected with the rhythms of regular society.

I love working / learning etc. So if I feel like working more I wont stop myself but direct that to completely non-business related or otherwise 'wasteful' activities like tinkering and learning new things.

Mostly these don't go anywhere but occasionally end up generating a big break through of some sort.

If I feel I 'have' to work more than 9-5 for some actual business reason, I regard that as a systemic issue of some sort that has to be resolved.

I would be cautious of making decisions based on the mean value of some workplace-related social sciences study. Many software engineers, data scientists, and other knowledge workers can work remotely and have very flexible hours. We also often work on exciting, stimulating problems that are just fun to solve. These are privileges that we should use.

I like going to the gym on a weekday when there are fewer people around or go for a run over lunch break and make up for it on Saturday or Sunday. I find it also easier to go into a deep work mode / flow state when I work at times when I don't have to expect a random email or text message.

I don't even think once about it