Early to Rise || June 14, 2018

The Winning Formula for a High-Performance Weekend

By Craig Ballantyne

Think back to a time when you had a great work week ... only to lose your momentum and fall victim to old bad habits on the weekend. You ate too much, drank too much, slept in, and felt exhausted and anxious come Monday morning, snapping your streak of great work weeks at one.

Hopefully that was a long, long time ago. And if it wasn’t, don’t worry. It’s happened to all of us at one point.

There are so many weekend temptations that can take us off track. Weddings, birthday parties, sporting events, concerts, visits from family or friends, and even business conferences can derail our best intentions.

I still remember the first time I went to Morton’s The Steakhouse for a conference dinner. I was fresh out of college and working for a large nutrition supplement company. We were at a weekend conference in Las Vegas and on Friday evening, one of our biggest suppliers treated us to the fanciest meal I had ever had in my life.

First came the drinks.

Then came the 2,000-calorie appetizers (that’s what you’ll get in a plate of fried calamari).

Next came the steaks and sides.

Then, mercifully, dessert.

The next day, tired from overeating and under-sleeping, I found our host and asked, “How do you do it? You must take people out for dinner all the time, and yet you’re as skinny as a teenager and as energetic as ever.”

That was when he revealed one of his secrets for living a luxury life—the “Pick Your Poison” rule that you’ll learn about below.

His tip sent me on a nearly two-decade journey to figure out how you could have it all every weekend—from enjoying amazing meals to making fantastic family memories, all while getting ahead in your career and moving towards your legacy every day.

To help you do just that, I developed what I call the High-Performance Weekend Guide—a way to keep your success habits going while making time for the people and moments that matter.

When you follow this schedule, you’ll be able to enjoy every event without guilt and never feel like a social pariah because you can’t take part in festivities. At the same time, you’ll also continue to get your work done, stick to your healthy habits, and return to work on Monday rested and prepared for a busy week ahead.

Here’s the exact schedule to follow to have that perfect High-Performance Weekend:

Friday afternoon

It’s time to end your day by thinking about the start of the next one.

In my mid-20s, I stumbled across a secret: Saturday morning is a magic time to get work done. If you’re willing to set aside two hours on a Saturday morning, you’ll feel like you’ve completed the equivalent of a full day’s work. To make this process smoother, spend a few minutes on Friday afternoon preparing for that work—what it will entail and what you want to (realistically) accomplish.

Next, prepare for family time. Too many families waffle when it comes time for a group activity, ending up with their heads buried in smartphones or glued to TVs. Prevent that by thinking of a few engaging activities you can do together, and suggest these to your family at the start of the weekend.

Lastly, make sure you schedule a 30-minute block on Sunday’s calendar to plan for the week ahead and to reflect back on the previous week’s wins and losses. (More on that later.)

Friday evening

Here’s a little motto for life that strongly applies to every weekend:

“Push the envelope, but draw the line.”

In other words, when you’re working, you should constantly be pushing to better yourself and your business. But you also know when and where to draw the line and step away from work. Know when enough is enough; draw the line and stick to it.

It’s Friday night, so draw the line and spend your energy on loved ones instead of working or checking your phone. If you don’t, work stress will bleed into home and social lives and will increase tensions in your most important relationships.

Set a strict quitting time so that you can leave work and spend time with family or friends celebrating your victories and enjoying one another’s company.

If you choose to visit a restaurant or have a “cheat meal” on Friday evening (or at any time on the weekend), I urge you to follow the “Pick Your Poison” approach to dining. It is one of the big ideas I learned from my skinny salesman friend mentioned at the start of this guide.

His idea is simple, but effective for keeping extra pounds from accumulating on your waistline—all while keep you social and engaged during special meal.

Here’s how it works:

There are three “poisons” presented to you at most meals: the bread basket, alcohol, and dessert. Pick one of the three (in moderation, of course—not a loaf of bread, a 6-pack of beer, or a full 2,000 Chocolate Thunder from Down Under dessert from The Cheesecake Factory). Choose just one poison, and accept that the rest are off the table.

To help make this easier, take a look at the restaurant’s menu before you arrive for dinner. Nearly every restaurant has their menu available online so you can plan ahead to choose your “poison” based on calorie counts or ingredients. This also helps avoid wasted time at the restaurant hemming-and-hawing over what you want your indulgence to be.

Following this tip allows you to enjoy your meal without going overboard. After dinner, focus on being social for the rest of the night until bedtime, but I urge you to stick as closely as possible to your normal bedtime, even on Friday and Saturday. This makes it easier to get up at the ideal time in the morning—one of the keys to maintaining high performance. It also prevents you from messing up your sleep pattern and tossing and turning on Sunday evening, resulting in you waking up exhausted at the start of the week.

But, if you do stay up later than normal, then use the “Ballantyne Bedtime Rule”:

For every extra hour you are up the night before, you may sleep 15 minutes longer the following morning.

Keep in mind, however, that the later you are up and the longer you sleep in on the weekend, the guiltier—and lazier—you will feel in the morning. It will also be that much harder for you to stick to your “No Snooze” rule when Monday arrives.

Consistency is key when it comes to high-performance habits. Getting off track and out of rhythm makes it much harder to make progress on your goals in every area of life.