Dummies guide to coping with 6 days working week

For more than 10 long years (including college), I had gotten used to working/attending lectures for 5 days and then chilling out for remaining 2 days every week. Infact for a brief period of 1 year, at ISB, I even enjoyed a 4 day week. Though, remaining 3 days were as hectic as the rest of the week, but that's not the point here. Most of us have gotten used to slogging for 5 days and then unwinding for 2 days. Now, I am not going into the definition of unwinding or chilling as everyone has his own ways to let loose. 

So when I accepted a job offer last year that required me to work for 6 days a week, I initially thought that I will be able to cope with it and quickly adjust to the new work schedule. But nearly 1 year later, the body secretly longs for an extended weekend, fatigue is building up and social networking sites (with friends narrating their plans for long weekends and then posting photographs of their exploits) are not helping with the matters here.

Let me define my revised concept of long weekend / extended weekend - for rest of the world a weekend means 2 days break and an extended or a long weekend means 3 - 4 days break with some convenient holidays or leaves thrown in along with a weekend. Whereas, for me a long weekend means 2 days break and extended weekend does not exist anymore

Getting back to the main topic - How to cope with 6 days working week. I will list down few tips on how to cope with the new world order - incase you are forced to work for 6 days in a week

• Accept it - trust me it will help you and your loved ones immensely if all of you accept the new reality of life. There is no benefit in living in denial and still telling yourself that this too shall pass. Obviously life is in perpetual motion and things do change but accepting your present helps in numbing the pain somewhat. 
• Sacrifice on sleep - if you are the sort of guy who counts "deep slumber" as his closest buddy. Then I have bad news for you - you will have to get rid of it. Band-aid therapy works just fine here. You no longer enjoy the cherished "right to sleep". Who said this world was a fair place, eh? So say good bye to getting up late and afternoon siesta. if you want to squeeze the maximum out of the "weekend", then just throw this habit out of the window. Ideally, you should be averaging 5 hours of sleep on your "weekend". 
• Saturday nights are for friends and Sundays for family - you will have to balance your social life with your family life. So reserve Saturday nights for outings with friends, late night movies, cards, poker and dinner. Sundays are for you family - pets, wife, kids, parents (not necessarily in that order)
• do non value added jobs on weekdays - Finish off all non value added jobs like visits to salon, doctors, bank etc, payment of bills, visits of electrician and plumbers etc on the weekdays
• No Parties - Cut down on get-togethers, parties and all forms of merriment. imagine that you are living in Siberia and there is simply no point in enjoying life. Because the more you mingle with the common man or aam aadmi, the more you will realize that people are actually enjoying their lives while you are just going through the motions 

Run, rabbit run.
Dig that hole, forget the sun,
And when at last the work is done
Don’t sit down it’s time to dig another one.


So the mantra is to squeeze every ounce out of your limited "weekend". Remember for YOU, the week begins as soon as it ends