How to have a meaningful weekend as a programmer?
Tags: productivity, javascript, webdev, career
Published: 2021-04-11 01:56:02

Human life is a precious incarnation. Being born has a probability of about one in [400 trillion](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/probability-being-born_b_877853). So trust me you are special and you should try to get the most out of your life. Living with the scarcity of sunlight, dry eyes, back pain, imposter syndrome, anxiety, and depression is not what you want as a side effect of being a programmer. I want to share some of my tips to have a beautiful weekend.

Most probably you are reading this post because you also want to make your weekends meaningful and memorable. Of course, having a meaningful and productive weekend is a subjective thing for different people of different age groups. For some, it might be getting a travel experience or reading a book or watching a movie or working on a side hustle, or just doing nothing. But for some, it might be having family time as well.

No matter in what stage of life you are now, you should try to have a wonderful weekend. Just like everything in life, it doesn't happen without taking any action. To take an action, you need to take a break for some time from your career and retrospect your life as a whole and brainstorm what you want out of your life.

The hack is to allocate one weekend for yourself. Think about what you want to do in your life. Think about if life is going in the direction you wanted or not. Think about what matters most to you at the current stage of your life. Is it a relationship? Is it traveling? Is it acquiring knowledge? Is it working on your hobby project? Is it cooking?

Once you have that idea in mind, the next step is to make an actionable plan that could be carried out in 1, 2, 3, and 5 days. Of course! They are Fibonacci numbers. I am picking those because they are also used for task estimations. After picking the task and weights, use google calendar or something similar to mark dates. Execute your weekends and leaves for those plans. And that's all. 

## So what is the advantage of doing this?
Since the weekends are short and come after a long tiring week, sometimes we don't have any energy left to plan our weekends. Another advantage is that if we plan ahead, it would be easier to make group plans.

Depending on the current situation of the pandemic in the place you are living, please follow the safety precautions too.

### Here are a few things you can try if you have nothing to do this weekend:
```
0. Hold a yard sale
1. Host a movie marathon with some friends
2. Have a jam session with your friends
3. Learn to sew on a button
4. Learn Morse code
5. Learn how to whistle with your fingers
6. Learn about the Golden Ratio
7. Memorize a favorite quote or poem
8. Go to a concert with some friends
9. Go swimming with a friend
10. Make homemade ice cream
11. Take a class at your local community center that interests you
12. Learn about a distributed version control system such as Git
13. Fix something that's broken in your house
14. Go for a run
15. Learn how to french braid hair
16. Catch up with a friend over a lunch date
17. Learn calligraphy
18. Research a topic you're interested in
19. Give your pet ten minutes of focused attention
20. Rearrange and organize your room
21. Learn Javascript
22. Plan a vacation you've always wanted to take
23. Wash your car
24. Bake pastries for you and your neighbor
25. Go to a local thrift shop
26. Pick up litter around your favorite park
27. Write a poem
28. Look at your finances and find one way to save money
29. Start a daily journal
30. Clean out your garage
31. Learn to play a new instrument
32. Write a handwritten letter to somebody
33. Have a photo session with some friends
34. Play a game of Monopoly
35. Learn how to beatbox
36. Make a simple musical instrument
37. Learn Kotlin
38. Write a song
39. Teach your dog a new trick
40. Make tie dye shirts
41. Learn how to make an Alexa skill
42. Patronize a local independent restaurant
43. Do something you used to do as a kid
44. Learn woodworking
45. Learn how to use an Arduino
46. Cook something together with someone
47. Meditate for five minutes
48. Catch up on world news
49. Find a DIY to do
50. Organize your basement
51. Go to the gym
52. Go see a Broadway production
53. Start a garden
54. Create a cookbook with your favorite recipes
55. Create a compost pile
56. Go stargazing
57. Take a hike at a local park
58. Organize a bookshelf
59. Visit a nearby museum
60. Go on a long drive with no music
61. Think of a new business idea
62. Take a spontaneous road trip with some friends
63. Create a personal website
64. Make a budget
65. Pot some plants and put them around your house
66. Plant a tree
67. Play a volleyball match with some friends
68. Go to the library and find an interesting book
69. Clean out your refrigerator
70. Start a family tree
71. Solve a Rubik's cube
72. Study a foreign language
73. Watch a classic movie
74. Prepare a 72-hour kit
75. Make a bucket list
76. Learn the periodic table
77. Draft your living will
78. Volunteer at your local food pantry
79. Improve your touch typing
```
Let me know how you make your weekends meaningful. Have a wonderful weekend!! 🍻