Sometimes work feels ever-present.

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Whether it’s because you’re in a leadership role, you’re an entrepreneur, or you’re working at a startup that can’t take breaks, it can feel very overwhelming.

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On the one hand, you need to be as productive as possible.

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On the other hand, not taking care of yourself can lead to burnout –the most unproductive state.

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Finding the right formula for balance might just be everyone’s dream.

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And the truth is, no one can guarantee it. Each person is a universe of its own.

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However, there are tried blueprints that might help as a starting point.

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Here are two ways of organizing your week to balance productivity and self-care, with their pros and cons!

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The productivity sandwich

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One method to structure your work week is starting and ending it on productive highs.

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This means, for instance, scheduling all your meetings and calls on Mondays and Fridays. Mondays are for week prep, Fridays are for reviews.

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Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, then, are reserved for project-based work that allows you to move at a more customized pace and through different areas of your craft.

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THE PROS:

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The approach has the goal of setting priorities at the top of each week.

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This can be especially useful when you’re a leader, as it allows you to effectively communicate to your employees what is expected of them and make sure everyone’s pushing for the same results.

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Closing the week with meetings also ensures that you can keep track of what was and wasn’t achieved. How everyone worked. What went right and wrong. Where to start the following week.

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It also spaces out meeting days, so you can have three days of working at your own pace in the middle and give yourself time to prepare for the end of the week.

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THE CONS:

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Starting a new week with a day full of meetings can be a lot. 

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They are draining, require loads of attention and preparation, and need you to be at the top of your game.

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It gives you no time to get into the right mindset after a (hopefully) relaxing but short weekend.

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The same goes for loading Friday with calls. After a long week, having to do it all over again might seem impossible, and can lead to a stressful (and maybe delayed) closing of activities.

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Not to mention that a meeting is the last thing you do before clocking out, and the first thing you do when you clock back in on Monday.

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The self-care sandwich:

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Another method to organize the work week is starting and ending it on a more relaxed note.

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By choosing this alternative, all meetings are set for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday.

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This leaves the first and last days of the week as your project-based workdays. Mondays are for catchup, Fridays are for roundup.

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THE PROS:

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Adding a third day of meetings allows for better spacing of your responsibilities –in short, fewer calls each day.

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This can alleviate some of the stress and rush these meetings require and generate.

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The format also gives you a day to ease into the week and avoid the tough crash of an early Monday morning meeting.

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Easing into the week not only means getting in the right mindset but also catching up on anything that might have happened during the weekend that affects this week’s work.

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A more relaxed Friday means having extra time to finish off anything that might need corrections, and the chance to sign off at a reasonable time.

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THE CONS:

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Meetings Tuesday through Thursday can be intense. There are no days in between for extensive preparation and, by day three, you might be burnt out by responsibilities.

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Also, the lack of a priority-setting meeting on Monday and a progress review meeting on Friday can lead to less efficient tracking and alignment.

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You could set up the priority-setting meeting on Thursday and a progress review meeting on Tuesday, but you’d be going against the current, which can bring other troubles.

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Having more relaxed days to start and end the week can also lead to reduced productivity. 

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Laziness can feel impossible to battle on a Monday morning or a Friday afternoon.

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Building your own sandwich

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There are hundreds of possible combinations. 

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You could space your meetings between Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. 

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Or perhaps calls aren’t stressful to you and some of the cons simply don’t apply.

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No matter what your stance is, the point is that only you can find the right fit for your work week.

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Just make sure to strive for balance and you don’t risk your mental health in the search for productivity.

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If you’d like to hear from a satisfied customer of the self-care sandwich, check out this week’s episode of TOP CMO featuring Stack Overflow’s former CMO!

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