5 Things to Do on Friday Afternoon at Work Before You Hit the Weekend

Everybody is “working for the weekend”, according to the 1981 Loverboy song, and while you might be anxious to leave work, get out early, and hot the weekend, your career and life might benefit from taking a few minutes to pause on a Friday afternoon to get a few things in order before you leave.

Scheduling just 30 minutes into your Friday routine to tackle the following five items will significantly impact your well-being, and help you be more prepared for the next week.

Evaluate the week. Take a few moments to check in on your priorities for the week. Did you accomplish your goals or is there some unfinished business that you’ll have to complete over the weekend, or get after first thing next week? You can do this in your head, but it can be helpful to write down a few notes to help you remember your assessment of the week. Think over your meetings and interactions with colleagues, supervisors, and customers. Is there anything you would change or is there a situation you would have liked to handle differently? You don’t need to spend a lot of time on this evaluation, and five minutes or so is plenty for now. 

Respond to Messages. You won’t want to go into the weekend knowing you owe someone a phone call, or an email reply and it can hang in your thoughts until you get back to them. Take care of it now, even if it means following up with a more detailed email or conversation later. You might also, if possible, work to attain in-box zero, meaning you have dealt with all your emails by responding to them or filing them away to read another day.

Organize your desk. Avoid coming in to work on Monday to a messy and disorganized desk by taking a few minutes to straighten up before you leave. Wipe away the stains from your coffee mug and toss out the crumbs from that protein bar you had after lunch.

Set some initial goals. Think about your priorities for the coming week and identify 3-5 preliminary goals or tasks to accomplish. Situations and priorities change but you’ll head into the week with a clearer focus by taking some time to prepare.

Review your calendar for the upcoming week. Before you leave take a quick glance at your calendar and note any meetings, training sessions, or big deadlines coming up. You don’t want to arrive at work on Monday morning to discover you’re 10 minutes late for the company-wide meeting.

By taking a few minutes on Friday afternoon to prepare for the following week you’l

l set yourself up for success and allow yourself to better enjoy the weekend.