By Friday evening I usually have a Saturday that looks responsible. A few errands, a couple of plans, something productive squeezed into the gaps. It all looks reasonable individually. Together it adds up to a weekend that’s just busy in a different outfit.
A few years ago I started running everything through one question on Friday evening, before any of it goes in the calendar: would I have wanted this on a random Tuesday? If the answer’s yes, it stays. If the answer’s no, and it’s only there because it’s the weekend, I leave it out.
A craft fair I’d seen advertised failed the test last month. The pull was having a free day, rather than any real interest in the fair itself. A batch-cooking session I’d planned failed too, there to make next week easier rather than because Saturday was actually the right time for it. A walk with my kids passed easily. So did coffee with a specific friend, the kind I’d rearrange a Tuesday for if she asked.
Most of what fills a Saturday is there because two free days feel like they should be used for something, and almost anything qualifies as something.
The question forces a distinction between what I actually want and what’s just available.
What’s left after the test tends to be smaller and more specific than what I started with, with less padding from things that were only there because the day was free.
It doesn’t fix an overcommitted month, or a job that eats into Saturdays anyway. But for the kind of casual overscheduling that creeps in just because the day is free, it’s worked better than anything else I’ve tried.
Try it before you fill next Saturday. For everything that goes into the calendar, ask whether you’d want it on a Tuesday too. Keep what passes. Leave the rest for whenever it actually shows up on its own.
