The Golden Hour

If you’re a salaried worker—like roughly almost all adult of the world—here’s a piece of advice you probably won’t hear often enough: cherish your weekend.

They used to say that salarymen live for the weekends, and honestly, that couldn’t be more true. Those 48 hours— 55 if you count the time after Friday 5 p.m.—are your golden hours. Treat them as sacred. Protect them. Respect them.

During this time, restrict work matters as much as possible. Avoid non-essential obligations, unnecessary gatherings, and activities that add no real value to your life. I say this from experience.

For years, I filled my weekends with work-related commitments—office gatherings, late-night drinking sessions with colleagues, and events that blurred the line between “optional” and “expected.” It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy them. I did. But looking back, I regret how much of my weekends were consumed this way.

I estimate that I’ve wasted more than 500 hours of my weekends on things that didn’t truly serve me. I don’t condemn those moments entirely—such things are fine occasionally—but when they become frequent, they quietly drain you. If my Saturday night was spent drinking, my Monday would be miserable. And this cycle repeated itself for years.

The real turning point came when I started using my weekends differently.

On weekends where I rested properly, read books, learned new skills, exercised, or simply stayed home and did nothing, I noticed something powerful: I felt better—mentally and physically. It was therapeutic. A kind of recovery I didn’t even realize I was missing.

As salary men, most of our lives are spent locked into a five-day grind. Endless tasks, deadlines, meetings, and expectations. That makes the weekend incredibly precious. So I called my weekend as the Golden —just to remind myself how valuable that time really is.

Hence I suggest you use it wisely as well, too.

Clean your space.
Exercise.
Work on your hobby—or find one if you don’t have any.
Spend time with your family.
Take your kids out.
Go on a short weekend trip.
Learn a new skill that might one day become a second source of income.
Or simply rest—without guilt.

When you allow yourself to be endlessly tied to other people’s demands—mindlessly working, attending other people's event or binge drinking—you’re subconsciously giving away the little personal time you actually own.

To be clear, I’m not against gatherings or working on weekends. Sometimes it’s necessary. Sometimes it’s enjoyable. But this is my reflection after ten years as a salaried worker.

The feeling of having an entire weekend with no obligations, no responsibilities, and no pressure is one of the best feelings in life.

If your boss or colleagues keep pushing work onto your weekends, it’s time to set boundaries. Don’t be afraid. Your contract says five working days—anything beyond that is often an unwritten rule that survives only because we allow it. Because we stay quiet. Because we don’t push back. Non essential events, gatherings, dinners, yes if it drains you from your own me-time, then cut it off too.

Make sure your colleagues respect your golden time too. It’s okay to say: I’ve had enough of work on weekdays—weekends are for myself, my family, my loved ones, and even my pet.

Protect your weekends.

They are not just days off.
They are the time that keeps you whole.