6 things unsuccessful people do on the weekend

If success is your goal, then it’s worth looking into your habits. 

While the weekend should rightfully be considered a time for rest, relaxation, and letting your hair down, you should also strive for balance and productivity–and to develop as an individual.

Once you find that common ground, expect your perspective toward life to shift dramatically. 

But first things first: in this article, I’ll outline the things unsuccessful people tend to do on weekends. 

Once you get the idea, you’ll know what behaviors to generally avoid.

Let’s dive in!

1) They binge-watch for hours

I get it–we’re living through the golden age of television. 

There’s something for everyone–from expertly executed, brilliantly written dramas to riveting, edge-of-your-seat true crime to reality show fluff of every variety. 

Hence, catching up on shows is now considered a real pastime for many people, often using the weekend to fulfill that urge. 

The successful person tends to be mindful of their time. They also tend to be proponents of moderation. 

They have an awareness that lying around binge-watching TV with minimal breaks for hours on end is counterproductive, yet so easy to be sucked into. 

Next thing you know, it’s Monday again–and because of the limited nature of your weekend activities, you don’t quite feel fully recharged for the tedium ahead. 

Speaking of lop-sided activities, here is another example… 

2) They oversleep

Sure, nobody can fault you for being a little tired after a long week of busting your hump at the office. 

It’s completely within your rights to sleep in on weekends. 

But when you snooze to excess, this can be concerning. 

Oversleep often means waking up sluggish, feeling acute brain fog, and not in the best of moods. 

More importantly, by sleeping until the afternoon, you’re losing valuable hours to do more productive activities, like catching up with friends, pursuing hobbies, or hitting the gym. 

Soon after getting out of bed, it’ll be evening again, and you repeat the cycle. 

So when the work week rolls around, you might feel a sense of emptiness, your circadian rhythm messed up, having spent the majority of the weekend frolicking through dreamland.  

3) They party to excess 

Here’s the thing: a few beverages with friends during the weekend is fine, even encouraged. 

But once you take it too far, that “unwinding” can become detrimental. 

Uncontrollably drinking and partying to excess every weekend can lead to hangovers and a lack of productivity for days. 

Over the longer term, these activities can chip away at your mental and physical health. 

You may think you have time to recover, but after a certain age, hangovers can extend indefinitely, merging into the week and affecting your capacity to work properly. 

I used to be a bit of a party person back in my day. 

I’d often drink well into the wee hours, get blackout intoxicated, and then wake up the next morning filled with fear, nausea, and regret. 

I would get so uneasy and anxious over what could have happened that it was debilitating, affecting me for days, weeks, and in extreme cases, even months. 

Of course, any idealistic notions I may have held of enrolling in the gym the next day were instantly scrapped. 

I would even bring this unsettling energy and lethargy to the office, affecting my motivation levels, and therefore my output. 

Any rhythm I previously had was lost. 

It took me a few years, but I finally came to terms with the fact that this lifestyle was unsustainable. The binge drinking sessions were never worth it. 

I made the decision to cut down my drinking significantly (goodbye spirits!), honing in on things that were far more beneficial for my well-being like fitness and writing. 

No longer do I wake feeling nauseous, riddled with racing thoughts.  

I’m happier, my relationships have improved, and I lost a ton of weight–all things that promote a successful life.    

4) They mindlessly scroll through social media 

We live in a world obsessed with distractions. 

Spending hours thoughtlessly scrolling through reels on social media is even more mind-numbing than binge-watching TV. 

And we do it because it’s easy, it’s incredibly accessible, and it provides us with entertainment that requires minimal investment or thought. 

Because of its ubiquity, scrolling is a legitimate addiction for many people, zapping their time and energy in the process.   

Just the other day, I found myself scrolling for about an hour. 

As I watched my nth TikTok street interview, I recall thinking to myself: “Put that damn phone down already.” 

But I simply couldn’t get myself to stop, almost as if I was in some kind of trance. 

When I did finally find the resolve to put my phone away, I felt demoralized, disoriented, and even a bit catatonic–perhaps withdrawal symptoms from all the frenzied, vapid stimuli I had just browsed through. 

5) They ignore household chores 

Living in squalor can affect your well-being.

So use a portion of the weekend to catch up on chores.

I know it may sound tedious, but a clean home, devoid of clutter, also means an enhanced mental state. 

When you let dishes pile up, dirty clothes sit in the hamper (or worse, the floor), or let your trash decompose pile up for weeks at a time, you’re not doing yourself any favors. 

You’re an adult now; that means taking responsibility and pride over your space. 

Besides, there’s a therapeutic, calming element to cleaning–and the ensuing feeling of accomplishment, of seeing a clean home, is a real mood booster. 

On that note, I have to do the dishes. Be right back. 

6) They eat junk food exclusively 

As a society, we need to modify our perspective of the weekend. 

It’s a time for self-care and rejuvenation, not going all-out, eating and drinking to excess. 

I know some people who will maintain a healthy diet during the weekend, but once Friday night or Saturday morning rolls around, they’ll give in to their hedonistic, gluttonous desires. 

They’ll gorge themselves with chicken tenders, Cool Ranch Doritos, takeout pizza, Skittles, or what have you, relying almost exclusively on processed food to get them through the weekend. 

You should be able to kick back and indulge in fast food every now and then, sure–but when it becomes a regular weekend ritual, this can be problematic. 

Over time, you will compromise your well-being, both physical and mental–not to mention neutralize any health gains you’ve made during the week, which can demoralize you further. 

Final thoughts

Nobody is saying you will definitively be unsuccessful if you have an alcohol-induced blackout or take periodic visits to your local KFC. 

But when these things become part of your routine, some self-reflection is necessary. 

As mentioned, we should always strive for balance. 

So recline your seat and sit back on weekends, allowing yourself the occasional indulgence or two.

But don’t let it overwhelm your life–or even those two and a half days a week you have to yourself.

The bottom line is that bad habits can diminish your quality of life. 

You don’t want to one day regretfully look back at all the time wasted and opportunities missed.