In the previous chapter I described a problem related to possible burnout or accumulated fatigue over the long haul, when planning from month to month and from quarter to quarter can drive a person into depression or lead to burnout. But besides burnout over the long haul, less resilient people — as a rule, impulsive and restless people — can burn out even over very short distances, on the scale of weeks. Few will want to read a book in equal portions of 20 pages throughout the entire week, or follow other strict rules and restrictions. In such cases burnout will come even sooner than the first quarter ends. What can I advise for such people? As you may have guessed from the chapter title and the analogy with the previous chapter, a good solution here is to engage in planning for only 5 or 6 days a week and rest completely from planning for 2 or 1 days, just as you rest from work. Do I follow this rule myself? Probably not fully. But I do have one day of the week on which I do not plan many tasks and which allows me to recover.
Generally speaking, if you want to try planning but are afraid you might get very tired, you can combine both approaches at once: take vacations and take weekends. After all, under a labor contract a worker is entitled to both vacation and weekends. Why should work on yourself be harsher and stricter for you and your body than working for someone else?
