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&lt;p&gt;For many people, Memorial Day Weekend marked the beginning of &quot;summer Fridays&quot;: that wonderful, warm weather tradition that&#39;s the closest thing many of us will ever get to an official summer break (aside from taking a vacation). More and more, employers are allowing their employees to take shortened days on Fridays during the summer.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Implementing a flexible summer schedule is an emerging trend, to be sure,&#160;and one that&#39;s gaining traction as employers recognize this perk&#39;s significant appeal. It&#39;s estimated that last year, &lt;a rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot; href=&quot;https://www.newsday.com/business/summer-fridays-perk-1.19336300&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;46% of employers&lt;/a&gt; offered some form of summer Fridays.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Flexibility and the opportunity to enjoy a little bit more of the summer outside the office are definitely exciting&lt;span&gt;—though&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&#160;some of us don&#39;t know what to do with our extra free time.&#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;Here are five ways to make the most of your summer Fridays.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Focus on&#160;your mental or physical wellness goals.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It&#39;s can be difficult to keep up with your personal goals during the work week. Maybe you&#39;ve set a particular fitness goal, but struggle to make it to the gym consistently. Or perhaps you&#39;ve got a creative project you&#39;re working on, but can find neither the motivation nor the time to complete it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Summer Fridays offer a convenient opportunity to&#160;&lt;em&gt;make&#160;&lt;/em&gt;the time in your schedule to work towards these goals, whatever they may be.&#160;Bike three miles. Take a dance class. Finish that passion project.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;You might feel bad for neglecting things you want to accomplish for yourself outside of work. Your Friday afternoons then become the perfect time&#160;to do something that benefits your overall well-being. Sure, summer Fridays don&#39;t last forever, but&#160;the consistency might make it easier to carve out some space in your year-round schedule.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cross a few items off your to-do list.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Speaking of goals, we all have those little ones&lt;span&gt;—the to-do list items—that slip&#160;as easily through the cracks as our loftier ambitions. So what better time is there to chip away at your to-do list than a free Friday afternoon?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Whether you haven&#39;t been able to drop off your clothes at the dry cleaner&#39;s, or you can&#39;t make it to the library before it closes after a full workday, summer Fridays are your chance to run the errands you can&#39;t otherwise get to. You&#39;d be amazed by how heavily the little things hang over your head, and how much better you&#39;ll feel once you&#39;re able to&#160;work through them. Bonus points if you live in an urban area and can walk to all of your errands!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Work on&#160;your studies or professional development.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Plenty of grad students continue studying straight through the summer&lt;span&gt;—taking additional classes to speed towards their degree as quickly as possible or conducting research&#160;for a dissertation or capstone project. Those who don&#39;t study during the summer might hold their summers sacred, especially if they&#39;re also holding a full-time job.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Nonetheless, summer Fridays &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; a great chance to work towards your degree. For those who&#160;do&lt;em&gt;&#160;&lt;/em&gt;take classes during the summer, try to schedule them on Friday afternoons. This alleviates some of the stress of having to attend class after a full day of work. If you can&#39;t&#160;find any Friday courses and still have to go to class after work during the week, use your Fridays for homework or studying.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;If you&#39;re not currently enrolled in a grad program, you can still use summer Fridays to pursue any professional development opportunities you&#39;ve been considering: online courses, certifications, seminars, etc. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Listen, we know that studying isn&#39;t the most&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&#160;&lt;em&gt;appealing&#160;&lt;/em&gt;way to spend a summer afternoon, but if studying is inevitable, using your summer Fridays can balance your schedule without eating into your weekend.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Take a mental health (half) day.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Unplugging might be one of the best ways you can spend your summer Fridays, and while it may sound counterintuitive to productivity, you do&#160;&lt;em&gt;not&#160;&lt;/em&gt;have to be passive to unplug. Distancing yourself from your computer, emails, and assignments&lt;span&gt;—if only for a few hours—is an important act of self-care. &lt;a rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot; href=&quot;/blogs/workplace-issues/5-strategies-to-beat-workplace-burnout&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Burnout in the workplace is real&lt;/a&gt;, and we&#39;re rarely afforded a better opportunity to take a breather than during summer Fridays.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;If the idea of scrambling to your nearest watering hole or going home to nap doesn&#39;t sound like a particularly mindful way to spend your summer Fridays, there&#39;s plenty of other things you can do. Take a long walk in the park or go to a yoga class. Read just for fun, visit a museum, or&#160;attend a live music performance. Summer is blockbuster season, with any number of sequels or remakes arriving in theaters on a given Friday, so go to a movie.&#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Work on your side hustle.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We&#39;d never encourage anybody to work on a part-time or freelance gig during their working hours. But these days, it seems inevitable that a lot of people have&#160;&lt;em&gt;something&#160;&lt;/em&gt;they do on the side, especially&#160;for creatives&#160;and aspiring entrepreneurs. Maybe you do graphic design work or ghostwrite for your favorite blogger. It might even just be a hobby you&#39;re looking to turn into a couple of bucks here or there.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your side gig should always have its time and place outside of working hours. But guess what? Working hours end early on summer Fridays, so if you want to spend a few extra hours honing your passion before the weekend starts, this is the time to do it.&lt;/p&gt;

Stephan Maldonado

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