Why do we love Friday?

1956 Wisc. Badgers Cheerleaders possibly cheering for Friday*

Happy Friday!

After a very informal survey, resulting in not-so-surprising results, most American’s least favorite day of the week is Monday and we strongly favor Saturday. Friday beat out Sunday by a large margin, and Thursday took a close fourth. Chances are your favorite days are Friday and Saturday as well... But why?

Anticipation       

Disclaimer: I’m no scientist, and wanted to write this quick blog post in time to be relevant, so I didn’t do a lot more research, but I believe it is because anticipation of happiness is almost as powerful as the experience of happiness. The converse also applies, perhaps more so.

I mean, if you hate Mondays because of work/school, and love Saturdays because of lack thereof, then it rationally follows that Sundays should yield the same level of happiness as Saturdays. But they don’t for most of us. Friday is also a workday (and often a more demanding workday), and yet, we love Fridays. Some of us even prefer Thursdays to Sundays because the week is almost over.

Your Weekend Homework

Yup, I’d like you to do something over the weekend. I’d like you to take this information to increase your own happiness. Now, Fridays are awesome, and I want to you to continue to love Fridays… that anticipation of future bliss is a valuable tool, which can be applied to many other parts of your life, as well as improving outcomes for your clients**. My advice to you is to nurture anticipation of future happiness while suppressing negative emotions related to future misery. When things are not quite where you want them, look forward to the brighter future and positive outcomes of your work. When all is right with the world, be there in the now. Enjoy your Sunday. Hope for the best, and realistically prepare for the worst without cynically dwelling on it. I promise this will make you happier, healthier, and more productive.

*image used via Creative Commons license, attributed to http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu/collections/UW 

**I had a section prepared for how to leverage anticipation of positives for winning more deals and improving customer satisfaction, but decided that subject would be better discussed in its own post. Stay tuned!