I currently take a rest day once a week (on Saturday) and a half rest day once a week (on Wednesday Evening).
I’ve found this to be a really good rhythm: there’s always a rest time coming up within 3 days, at the longest, which means that I can feel comfortable pushing myself hard during my work periods, without feeling an implicit inclination /temptation to hold back or conserve my energy. At the same time, my rest periods feel limited enough, that I feel a slight pressure to be disciplined about spending my rest time well, without feeling crunched with scarcity mindset.
And I feel noticeably refreshed after taking a rest day.
The goal of a rest day is 1) to do whatever would be most nourishing for me and 2) to do the things that feel appealing to some part of me during the work week but aren’t on the critical path for my most important goals.
That means I often end up reading about or learning things that seem cool to me, but aren’t actually that strategically relevant. This is important, because I don’t want to incentivize myself to delude myself about which things actually matter, by insisting that I’m only going to learn things that are strategically important.
There are a few things that I do almost every rest day, and then the remainder of the time is spent doing whatever seems most nourishing in the moment.
Focusmate session
I start every (full) rest day with a focusmate session. Just because I’m resting doesn’t meant that I don’t want to be fully alert, conscious, and intentional, and a focusmate session is a forcing function for getting into that mind-state early in the day.
Strength training
The number one thing to do (aside from getting good sleep) that supports my well-being is strength training, hard. I feel so much better after exerting myself with heavy squats.
But if I haven’t strength trained in several days, working out probably won’t feel appealing, so I want to do it early in the day.
Clean up my room
I feel way better when my space is tidied up and especially when my carpet is vacuumed (or my floor swept, when I have had hardwood floors).
Anki review
I do an anki review, day in day out, because having a long running streak is motivating.
Clear space
After that, I want to make sure to clear mental space, so that I can listen to myself, and check what seems appealing and nourishing, instead of being driven by addictions or impulses in my environment.
I’ll block the internet for at least 15 minutes, to make space to reflect.
I might meditate, or do focusing, or journal, or mundanely listing the things that I want to do.