Why “Living for the Weekend” is Killing Your Purpose – And How to Take It Back
It’s Monday morning. Your alarm blares, your soul sighs, and you wonder – not for the first time – if this is really what life was meant to be. Honestly, you’d rather hide out like Toby (see image below), curled up in existential defeat. Five days of dying just to feel alive for two. You sip your sad instant coffee and mumble, “Just get through the week.”
But here’s the thing: living for the weekend isn’t just a harmless coping mechanism. It’s quietly killing your purpose.
The “Weekend Worship” Trap
Weekends are glorious. Brunches with overpriced avocado toast, spontaneous guilt-free naps, church services that remind you God still loves you despite your chaotic inbox – weekends are beautiful. They feel like that breath of fresh air after holding it underwater all week.
But when your entire life narrows down to surviving five days just to breathe for two, you’re not really living. You’re sleepwalking through existence, treating Monday to Friday like some purgatory to endure before you can finally taste freedom. And that mindset is quietly shaping your soul in ways you might not even realise.
A recent Gallup poll found that only 33% of employees feel engaged at work, while 16% are actively disengaged – meaning they’re not just daydreaming about quitting; they’re plotting it like a prison escape. That leaves over half the workforce simply sleepwalking through their jobs, wondering why life feels empty.
Think about that for a moment: over half of us spend the majority of our waking hours feeling like we’re just going through the motions, waiting for life to start on Saturday morning. That’s a tragedy. Because while you’re longing for the weekend to arrive, Monday to Friday slips through your fingers unused, unappreciated, and unlived.
And here’s the deeper danger: when you worship the weekend, you risk resenting the spaces God has called you to steward during the week. You start believing that purpose, joy, and connection are reserved for your days off, when in reality, God is present in your spreadsheets, meetings, and commutes just as much as in your Sunday worship set. Living only for the weekend teaches your heart that meaning is scarce, when in truth, meaning is woven into every ordinary day – if you have eyes to see it.
The Silent Death of Purpose
Here’s what happens when your purpose becomes “get to Friday without getting fired”:
You lose sight of your why. Work becomes a mindless grind rather than a place to grow, serve, or create impact. Even if your job isn’t your ultimate calling, it can still carry micro-purposes daily.
You waste 71% of your life. Let’s do the maths: 5 days out of 7 = 71%. Imagine hating 71% of your life. That’s like loving cake but hating flour, eggs, and sugar – the core ingredients.
Your brain and body suffer. Studies show workplace dissatisfaction and stress are linked to higher rates of depression, anxiety, and chronic illness. Stress hormones spike on Monday mornings, and it’s not just the commute – it’s the psychological dread of meaningless work.
God’s Design for Work
Here’s a truth that often gets buried under your to-do list: God never designed work to be your prison cell. In Genesis, even before the fall, humanity was created to work – to steward, create, and cultivate life around them. Work was meant to be an expression of purpose, creativity, and partnership with God, not a burdensome obligation draining your soul every Monday morning.
Work was made for man, not man for the work. It was created as a gift – a way to participate in God’s unfolding story on earth, to bring order out of chaos, beauty out of raw materials, and life to whatever we touch. But when work becomes your master rather than your servant, when it dictates your worth and drains your purpose, it morphs into something it was never intended to be.
Work isn’t a curse. Meaningless work is. The curse twisted work into toil, but Jesus came to redeem every part of life – including your 9-to-5. Your job may not be your ultimate calling, but it can still carry Kingdom purpose in the smallest tasks when surrendered to Him.
Micro-Purpose Shifts: Bringing Meaning Back
No, I’m not telling you to quit your job tomorrow to become a barefoot missionary in Bali (unless that’s actually what you’re called to do). But here are practical micro-purpose shifts to stop killing your purpose Monday to Friday:
🗂️ Reframe Tasks as Service
Emails aren’t just emails. They’re moments to bring clarity, kindness, or courage to someone’s day.
🤝 Invest in One Person Per Day
See colleagues not as Slack notifications but as humans to encourage, mentor, or simply show kindness to. You’re planting seeds of purpose every time you listen, support, or affirm.
📝 Connect Your Work to Your Values
If creativity, order, compassion, excellence, or justice are core to you – find how your daily tasks express these, even subtly. Purpose isn’t only in grand gestures; it’s in daily alignment.
🙏🏽 Offer Your Day to God Each Morning
Invite Him into meetings, emails, and random Monday miseries. Your work becomes worship when it’s surrendered, however imperfectly, to His presence and purposes.
🎯 Set Micro-Goals with Meaning
Not just KPIs, but personal purpose goals: “Today I will respond to criticism with curiosity, not defensiveness,” or “Today I will honour God with excellence in this presentation.”
Final Thoughts
Living for the weekend sounds harmless, even normal. But normal isn’t working anymore. You weren’t created to survive five days just to live for two. Purpose isn’t reserved for Sundays or side hustles – it’s found in every spreadsheet, coffee run, and awkward Zoom call surrendered to God. Shift your perspective. Claim your micro-purposes. Watch your Mondays transform from a prison sentence into a quiet act of worship.
💭 Reflection:
Purpose isn’t a weekend luxury. It’s a Monday calling. Don’t let five-sevenths of your life slip by unlived. Where is God inviting you to see Monday differently this week?
📝 CTA:
If this challenged you, share it with someone stuck in the Monday blues. Subscribe for more faith-rooted workplace insights and comment below: How do you find purpose in your workweek?
Welcome to the THRIVE AT WORK Series—Because “Just Getting Through the Week” Isn’t a Career Strategy
Look, we all know work can be a lot. Between passive-aggressive emails, soul-sucking meetings that could’ve been a Slack message, and the delicate art of not rolling your eyes in Zoom calls, it’s no wonder so many people are operating in bare-minimum mode.
But here’s the thing—you weren’t built just to survive the workplace. You were made to thrive in it. And no, that doesn’t mean hustling yourself into burnout or selling your soul for a corner office. It means showing up with confidence, navigating office drama like a pro, setting boundaries without guilt, and aligning your work with your actual purpose (because yes, even your job can have meaning beyond just paying rent).
That’s where Thrive at Work by Love Ninja comes in. We’re diving into the real stuff—how to handle workplace stress without becoming a human doormat, how to advocate for yourself without feeling like a fraud, and how to bring faith, integrity, and emotional intelligence into your work life without being that person who awkwardly throws Bible verses into PowerPoint presentations.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, new articles drop every Friday. But will we be sending out cute little email reminders? Nope. If you want the goods, you’ll have to actually check our Substack page yourself like the responsible, thriving professional you are.
For now, this series is completely free. But one day? It won’t be. So, grab it while you can, because “I’ll read it later” is just corporate-speak for never.
Ready to stop enduring your work life and start thriving in it? Let’s do this.