Mondays can be a source of excitement or dread. Even if you love your job, the enjoyment of the weekend can turn a monday into a dark cloud. There are countless studies of the sunday night blues. Sometimes when severe, these physical manifestations are real signs of job dissatisfaction. How did you feel last night, knowing you would wake to a monday morning and a full week of work?
Upon arriving to work, do you experience a ‘case of the mondays’ like on Office Space
There are a total of 52 mondays in 2013 and I would encourage you to stop living your life dragging your feet to each of them. Let’s reclaim mondays.
Little things I started doing was writing ‘Happy Monday’ on emails or scheduling meetings that I was looking forward to before lunch.
I found a great post by Michael Poh that adds to this idea at saying:
1. Have Something To Look Forward To On Monday Nights
Plan something for after work so that you have something to look forward to. Monday is probably just the start of a hard week ahead, so you deserve an exciting event at the end of the day to motivate you while you work.
2. Prepare Monday’s Work On Friday
At the very least, if you plan out Monday’s workload on Friday, you’ll feel less overwhelmed come Monday. Planning ahead can help you cope with Mondays and maintain your productivity levels for the rest of the week.
3. Socialize
Humans are social animals. Engaging in a conversation stimulates the mind enough to actually kick-start it for the day. If you dive straight into your work the moment you reach the office, chances are that your brain is still trying to ‘wake up’. Like a car engine, your brain needs to warm up before it can function optimally.
4. Reconceptualize Mondays
Ask yourself: why does Monday have to be blue? Just because everyone says so? Well, it doesn’t have to be. Yes, you should ‘reprogram’ the way you see Monday. Monday may be the day we have to drag our feet back to work after an awesome weekend but if you look at it as the beginning of a great week ahead, the thought can empower you and propel you to a great start.
5. Accept It
Monday blues is like a Chinese finger trap; the more you struggle, the tighter it gets. In other words, fighting the blues only makes it worse. The solution to both Monday blues and the finger trap is surprisingly very similar. For the finger trap, you just need to relax your fingers and push them further in. The trap will then loosen and you’ll get your fingers out.
Happy Monday!
