10 Tips to Tackle Monday and make it your favorite day of the week! Who said Monday's have to be bleak? Let's make them amazing! The power is in your hands!
Do you deal with Sunday Scaries? Do you find yourself dreading Mondays? Do you see them as the beginning of a seemingly endless week? Let’s change that perspective! Mondays don’t have to be a drag! Instead they can be the block upon which you build the best, most kick ass week ever! Check out this list to give you tips on how to tackle your Monday and make it your favorite day of the week!
LET'S DIG DEEPER:
1. Plan out your week ahead of time
Everything's better when you are prepared for it. Ever make plans last minute or go into a situation blind and then find yourself stressed and fubliming for solutions on what to do? You week is no different! Don’t use Monday as your figure shit out on the fly day, have it be the start of your awesome week plan. Use Sunday to set your intentions for the week. What do you want to accomplish this week? How do you want it to play out? How do you plan to accomplish those action items you have created? Having a plan can keep you on track and it gives you a clear vision on what to do for the week so you aren’t just blindly going through the motions. Every Sunday, I take an hour or so of my evening to set my intentions for the week and plan out what I want to accomplish overall for the week and each day. Having this outline for my week, keeps me organized and helps make the week seem a lot less daunting. Here is a sneak peek at the layout that I use to keep myself on track! If you use it let me know in the comments or upload a pic on Instagram and tag me and let me know how you like it!
As you can see, I like to use colors to code my week. These 6 color are how I seperate the tasks I need to complete this week, and when I am planning out my day I try to have at least most (if not all) of them present in some capacity each and every day. Having the colors allows me to see what I am really focused on and what I am slacking on. You will also notice that things under the purple category always come first, those that fall under the productivity tab for me are my real life to-dos that need to get done ASAP. I filled out the first two days just to give you an idea of how it would look for me in my planner. In my real planner, there is also a section for notes, to-dos, and a little box to check things off when you complete them (best feeling ever)! If you like the concept I provided a blank template below so you can fill in your own colors and give it a try!
2. Recharge Yourself
Making sure you get a good night's rest on Sunday is key for you starting off your Monday on the right side of the bed (pun intended). Sleep sets you up for success. Your brain functions better after a good night's rest. It is hard to imagine having a kick ass day when you wake up super groggy and already grumpy. Getting a solid night’s sleep and waking up, not evening needing caffeine, will make you feel like 100 bucks as soon as your feet hit the floor. Don’t believe me? Did you know that sleep is directly connected to your mood? “Together with impairments of attention, alertness and memory, sleep loss has consistently been associated with subjective reports of irritability and emotional volatility (Horne 1985)” (Goldstein & Walker, 2014). Seriously, how good is your week going to be if youre waking up irritable and setting yourself up for emotional instability? “Moreover, accumulated sleep loss leads to an amplification of negative emotions in response to disruptive daytime experiences, while blunting the affective benefit associated with goal-enhancing activities (Zohar et al 2005)” (Goldstein &Walker, 2014). What does that mean? It means that not getting enough sleep literally AMPLIFIES negative moods, and therefore thinking. And if that wasn’t enough, it even robs you of the good feelings you get when accomplishing goals! So not only are you irritated with life and flooded with negative thoughts, but even if you do accomplish a goal, without enough sleep you won’t even be able to feel good about it. If you’re not getting enough sleep it’s no wonder your week is starting off on the rougher side!
3. Take Morning Me Time
Let me start off this tip by letting you know if you are not a morning person, you are not alone. I am soooo not a natural morning person. It takes legit effort to wake myself up an hour and a half before I need to get up for work; but let me tell you it makes a world of difference. In that hour and a half I do things that bring me peace and joy, and that light my fire so I am ready to go for the rest of the day. I personally take that time to do yoga, journaling and a bit of light reading. All of that gets my mindset ready for the day and I feel refreshed and ready to take on whatever the day throws at me. Taking that time for yourself in the morning, and doing whatever it is that makes you feel good sets the tone for the entire day; so why not set it in a positive way? Below is a list of just a couple of ideas that you could do for yourself to start your morning off in the right way! Try some out and find what fits for YOU!
4. Look like a Million Bucks (even if you are working from home)
Seems silly and superficial but I'm telling you if you look good you feel good; and if you feel good you kick ass! On days where I am feeling low, or like it is going to be a rough day I always try to take a little extra time to make myself feel good with how I look. That way even if everything else in my day goes wrong, at least I felt good and I had control over making that one aspect work out well. Fun fact, any time it is a rainy day outside I purposely wear something super obnoxious and bright, because then it is like I am my own personal ball of sunshine! Even if you are someone who works from home and you are thinking “no one sees me so what is the point?” I want you to put on one of your favorite outfits that makes you feel DYNAMITE! Take the extra time to put the effort into your appearance that day and I am telling you it will make a world of difference.; and remember you are doing it for YOU not anyone else.
5. When in Doubt, Speak it Out
Just because you set up your day for success, doesn’t mean that life isn’t going to throw a few curve balls at you; so it is best to have something to get you back on track when it does. Insert mantras. Google defines a mantra as: "(originally in Hinduism and Buddhism) a word or sound repeated to aid concentration in meditation". I know a lot of people hear the word meditation and immediately get turned off. They picture someone sitting criss-cross applesauce on the floor with no distractions or noise, and they feel that their life cannot relate to that. But meditation doesn’t have to be so one track fits all. Literally taking 5 minutes to yourself and repeating the phrase of your choosing over and over to calm yourself and regain your focus TOTALLY COUNTS! And let me tell you it works. It is so easy to get off track and lose that positive attitude when people and circumstances just keep flinging crap at you all day long. Have those phrases prepared ahead of time, think of them like ammunition, and pull them out when you need them. In case you can't think of any , below are some of the ones I use regularly, feel free to use them to get you started :)
6. Start out strong
A lot of people plan the least amount of things to do on a Monday because they have the mentality of “well this day is going to suck anyway, so let’s not make it any worse by doing all this extra stuff”. While that may make Monday seem like a lighter load day, all it is doing is making the rest of your week more stressful. Now you have to cram even more responsibilities into the later days of the week. And on top of that you end up feeling guilty about not doing what you need to be doing OR it’s still in the back of your mind when you are “relaxing” on that Monday. I encourage you to flip that mindset! Plan your Monday to be one of your busiest days of the week! I know that sounds daunting but I swear there is a method to my madness. If you accomplish a lot on your first day you are riding a productivity high the rest of the week! It literally sets the tone! Then you’re thinking to yourself “damn I kicked ass yesterday, let’s keep that momentum going and see how much I can do today!” And then if you do have an off day later down the line of the week you don’t have to take it so harshly because you know you started off strong. Starting off strong is that driving force you need to propel your productivity all week long!
7. Knock out the "Big Guy"
No, I am not talking about punching the biggest dude you know in the face to make your Monday better LOL. Staying with the theme of keeping your Monday busy, schedule that biggest to do on Monday. You know what it is. That chore you’ve been dreading, that appointment you’ve been neglecting to make, that assignment you need to submit, that bill that you have sitting in your to pay pile that hasn’t gotten done… whatever it is that is weighing on you heaviest. GET IT DONE! What that will do for you is it will take that load off of your shoulders and will make the week seem so much lighter and brighter because now you do not have this sense of doom looming over you from unfinished business. It sounds exhausting, and at first it might be overwhelming…but trust me when I say procrastinating until later in the week NEVER makes it better. Just knock that baby out day one!
8. Change your mindset
This tip right here is KEY! If you walk away with nothing else from this list I hope you walk away with this tip ingrained in your brain. Let me make it simple, YOUR MINDSET IS EVERYTHING. Life is all about perspective baby. There is this image that floats around on Instagram all the time about perspective. There are two guys sitting on a bus, one side of the bus is looking at the gray crumbling side of a mountain and the other side of the bus is looking at this glorious valley full of life at sunset. The man looking at the crumbling mountain is depressed, he only sees life as this bleak thing with no hope; whereas the man who is looking at the valley sees life as this wondrous place with infinite possibilities. All that man on the mountain side has to do is switch which side of the bus he is sitting on, shoot all he has to do is TURN HIS HEAD! Choose to look on the opposite side of things. Don’t be that man facing the mountain, change your perspective! Instead of seeing Monday as this bleak beginning of another long week, see it as the first step in conquering the best week ever! It sounds silly but your brain is one of the biggest muscles in your body, and I promise if you exercise it in this way enough it will get stronger, and like I said…your mindset is everything. You change your mindset about Mondays (and about life) and everything will change for the better.
9. Stall your Scrolling
Limiting your social media is so important. Ironic of me to tell you to do this as I am writing this and publishing it online and I try to spread my outreach through social media BUT, as awesome as social media is it can definitely be detrimental to your productivity and your mindset if it is abused. So much time is wasted staring at screens. According digitalmarketing.org in 2020 , “On average, global internet users spent 144 minutes on social media sites every day” (Henderson, 2020). “ In the United States, people spend 2 hours and 3 minutes on social media each day…social media welcomes more than 1 million new users every single day “(Henderson, 2020). And that was two years ago! Two years of a pandemic, where people had a lot of free time on their hands at home probably increased those stats a lot! You may be thinking, “Come on…2 hours a day isn’t so bad… I mean we have 24 of them!” Okay but let’s say you are sleeping for 8 of them (because we are starting to get better sleep *remember tip 2*) that leaves you with only 16 hours a day. Now let’s assume you are working a full time job, there goes another 8 hours. So now you are working with only 8 hours , 2 of which are spent on your phone. 25%, a quarter of your day is spent scrolling through social media. Imagine what your life would be like if even just for some days a week you spent a quarter of your day pursuing your dreams, or tackling your goals. In addition to that, there has been talk of how it can affect your mentality, especially when you begin using it regularly at a young age. “There are a number of theories that might explain associations between time spent on social media and mental health issues during adolescence. For example, the displacement hypothesis (Lin, 1993) suggests that time spent engaging with social media might displace other more important activities that might be protective for mental health, such as sleep (Scott & Woods, 2018), or face-to-face time with friends (Twenge, 2017a). This theory suggests that time spent with social media might be related to subsequent mental health issues” (Coyne, Sarah M.; Rogers, Adam A.; Zurcher, Jessica D.; Stockdale, Laura; and Booth, McCall, 2019). How old were you when you began using it? How does it affect your mentality throughout the day? How about your productivity? Try limiting it on Mondays just to start, and see if your productivity and mood levels change. It can be really simple in the beginning. For example, twice a week I don’t let myself look at any social media before noon or after 8pm. That leaves a small chunk of the day to check it, most of which I am at work for and cannot check it anyway, and on those days that I limit it I notice a BIG difference in what I get done and how I feel.
10. Make Monday your FUNday
Finally, a fun tip! After all these other tips you have busted your hump to make this Monday the best it can be, and you deserve to treat yourself! Plan something on Monday that you will look forward to, something that will make you want to get to Monday because you just can’t wait for that thing you have planned. It could be date night with your partner. It could be catching a happy hour drink with a friend. It could be ordering from your favorite Chinese food place for dinner! It could be shutting off work mode at exactly 5pm and curling up on the couch with that new book you’ve been meaning to read. It could be going to get your nails done or a massage. It could be taking a walk in the park with your dog WHATEVER makes you feel good and whatever brings you joy, schedule it for Mondays. Something that I like to do is I like to schedule some of my favorite meals for dinner on Mondays. I am a huge foodie so looking forward to eating Tacos all day will literally pull me through almost anything LOL. Having that one little spark of joy waiting for you can help you keep chugging along when the going gets tough! In case you have a hard time thinking of some fun things to do, please feel free to reference the list below for some potential ideas!
That’s it for today folks! I hope you got some value out of this and hopefully I gave you a tip that you may have never thought of! It is never too late to turn the day around, I gave these tips to you for a reason! Take the time and set your intention! What do you want your Monday to be like? Your week to be like? Your life to be like? What are the steps you need to take to get there? Let’s start with tackling Mondays today, and before you know it you will be tackling your dreams!
Until next time,
-Steph
References:
Coyne, Sarah M.; Rogers, Adam A.; Zurcher, Jessica D.; Stockdale, Laura; and Booth, McCall, "Does time spent using social media impact mental health?: An eight year longitudinal study" (2019). Faculty Publications. 4124. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/facpub/4124
Goldstein, A. N., & Walker, M. P. (2014, January 31). The role of sleep in emotional brain function. Annual review of clinical psychology. Retrieved March 19, 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4286245/
Henderson, G. (2020, August 24). How much time does the average person spend on social media? How Much Time Does The Average Person Spend On Social Media? Retrieved March 19, 2022, from https://www.digitalmarketing.org/blog/how-much-time-does-the-average-person-spend-on-social-media
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