Make Monday Your Most Productive Day
Throughout North America, so many workers experience a queasy stomach on Sunday night that it has become known as the Monday Morning Syndrome.
We think about the challenges of the week ahead and the workload, and we make ourselves physically sick at the thought of it.
Monday is the most hated work day on our continent.
By Tuesday, we have figured out the processes to get through things, and Wednesday is over the hump day. More work Thursday with anticipation for a break on Friday night and there goes another week.
One of my resolutions for 2018 is to break that chain of dread that comes with thoughts of Monday’s arrival.
In fact, I resolve to make Monday my most productive day of the week, and because of that, I will look forward to it as much as the rest of the world longs for Friday.
I began to experiment with this idea in 2017 and develop some strategies to bring it to reality. The most important of these is maintaining a realistic work schedule, being ruthless about prioritizing, and ensuring that by Sunday morning, I had a very clear list of what had to get done each week.
Each week there is one task in particular that you dread more than all the others. It might be a project, or it might be a phone call to try to calm an angry client, or it might be setting up a new system or process to solve a backlog problem.
Whatever task you hate the most, get up Monday morning and start it before you do anything else. I mean nothing else…no checking your emails, no finding out about everyone’s weekend, no meetings. Just go in and do it. If you have other things scheduled, go in earlier so you can get this one horrible job done or nearly done.
Once you do that, the rest of the week suddenly seems much more doable. Try it and notice how the stress just dissolves.
With the horrible task done, pull out your agenda and look at it again. Look for one place where you can schedule a fun social activity that wasn’t there before. Pick something you really want to do and work it into the week.
Now you have accomplished your worst task and set up something fun to look forward to. Monday is not such a bad day after all.
If at all possible, don’t check your Monday emails until 1 or 2 p.m., after your hard project has been completed. If you start them early Monday, they will derail your day.
The secret to loving Mondays is managing your workload and getting a really productive start on the week, not filling up your agenda with other people’s agenda. When you do get to the emails and see other demands on your week, work them in as part of your realistic schedule.
If you operate your own business and have power over your schedule, it is okay to contact people with demands and say that you understand urgency is needed, and you will address it as quickly as possible. However, that may be Monday next instead of Friday.
Loving Monday is also about ensuring the rest of your life falls into place comfortably for the week.
Make Monday your night to stop by the grocery store on your way home. I know that there are all kinds of columns suggesting Monday is a bad day for shopping, but it is as good as any. Make your selections for lunches, suppers and snacks for that one week, get the laundry done that night as well, and assign others to elements of housecleaning as well.
Move into Tuesday with all the worst things done and coast through the rest of the week.
Don’t let the things you don’t like to do clog up part of every day of the week. Have a super productive Monday and then set an easier pace with your major problems solved for the rest of the week.
Paula Morand is a leadership building, revenue boosting, strategy expanding keynote speaker, author and visionary. This dreaming big and being bold leadership expert and brand strategist brings her vibrant energy, humor and wisdom to ignite individuals, organizations and communities to lead change, growth and impact in a more bold fashion.
24 years, 27,000 clients, 34 countries, 15 books, former radio personality, 11x award winning entrepreneur and humorous emcee.
Check out Paula’s best selling books on Amazon: “Bold Courage: How Owning Your Awesome Changes Everything”, “Dreaming BIG and Being BOLD: Inspiring stories from Trailblazers, Visionaries and Change Makers” book series; and due to be released in March 2018 “Bold Vision: A Leader’s Playbook for Managing Growth”.
For speaking inquiries email bookings@paulamorand.com or call toll-free 1-888-502-6317.