Monday Morning
Years ago I used to dread Monday morning. The beginning of the work week, I would think about all that I had to accomplish and feel overwhelmed. This was particularly true when I was in school. Monday morning was a cold bucket of water being dumped over my head. It was the call of reality. Thursday and Friday, by comparison, were weekdays that I looked forward to.
I liked Thursday, because the next day was Friday and that meant the end of the work week. I loved Friday, because often, I was mentally half out the door and onto my weekend activities. This cycle would start all over again, especially Sunday evening. Often, I found myself on Sunday evening not having dedicated any time over the weekend to prepare for the week. Or, during my time in school, I was often confronted with a load of undone homework on Sunday. Not good. Not good at all.
Thankfully, I changed my attitude toward Monday and consequently changed my behavior. Or perhaps it was the other way around. Maybe I changed my behavior and my attitude changed. Whatever the case, I changed and I stopped dreading Monday morning.
Do you dread Mondays? You do not have to if you are willing to come to a realization. Monday is going to come once a week for the rest of your life. Why not accept it and find ways to maximize your experiences, rather than dread a day because it seems to begin a work cycle. I say seems, because with a little planning you can get some of Monday’s work out of the way, before it begins.
Map out your work for the week. Do not let things pile up for Monday morning. When you are in school, see if you can do your weekend schoolwork on Thursday or Friday. If that is not possible, do some of it on Friday afternoon and early Saturday morning. If you are in business, use a similar template and prepare for the week on Sunday evening rather than coming into work on Monday morning feeling overwhelmed.
Often, with proper planning, we can control – to some extent – our work cycle and this can eliminate the dread that some of us attach to Monday morning.
Image courtesy of [Ohmega1982] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
*Authors note: You might see this column pop up online in a newspaper, under the name Both Sides. I am publishing this column here first at CYInterview.com. For a bunch of years, I have been writing newspaper columns. Since my columns have received a good response on CYInterview, I thought I would share it with you. Hope you enjoy.
You can reach me with your questions and comments at Jay@CYinterview.com Like today’s column? Check back frequently.