Monday motivation: 7 Ways to Get Your Week Off to the Best Start

7 Ways to Get Your Week Off to the Best Start

All of us have given in to the temptation of hitting that snooze button when the alarm tells us it’s time to get up on Monday morning. However, this temptation must be resisted! Instead, set your alarm for 30 minutes earlier than usual and force yourself to get up straight away. It may take an effort at first, but giving yourself that extra time in the morning can help to get your day off to a great start.

Use that extra time productively. Take 10 or 15 minutes to do some exercise; nothing too strenuous, just enough to get the blood pumping and the heart-rate up. Make a to-do list for the day or even the week, writing something down can make it more tangible, and later on you will have the satisfaction of crossing those tasks off one by one.

When you start your day of work or in the home, try to take on the most challenging task first. We have more energy in the morning (believe it or not!) and getting touch jobs out of the way early helps to clear the rest of the day. Try to do a favour for somebody else during your day. Not only does it put some credit in your karma bank, but it also makes us feel just as good as the recipient of this generosity.

‘Me time’ is important too, and meditation is a great way to clear your head of worries and stresses and focus on the here and now. It can be tricky at first as unwanted thoughts have a habit of filling your head, but with practice, you will be pleasantly surprised by the results over time. And finally, why not liven up a boring Monday with a customised play-list? Fill your phone with tracks designed to bust the blues and motivate you to make the most out of your Monday!

1. Take a small bite out of Sunday 

You might gasp at the thought of eating into your precious weekend in order to prepare for the upcoming week, but an hour or two spent on a Sunday can really make your Monday and the rest of the week more manageable and pleasurable. Instead of vegging out on the couch in front of the 8 o'clock movie on M-Net or SABC3, why not rather spend a bit of time with your diary in hand? University of Toronto professor Jordan Peterson conducted a study that hailed the advantages of making to-do lists.

You could jot down the following:

• Appointments

• Gym times

• Other chores

• Shopping list

• Important upcoming dates

Doing this will likely leave you feeling much better about Monday. The anticipation of something - Monday, in this instance - can add plenty of value to one's mental wellbeing, according to the Department of Sociology and Social Research at the University of Trento in Italy.

2. Embrace technology, to an extent

There are several apps out there that will really help you maintain or restore order in your life. If you are happy to continue using your old school diary, that's fine, but if you want to look into a few apps to help you find or rekindle that order, then look no further than some of the following:

• monday.com

• Aha!

• Todoist

These will have you ticking off the to-dos and moving onto the next quickly enough. While life is not just about checking boxes and getting through reams of line items, this element does need to be addressed - and it's helpful when there are tools around to help. An eight-year study of performance at a New Hampshire school revealed increases in achievement gains when computer technology used.

An app like headspace is also really good to have at the ready. It isn't the sort of tool that will help you itemise to-dos, but it'll certainly help you quieten the busyness of the Monday. Jessica Alba, Jared Leto, Ryan Seacrest, Gwyneth Paltrow, Emma Watson, and Zach Braff are just some of the celebrity fans of Headspace, which is, of course, available to South African iPhone and Android users too. Technology, indeed, is a big motivator tool. Importantly, though, don’t use it to fritter away your time.

3. Haul up some Monday quotes

Hearing or reading what someone else said or wrote first can give you a lot of assurance. Monday quotes, then, are one of the quicker, sharper ways to motivate you.

"On Saturday I was a surgeon in South Africa, very little known. On Monday, I was world-renowned."

Christiaan Barnard (famous South African heart surgeon)

 

"If there are dreams about a beautiful South Africa, there are also roads that lead to their goal. Two of these roads could be named Goodness and Forgiveness." 

Nelson Mandela

 

“Mondays are the start of the work week which offer new beginnings 52 times a year!”

David Dweck

 

"Mondays are the potholes in the road of life."

Tom Wilson

 

"People often say that motivation doesn’t last.  Well, neither does bathing. That's why we recommend it daily."

Zig Ziglar

"Don’t wait on perfect conditions for success to happen; just go ahead and do something."

Dan Miller

 

"People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel."

Maya Angelou.

 

"Mondays are mundane, like Tuesdays minus 24 hours."

Jarod Kintz

 

"There are no miracles on Mondays."

Amy Neftzger

 

4. Body and mind

If a day off on National Women's Day, celebrated in South Africa every year on 9 August, is not enough of a motivator, then the females among us certainly deserve more. For the more active out there, you could get into the gym a little earlier to work off some of that stress. Those who are more inclined to a more relaxing approach, sleep in an extra 10 or 20 minutes.

There is a happy middle ground, too, that allows a good balance between rest and exercise - find it. The important thing is to make the time. Graft out enough time in your diary - and you will be grateful for it. The benefits of physical exercise are well documented in studies conducted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of South Africa. The United States' Walden University, meanwhile, has an especially helpful read on the mental benefits of exercise.

Benefits of physical exercise:

• have lower blood pressure

• lower your risk of falls

• manage your weight better

• reduce your risk of a heart attack

Mental benefits of exercise:

• Better sleep

• Boost in brainpower

• Decreased stress

• Increased self-esteem

5. Find your true Monday motivation

While Monday quotes and other inspirational messages can get you so far, you are encouraged to really find what truly pushes you, what genuinely makes you want to get out of bed and face Monday head on. It could be something as deep as building into your career goals, because you've worked hard to get where you are now and you want to keep climbing.

For you, personally and professionally, it might mean striking the balance between work and life. Some work to live, others live to work - which are you? Whichever notion pings your mental senses and truly inspires you, build into that - and you will soon find that Mondays are something to look forward to rather than ward off.

Renowned blogger and entrepeneur Gary Vaynerchuck often exclaims, 'Stop living for the weekends!' His sentiment rings true for not rushing away from Monday, too.

6. Think bigger than just Monday

Remember, there are four other workdays up ahead. Tuesdays and even Fridays will bring some of the same challenges posed by Monday - and more. To reiterate, what you do and put in place at the start of the week can have major positive effects on the rest. Research from the Association of Psychological Science reminds us that we are more likely to follow through with goals if we begin on a Monday rather than, say, a Thursday. Of course, not all of us operate on a Monday to Friday model, but the principle is effectively the same for whichever day your workweek starts.

For some it's Sunday, for others it might be Wednesday. The ethos of Monday motivation also doesn't have to apply to just mornings. For those of us on shift work, it might mean the evenings or early afternoons. No matter the time of day or night, though, do your best to define the point at which you will set goals. But try not just set the goals for the sake of setting goals. Really get behind them - and make them meaningful.

7. Surround Yourself with Positive People

Negativity is a state of mind, and one that can be contagious. If you find that you are spending too much time in the company of people with a ‘glass half empty’ outlook, then this attitude can influence your own mindset. People who approach life with a positive frame of mind tend to take pleasure from the successes of friends, rather than wanting to bring them down. Hang out with a happy and cheerful person for a while and you will find that positivity transmits itself to you. A positive person knows how to lift their own mood when times are tough, and they raise the spirits of those around them as a result. We all have difficulties in life, but try to find out what coping mechanisms those people use to get over the obstacles that can be thrown in our way. Perhaps the walks they take in the forest or meditation techniques can become part of your daily routine, and a way to get through those trying periods. 

At the end of the day

At the end of the day, in the metaphorical and literal sense, it's you who will know what best works for your needs. Monday quotes and points about Monday motivation will certainly help, but it's ultimately you who needs to set your week up for success. Gather what tools, insights, resources and material you can in the interim - and you will likely find yourself better equipped when it comes to tackling Mondays. To paraphrase Persian poet Omar Khayyam, 'Today of past regrets and future fears. Tomorrow - why, tomorrow?'

Lottoland has plenty of main prizes to bet on, such as Keno 24/7, which is drawn every four minutes and could make your Monday particularly lucky.

Sources

• https://www.businessinsider.com/gary-vaynerchuk-stop-living-for-the-weekend-2016-5?IR=T
• https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797615605818
• https://www.waldenu.edu/online-bachelors-programs/bs-in-psychology/resource/five-mental-benefits-of-exercise
• https://www.heartandstroke.ca/get-healthy/stay-active/tips-to-get-physically-active
• https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/14636681011049839/full/html
• https://www.nature.com/articles/palcomms201514#discussion
• https://sites.google.com/site/thedigitallibrarian/benefits-of-technology