I Don’t Do Mondays! Part III – Mondays are a Mindset

May 27, 2020 | Communication, Leadership, Self Help, Time Management

This is the final post in a three-part series–why I don’t buy into all the negatives associated with Mondays. In Part 1, I shared my tips for prior planning: how a little forethought can help us avoid the Monday blues. In Part 2, I talked about setting boundaries–how to take more control so I  can start the week more productively. Today, I’ll cover the importance of mindset: what we can do to reframe the way we think about Mondays.

WHY WE GET “A CASE OF THE MONDAYS”

Changing our mindset about Mondays begins with understanding why they can be such a pervasive problem. In part, it’s due to the stark contrast between the weekend and the first day of the week. After all, many of us spend Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday going at our pace–often a decidedly slower one–and we fill much of our time with activities that are fun or at least low-stress. Then, as we shift back into mentally taxing work and respond to others’ needs instead of focusing on our own needs and those of family and friends, the shift can be overwhelming.

HOW TO RESPOND: PLAY OFFENSE, NOT DEFENSE

It’s not enough to just recognize the disconnect between the weekend and Monday. If we want to start the week off right, we need to change our mindset. This begins with the two topics I’ve discussed previously: prior planning and setting boundaries. But it all comes down to being proactive–or, to put it another way, playing offense.

Let’s extend that metaphor a bit. Playing offense means taking control, whereas playing defense is a matter of waiting for something to happen before responding. Starting your week off by playing offense allows you to avoid letting others dictate your priorities. From a mindset perspective, playing offense also helps you feel empowered and be less likely to feel like a “victim” of Mondays. It’s often been said that defense wins championships but usually, the team who wins the championship is the one who better controls the ball.

It’s important to remember that playing offense and defense both have their merits, and you can’t pick one exclusively over the other. Eventually, both are necessary. So while making the intentional decision to play offense is the first step to not doing Mondays, we also have to realize that we’ll have to play defense at some point in the week–to clean up past messes where we should have been playing offense, for example. Striking this balance isn’t always easy, but it is well worth the effort.

WRAPPING UP

For most of us, working on Monday is inevitable. But Mondays, as we’ve typically known them, are optional.

Changing my mindset to embrace this reality has been life changing in both my work and personal life. What are some steps you are going to take to stop “doing” Mondays and embrace the day?

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