Summary

The article discusses the importance of a positive Monday mindset, understanding individual sleep patterns, and practical steps to transform Monday into a productive and enjoyable day.

Abstract

The article emphasizes that a positive attitude towards Monday can set the tone for the entire week. It suggests that recognizing one's chronotype can significantly improve daily productivity and overall well-being. The author argues that the key to a successful Monday begins with the activities of the preceding Sunday, advocating for at least one productive task to create a sense of accomplishment. The piece also addresses the psychological impact of Monday on the workweek, noting that a negative perception of Monday can lead to a drag through the week, especially if one dreads their job. To counteract this, the author recommends believing in one's ability to change habits, tracking progress, and experimenting with different strategies to find what works best. The article is part of a series documenting the author's personal journey to make Monday the best day of the week, with the overarching goal of improving the quality of the entire week through consistent effort over a period of two months.

Opinions

The author believes that understanding and aligning with one's natural sleep pattern, or chronotype, is crucial for maximizing productivity and daily thriving.
It is the author's opinion that the mood on Monday can significantly influence the rest of the week, and that taking control of this day can lead to a more fulfilling work-life balance.
The article suggests that societal stereotypes about Monday being a dreaded day can be overcome with personal belief, consistency, and a willingness to experiment with new habits.
According to the author, tracking progress is a natural and effective way to maintain motivation and see the benefits of changed behaviors over time.
The author posits that the key to enjoying every day, including Mondays, is to live in the present and appreciate each moment, rather than constantly looking forward to the weekend.
The author shares a personal experience of transforming their Monday routine over two months, implying that such a change is achievable for others as well.

Look, Monday Energy is Positive

Understanding your sleep pattern

It strongly depends on what kind of sleep cycle you follow. And based on this article on chronotypes, you will broadly fall in any one of these four categories:

Lions are the 4 AM risers, they wake up before sunrise and are ready to crush the day before anyone. They are generally the earliest ones at work too.
Bears are the 7 AM ones, roughly half the world’s population.
Wolves are the real night owls, and [usually] have a tribe with whom they spend their most productive hours.
Dolphins are frequently diagnosed with insomnia because they have trouble calming their mind before sleep time.

Understanding your sleep pattern will change the way you thrive every day. Doing it every Monday consciously, that will just give you a straight head start to crush the day, and if repeated in the long term, your brain will carry that behaviour throughout the entire week without considering it as a duty or an obligation in a to-do list.

It all starts the night before

Since your Monday mood affects the entire week, the former is itself affected by how you end your Sunday. The second half of Sunday is just ruined by this thought, “Man this weekend is too fast. Tomorrow is Monday again!”

If you do even one productive activity on Sunday, it will feel like a stretch. You will realise you have accomplished something. It will just require an average of one hour to reflect on the entire past week and what steps you can take to crush the coming week.

Why there is a need to change it?

Monday mood can prepare you for the entire week. Especially when it starts gloomy, it drags you through the fifth of the week and when we have just passed out from the Friday party, weekend flies faster than time.

Time flies when you enjoy the activity. We don’t care how fast it is moving. We just cherish the moments and strive to get the best out of it.

And desperately waiting for Friday only makes sense when you loathe your job.

What can you do change it?

Ruling Mondays is a different kind of achievement. And like all other successes, the most crucial trigger is in believing that you can do it.

Breaking the stereotypes is what we all want to do, but at the same time, we are scared of the outcomes too, whether it will be a success or not, whether it’ll be worth the time or not.

It leads to overthinking, too much researching and over-planning. Combine these three traits and what you have is delayed deadline and lagging schedule.

Killing procrastination is not entirely possible because you will always be missing out on something, something you postponed for the future because of the work you chose to do at present. But living in the present moment and appreciating it is the trade-off that you will gratify in the long run.

I will share how long it took to convert my Mondays into the best day of every week: around two months. And what kept me going all this time? Belief, consistency, experimenting and tracking my habits in the long term.

Tracking sounds heavy when asked to follow, but it merely settles down to what method seems most natural to you. For me, seeing my progress first thing in the morning or updating it the last thing before bed gives an idea of how I am planning every day.

Monday has a history of bad raps, don’t fall for the trap.

Experimenting for yourself and then judging your actions builds trust in the process-oriented methodology. It is a gift of enjoying the journey.

Since my college days, Monday terrified me. If there is an early morning class on Monday, then there are high chances we are skipping two things: lecture and breakfast both. Yes, the morning bed has that gravity! We had the entire Saturday and Sunday for ourselves, and the same lethargy crept to the professional life also.

If you are anyone whose working hours are from Monday through Friday, Friday night is better than any moment of the weekend. Friday night is the time you release the stress from work, go out instantly wherever you plan. Saturday and Sunday pass like air, and bam! You are wearing office attire again.

To make sure that you don’t desperately wait for Friday and blast off the time as soon as you start partying, take some time to improve your Monday. One day can light up your week, and cumulative efforts will show positive results in the long run.

This article belongs to a series of articles I am publishing in this 21-day streak. See the first one here. This one is the thirteenth one — eight more to go.

To read the remaining ones, navigate to the end of the first article where there is a reference list sorted by day number.

~ Sanjeev