I hate Mondays!
Before I started writing this article, I typed “I hate Mondays” into Google. I got 1,360,000 search results!
It reassured me, I told myself that I was not alone in this case. It scared me a little too, how come there are so many of us?! There are those who can't get out of bed, those who at 40 still feel like they're going to have a stomach ache like when they had to go to school, those who are convinced that if they hit their alarm clock hard enough, it will eventually disappear, those who close their eyes for a long time and find themselves at their desk at 11 a.m. instead of 8 a.m., etc.
Finally, Monday is a day like any other! How to explain that so many people find Mondays so difficult or even, for some, anxious at the idea of going to work or even have stomach aches like when there were exams at school? Most like their job, like their colleagues, like their working atmosphere. And yet, it is difficult.
Realizing that I'm not the only one who finds Monday mornings difficult, I thought that a small article to try to overcome all this was necessary. Putting it in writing could – perhaps – help me as much as you.
[ Small clarification : no, no, I am not writing this article under pressure from my colleagues or bosses who always find me in a good mood on Monday morning in a meeting…]
WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT?
I tend to think it's because it reminds us of when you had to go to school when you were a kid, pack your schoolbag, go back to school. It's a bit the same thing here, from Sunday evening, we start thinking about the files to be dealt with from Monday, the possible problems we will encounter, the deadlines to be met, etc.
And then, getting out of the weekend when it was particularly pleasant, it's certainly not easy. Why go back to a work routine when you can have fun for 2 days?
But hey, Mondays come up every week (!), so hey, you might as well take advantage of it and find ways to live it better and start your week in a good mood.
GET ORGANIZED
One point that works quite well with me is to organize myself. It doesn't work every time I admit, but it helps a lot. It is therefore necessary to prepare your Monday from the previous Friday. That way, when you arrive, you know what awaits you. What was planable and predictable is, you just have to deal with the unexpected and the last moments. Said like that, it may seem like a lot, but imagine if you had to plan your week as well.
Ideally, I guess Monday should be all about the tasks you love the most, but hey, let's face it, you're going to have to do them at some point.
We start every Monday with a project management team meeting.
Friendly people, a relaxed atmosphere, various and varied jokes, everything combines to make this early morning something pleasant. [Yes, yes, I will try hard.]
TAKE A STEP BACK
Yes, we have two days off, but often we don't really take advantage of it. We have tasks / chores to do, various and varied obligations to assume. Often, we do them on Saturday, keeping Sunday as a real day of rest, but there, we enter the phase where we would just like to do nothing, thus returning to our student years where we were lounging without really aiming. And yet, I noticed that my best weekends, those during which I had really succeeded in getting off my job, were the weekends when I had been very active, interspersing my days with many activities which take me out of my normal work week. Taking a step back, putting your brain “off” and enjoying this life of a worker at rest, can be lifesaving.
With that, I'm going to get started right away and on this beautiful Friday, I'm going to prepare for my next week of work.
I just have to arrive fresh and sour (ahem, ahem…) at the office on Monday. My colleagues will be happy!
