I love Monday mornings. I didn't always love them. In fact, there was a time, when I dreaded them. When I was in school, Mondays meant the end of the weekend. When I was in University, Mondays meant getting up early, sitting in on another boring week of lectures. And when I did my internships at banks, consultancies and auditing companies (I shiver at the thought of working for the man again) Monday's meant the start of a hardcore grind, staying in offices until late at night and basically having life pass me by…until Friday evening, when the offices released all it's busy working bees from self inflicted captivity into freedom, until the next Monday morning. As a matter of fact…sometimes I dreaded Monday mornings so much, that Friday's, although I still had to get up early and work, were my favourite days, just because the weekend was close but Monday mornings were still almost three days away. That's how bad it was. And I know I wasn't alone with my Monday morning aversions. The "thank God it's Friday" chorus of the working world, is a testimony to this. Change of perspective Over the last few years, I have developed a change of perspective. I started to enjoy Monday mornings, because I took a different viewpoint. Seeing the opportunity in every new week... Some of it definitely has to do with stopping to follow the traditional path. When you start to follow your dreams, it is much harder to dread monday mornings. After all, the new week is a chance to follow your dreams. Take a few more steps towards them. The new week and it's Monday morning starts to represent opportunities. Not just punishment. Not just another grind of working for the man. Not just deferring whatever you really want to do in life to an unknown time in the future. It starts to represent a new chance to create something. To do something. To go out and start sharing your gift, who you are and what you create and do with the world. Living for the now, not just for the weekend… There was another change in perspective however. I decided that I would not only live for the weekend. Not just get wasted and party. To regard every day as precious. It is a decision I took. Do I always achieve appreciating every day fully? Definitely not. I have relapses from time to time. But I also developed a few tools, that help me be grateful for every day that I am on this wonderful earth. Realizing that your attitude matters... has been another game changer for me. It really really matters what kind of attitude you bring to Monday mornings. What stories you tell yourself about Monday mornings. And how you want to feel about Monday mornings (and about yourself in general). Once you realize, that you live the story that your mind creates, you can start to choose a story that you want to live. My story changed in a way that I want my monday mornings to be great. That I want to feel alive. That I want to go out and spread and share good energy. That I want to smile at people. Be helpful to them. That I want to feel loaded with energy. When I tell myself that story a few things change, that make it a self-fulfilling prophecy:
Sunday Goalsetting Routine Over the last years I got into a habit to take my Sunday afternoons or evenings, to plan my new week. I look at my goals for the year and my life. I ask myself questions about the week that just passed. I think about how I can make significant steps towards achieving my goals. What I can do to become more like the person I aim to be. And I integrate all of these things into my plan for the week. I also mark tasks, that
Monday morning gratefulness routine Last but not least, I establish a monday morning routine. Actually, I don't just do it on Monday mornings. I just make sure that I definitely do it on Monday mornings, to get a great start into the week.
Other things that I keep track of doing during the day but which fall outside of my monday morning routine, are:
The key point is this…I do everything it takes to make my monday mornings as beautiful as they can be. There is no other way than to love a Monday morning that starts like this. --- If you are that person that dreads Monday mornings and carries that bitter face to work making sure everybody notes that life is being harsh on you because it dared to confront you with another Monday… ...wake up… you have a choice. You can make monday mornings great. As a matter of fact, you can turn your entire life around and start loving it. Just choose to give up that story that monday mornings or any part of any day are your personal enemy and you actually got a shot at making your Monday great for yourself and others.
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AuthorThomas is an entrepreneur and social-leader based in Berlin Germany. Find more on him below... Archives
December 2016
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Pictures courtesy of www.christinmarit.com and www.johannangermann.com
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