Why I love Monday mornings

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. 
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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:

• When I smile at people endorphins are released that make me feel better, which makes me want to smile even more. Nice. http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/7-benefits-smiling-and-laughing.html
• When I want to feel fit and fresh in the morning, I don't overdo it on Sunday evenings. I go to bed early, so that I can get up early on Mondays and still feel energised. Maybe I even go for a run before doing any work. When I get my workout in before the day even started, I am already on a whole other level mentally.
• When I am helpful to people, they give back. The atmosphere around you changes, when you bring such good energy to the table, that you are immune to any kind of negativity. And when the typical monday morning negativity can't affect you any more that definitely makes Monday's a heck of a lot more attractive.

Regarding Monday's there are two more "tools" I use, that have tremendously increased my appreciation for Monday's.

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

• I can delegate and give away completely to safe myself time or to outsource my procrastination
• I can knock out within two to five minutes if I set a timer
• are the tasks with the biggest long-term impact (MIT's - most important tasks), so that I know what to focus on

Putting every week back into perspective and making clear to myself how it fits

• into achieving my life goals
• into becoming the person I want to be daily
• my bigger mission

helps me to feel a sense of purpose in every new week and not just feel like it was Groundhog Day.
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.

• Getting up, brushing my teeth, taking a shower or just splashing water into my face
• Lighting a few candles and from time to time incense
• Making myself a liter of steaming herbal tea and a vegan breakfast (banana, chia, almonds and berries), while
• Listening to spiritual wisdom. Usually it is one of these: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, Eckart Tolle's A New Earth, The Power of Now or Stillness Speaks, Jon Kabat-Zin or Jack Kornfield.
• 20 Minute Meditation

After meditation my routine becomes a bit flexible. It is now either

• Going for a run (which takes between an hour and one and a half hours)
• Writing between 1000 and 2000 Words (either blogposts, newsletter copy or writing on a book)
• Reading or learning something new…usually for at least 20 minutes. This could also be an audiobook while I go for a run. Here I usually apply speed listening instead of speed reading.

I switch up the order of my morning routine by some degree. Sometimes i first go for a run and then do the writing. Sometimes I first write and postpone the running to the evening. 
Other things that I keep track of doing during the day but which fall outside of my monday morning routine, are:

• Practicing between 5 and 10 minutes on my guitar (you can imagine that my guitar play sucks but believe it or not… I am getting better =))
• Practicing a love and kindness meditation (which I usually do while i am out on the street walking and wishing people all the best in the world, which puts a huge smile on my face. What an enjoyable practice.)
• Writing in my diary…usually to reflect on the day, what I am grateful for, what key tasks and responsibilities as an entrepreneur I have taken care of, which activities would produce the greatest result for me (looking for the 20 in the 80/20 of possible activities)
• Showing my appreciation to someone close. My partner. My mom. A good friend. It could something as small as an email or Facebook text. As long as it has the power to make them feel appreciated and makes me realise that I appreciate this person. 

There are other small things included in my mondays and monday mornings, such as stretching ( I usually fit that in, when I am still listening to the spiritual teachings mentioned above) but I don't want to blow this article out of proportion.
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.
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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. ​