Mondays are typically people's least favorite day of the week. Usually it's the first day of the work week and you don't want your weekend to end. To ease into the week, you may tell yourself to go easy on yourself and to sleep in until you absolutely need to get up and get ready for work. That's where you may make the biggest mistake of your week.
What could be so wrong with letting yourself get more sleep?
It doesn't set you up for success. It sets you up for failure.
By starting the week off "easy", you will probably get out of bed at the last possible second, and then rush to get ready for work. You'll be thinking about everything you need to get done and you'll start to feel overwhelmed. You have a lot to do, and you're already behind schedule because you are running late.
What a terrible way to feel. By starting the week off on the wrong foot, the entire week feels like an uphill battle that you do not want to tackle.
Do you know this feeling well? I did. I used to do this all the time. I think most of us live this way, and it is hard to figure out what to change in order to make things better.
Here's the solution:
Never Miss a Monday.
Never Miss a Monday means that you don't miss a Monday morning of getting up slightly earlier in order to spend some time on yourself before you spend time working or caring for others. By doing something for yourself first, you start the day and the week off on the right step. You accomplish a task very early on, and that makes you feel like your to-do list is manageable. You feel the endorphins of succeeding in something difficult, and that motivates you to keep going. You feel confident in your ability to do the hard things, and so your overwhelming task list no longer feels as overwhelming. No, it doesn't make your life easier at the blink of the eye. Your to-do list is still there, but now you have shifted your mindset from seeing that list as Mt. Everest into now being a small hill. It will still take work and focus, but you can definitely climb that small hill.
Here's how to do it:
On Sunday, plan your week. Schedule in time on Monday morning to spend at least 10 minutes on yourself. This could be practicing yoga, going for a walk, following a guided meditation, or writing in your journal. Set your alarm for Monday morning, remembering to set it for 10+ minutes earlier than normal. When you are just starting out, I really recommend only getting up 10 minutes earlier than normal because otherwise anything more than 10 minutes will feel like an eternity in the morning. When that alarm sounds on Monday morning, don't hit snooze. Tell yourself "Never Miss a Monday" and get up to do that personal activity. When you're done with those 10 minutes, continue getting ready for work as you normally would. Notice how much better you feel than you do when you don't allow 10 minutes for yourself.
You can continue this for the other mornings during the week, but it is especially important to show up for yourself on Monday morning before everything else. It shows your brain that you can accomplish something right away, and therefore you can accomplish what you need to do later in the day as well. Your mindset will shift from feeling stressed and overwhelmed to feeling like you can be successful. You'll feel more confident and peaceful.
When you try this, I would love to hear how it goes for you!
Be kind and spread compassion
~Sara~
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