If you can conquer Today, you can conquer the week. By refreshing your feelings towards the start of the week, you can take control of any day. So here are a few tips for you to actually enjoy Monday, and every other workday.
“Monday is funday” said no one ever. But why? Why is Monday the most dreaded day of the week, every week? We know it’s coming. We probably spend the whole weekend dreading it’s arrival. No matter how much we try to resist it, Monday comes nevertheless. So to help you conquer Monday, and every other workday, here are some tips.
It starts on Sunday
If you don’t have a Sunday evening pre-work routine, then you might want to develop one. Any lack of preparation just adds anxiety to the Monday morning woes. Whether it’s taking 30 minutes to check the weather and prepare your outfit in advance. Or simply ensuring you’re in bed early enough to get a full 8 hours of restful sleep. There’s always something you can do to minimise the tedious stresses.
For example, preparing your outfit the night before eliminates the early morning heated debate which “what should I wear?” ignites. Also preparing ahead will stop your bedroom turning into a clothing battleground, that you’d only end up dealing with upon your return home. So iron your shirt, find both socks that make the pair and position everything together in the order you’ll need them in morning. Might seem a bit obsessive, but you’ll thank yourself in early hours when all you will have to do is grab-and-go.
Probably the most influential contributor to a great day is Sleep. Yeah, that thing we can’t seem to get enough of. But it’s not just about laying in a bed for a full eight hours until the alarm goes off. It’s about quality sleep.
According to the NHS, one in three of us suffer from poor sleep. An acute or chronic lack of sleep can make us just as impaired as if we were drunk. And does anyone function efficiently when drunk? No.
Obviously being drunk at work is unacceptable, but sleep deprivation isn’t so taboo. Yet both impede productivity significantly. Poor sleep habits reduces concentration and spawns bad moods, contributing to anxiety and depression. None of which are ideal ways to start any day.
How to pay off your Sleep Debt
Catching up on lost sleep isn’t something that happens overnight. It happens over many nights. So for those with weeks or months worth of sleepless nights, paying off your sleep debt with one early night won’t fully restore you. If you thought you could pay off your debt with two full days of sloth-like behaviour, think again.
To restore yourself, set up a sleep repayment plan. It’s best to start on a weekend. Try adding an extra two hours of sleep (or more if you can).
Turn off the alarms (and all other potential distractions) and let yourself wake up naturally. It’s likely that you’ll sleep more than 10 hours in the first instances. This amount will decrease to normal levels when you’re restored.
If you’re a caffeine-addict, gradually limit your consumption. Especially do this over the weekend or days that you don’t need it. Caffeine may provide short-term spurts in energy and concentration, but they aren’t sustainable and will disrupt your sleep quality.
And to get quality sleep, you should wind down and ease yourself into dreamland.
- Eliminate sugars and caffeine at least 3 hours ahead of bedtime. Your last meal of the day should be 3-4 hours before going to bed
- Dim the brightness of all lights, including your mobile devices. This will help to ease you into sleep mode. (And when the sun rises, open those blinds and soak in the natural light for an energised morning).
- Take a relaxing bath or warm shower. This helps to ease any muscles tensions that could come between to you and a peaceful night
- If you’re in need of something more, put the kettle on. Caffeine-free herbal teas can be effective in calming pre-bedtime anxieties.
If you’re suffering from insomnia, you can find more help tips here.
In Moarning the Morning
A set routine quiets the storm. It makes your actions more pragmatic and less likely to be infiltrated by feelings. So set a plan for what when and for how long you will do everything from showering, getting dressed and eating breakfast.
Yes, I said breakfast. You know, the meal that a lot of us skip. But we’re never really too busy for breakfast, we’ve just failed to plan properly. So schedule in enough time to have a satisfying meal to start your day. In need of inspiration? You can check out healthy breakfast ideas here.
A handy tip for any plan, is time contingency. Give yourself ample time to complete tasks. No one really wants to be racing around from the bathroom to bedroom to kitchen in a flurried mess. So allot enough time to complete tasks in a cool, calm and collected manner.
Getting into Work-Mode
At first it can be overwhelming. Even if you’ve stepped into your work space with a detailed plan of action, things change. Whether you’ve been given seemingly huge task that’s forced you to reprioritise your agenda at the last minute. Or the wifi dies when you needed it the most. Plans don’t stop life from happening. And impromptu changes shouldn’t stop you from getting into work-mode.
There are numerous tactics you can use to uncover your most productive self. Some work better for others. Mostly, it depends on what really motivates you. For some the ideation stage is their favourite, for others it’s the production, implementation or evaluation stages. And leaving your favourite tasks until last, can spur you through your least favourite tasks.
However, for the majority of us, trickiest part of any task is actually starting. We’re all guilty of walking around a task and evaluating it from all 360 degrees, yet not starting to do anything. Instead, we make to-do lists. And sometimes those lists are so long that we become overwhelmed by it.
But a list, is still a good place to start. So if you’re stuck and haven’t listed the elements needed to complete the task, then make one. After doing so, prioritise the tasks in order of importance and/or time required to complete. Think strategically about when to do each task. In general it’s better to do intensive tasks in the morning, when our minds are fresh.
According to Daniel Pink, author of When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, there are three stages to our attention span. The stages are: the peak, the trough, and the recovery. We peak before noon. The trough usually occurs in the afternoon, between 1pm to 4pm. And recovery mode is from 4pm to 6pm.
Unsurprisingly, during our peak we’re most vigilant. “Vigilance means our ability to bat away distraction. The enemy of writing is distraction, so people should be doing their writing during their peak when they’re less susceptible to it.” says Pink (via The Cut).
So schedule your writing, or any other tasks that require your undivided attention, for the morning. Action your less strenuous tasks like admin, or certain practical tasks for the afternoon. Following this, your recovery stage can be a great time to pull everything together, edit and make further plans of action.
Emails? Put a blurb on it.
Sending a long email? Summarise everything at the top, so that recipients get the general gist and know what to expect. Having both the summary and long-form details for reference, increases the overall effectiveness of communication. You could even go the extra mile, and signpost the different topics in your email too.
At the end of the day, communication is only effective when it is received in the way it was intended. And the formatting of emails (just like other forms of communication) influences how much of it is actually read and understood. You can find more tips on summarising emails for effective communities here.
Schedule Quiet Time
Quiet time is not your average break. Trips to the coffee machine are prohibited. This is just a time to remove yourself from the hamster wheel of work. A time to be still.
“We need a mental attitude that values and protects stillness, privacy, solitude, slowness, personal reflection; that honours the inner self; that allows each of us to wander about without schedule within our own minds.” Alan Lightman.
Schedule thirty minutes each day to totally unplug from the fast-paced wired word. Silence the pings, mute the colleagues and blockout your surroundings. Find a quiet space, a dark room or just close your eyes. Focus on you. Use the time to quietly reflect on how you’re feeling.
These were just a few tips and simple ways you can optimise your time at work. Check out more of our articles on our blog homepage. Whether it’s how you can be more productive at work or how our app can help you improve and get ahead at work.
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