Stop Dreading Mondays | Nadia La Russa

Stop Dreading Monday – How the First Day of the Week Broadens Your Goals

Fridays fill us with weekend anticipation. Sundays make our stomachs sink with mundane Monday anxiety. Whether your Mondays are spent refining last week’s work, or you’re going to pitch new ideas, it can be very overwhelming.

Truth: You don’t have to dread Mondays.

In fact, you can use Mondays to your advantage. Whether you are an employee of a multi-national company working towards a promotion, or an entrepreneur on the path to a bright career, you need to be ahead of the curve. Sometimes, we can’t get ahead of our own negativity. That sense of dread really impacts your work ethic, lifestyle, and values. It’s time for a change, and that change can start on your next Sunday evening to broaden your goals.

 

Write Down Everything You Love About Monday

Seriously, simple things are what make us whole. Write down everything you love to do on Mondays. Anything from your daily commute to the office, to talking to someone you enjoy being around. Is Monday the perfect day for one of your favourite tasks? Take note of that!

 

A Sunday for Reflection

We get so wrapped up in training others and thinking about our gains ahead of time, that we forget about the beautiful beginnings in front of us. The new year can be seen as a new beginning, the first few weeks of spring remind us of what is to come. Why not stop to reflect on how much you have already. Breathe and feel gratitude.

 

Dare to Innovate

Do you have a new idea you’ve been dying to try, but you can’t get past your own rationale or make time? Maybe you want to open a store for handmade crafts or perfect your gluten-free baking skills! Be daring and start a new hobby that you can do when you want to unwind. #motivationmonday

 

Write Out a List of Inventions

We have bolts of genius, and we don’t even realize it. Create a list of any inventions or ideas that pop into your head. This is a great mind exercise for those who can’t stop thinking about the next step. Start your list on a Monday and see how many ideas you have by the end of the week. Who knows? One of those ideas might be your next career move!

 

Giving Back

Compliment someone’s dress or make time to tell someone how much you appreciate their hard work! If you work with a group, the extra positivity will enhance co-operation and create a lighter work day.

Putting a smile on someone else’s face also boosts your confidence levels. Try something as simple as paying it forward – next time you head to your local coffee shop, buy the next person’s coffee for them. It’s a win-win as you’ll both feel great!

 

Exercise the Dread Away

Even if it’s 20 crunches or 15 squats, exercising increases confidence levels and relaxes your brain. Your Monday might be super busy, so it’s important to do light exercises. Perhaps try exercising on a Monday evening to work off that “it’s Monday” feeling.

 

 

Treat Yourself

Giving yourself a little something extra goes a long way. It doesn’t matter if it’s a burger or a piece of clothing, treat yourself to something nice. The truth is, you work so hard towards your goals that you are probably taking advantage of yourself. So take some time to reward all that hard work.

 

Refocus Your Monday Mindset

Weekends symbolize what everyone wants the most: leisure, the freedom to be bored, spending time with our loved ones, and a break from the grind. Tomorrow is Monday, but now you have the chance to realign your ambition and aim your arrow towards practical, successful results.

Say it loud and proud: “I love Monday!

 

Turn Off Your Notifications

Social media is a great way to read tons of informative content. It’s also a magnet for drama, fighting, and political echo chambers. Take a break from social media for a few hours. When you unplug from the social calamities, you might feel a little calmer and more focused on what you’re doing.

 

Energy Foods

What you eat plays into how you think. It’s good to indulge, but eating healthy is the greatest indulgence. Eat light on Sunday with fresh veggies and wholesome grains. On Monday morning, have a light breakfast ready to go! The key is “preparation” and Sunday is a great day to prep your meals for the week ahead.

Practice makes perfect. It may take a few days or weeks to get into the habit, it’s absolutely worth it. Before you know it, you’ll be wishing it was Monday every day!

 

 

Waking Up at 4AM is AWESOME

Why waking up at 4am every day is AWESOME!

I set my alarm for 4am every day.

Over the last two years, I have developed the habit of preserving my quiet morning time to meditate, pray, do a bit of yoga, read, or even mindlessly scroll through social media.  Most of the time, when someone new figures this out, I get one of a few canned reactions:

  1. You’re crazy
  2. I could NEVER do that
  3. Wow, that’s amazing, I wish I could do that.

Here’s the great news – you CAN. Everyone can.  And, although it takes getting used to, I’d never go back to the days of waking up straight into the morning rush-around.

Mornings can be pure evil

Why waking up at 4am is AWESOME!For many of us, mornings are pure evil. The anxiety-inducing buzz of the alarm, bare feet on a floor that feels like the polar ice cap, bleary, crusty eyes that only open halfway, and the endless trudge to the coffee pot (seriously, why does the walk to the coffee pot feel like running a marathon?). Oh, and let’s not forget the fact that you look, smell, and sound like a monster that just crawled out of the world’s deepest, darkest trench. To top it all off, your roommate/partner/spouse is a (gasp!) morning person. He or she seems to literally jump out of her bed looking like someone who just spent five days at a spa. They’re beaming from ear to ear, grinning like some kind of maniacal clown, going on and on about their incredibly detailed plans for the day–all the while singing and laughing in an insanely bubbly voice. As you respond to the endless babbling with a few caveman grunts here and there, you wonder how in the world anyone could possibly be like this every single morning. Although it’s hard to believe, there are a lot of morning people in the world, and following just a few of these tips could help you wake up a lot earlier with a lot less struggle:

Ease into it

Turning into an early bird isn’t going to happen overnight. You have to ease into it. If you normally get up at 7:00 am (meaning physically getting out of bed, not the first of seven times that your alarm goes off), don’t think you’re just magically going to start getting up at 5:00 am. Instead, aim for small goals–baby steps. Try getting up at 6:45 for a while, until it feels comfortable (you don’t have to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed like your roommate, but a bit more than barely functional is helpful). Once you are comfortable with your new time, creep it up another 15 minutes. Repeat the process until you reach your final goal.

Imagine

Imagine what you would do with your morning if you could wake up and hop out of bed without needing a gallon of coffee just to open your left eye (the right one takes another gallon). Let your imagination run wild–you could finish that book you’ve been reading for roughly two years, start a yoga routine, enjoy some early morning gardening, or even go for a run (okay, okay, let’s not push it). Whatever you imagine you could do with that extra time, let it be your inspiration.

Why waking up at 4am is AWESOME!Wake up to something pleasant

I’m not sure who came up with the idea that alarms had to be, well, alarming. Maybe it wasn’t the brightest idea to have the first thing you hear every day be a sound akin to someone hammering nails into your eardrums. None of us like waking up wondering if the house is on fire or if that’s just the alarm clock. So find an alternative. Ditch that vexing old alarm clock and try something new. Waking up to music can be very pleasant, or check out some nature sounds apps–you could be waking up to the sounds of rolling waves on the beach rather than a five-alarm fire.

No more excuses

As we talked about earlier, this isn’t a change that is going to happen overnight. There are some days that are going to be much tougher than others–days when you’ll want to give in to temptation and start beating on that snooze button. You’ll justify it with excuses–it’s so cold, I was up late last night, I don’t feel like making coffee, there’s nothing to eat for breakfast, I have so much to do and it’s going to be a bad day… In order for this new morning schedule to work, you have to make it tougher to find an excuse. Put slippers near your bed to combat your icy floor, program your coffee pot the night before (not only will it be piping hot and ready when you wake up, the smell will make you hop right out of bed!), prep simple breakfast foods (cut up fruit and store it in the fridge, stock up on yogurt, pour single-servings of cereal in small Tupperware bowls), and get organized. It can be tough to get up when your day feels like a hot mess before you even open your eyes–even a simple list of the things you need to accomplish each day can help. Write it out the night before and stick it on the fridge to help you feel less frazzled in the morning.

Keep a log

Although the actual getting-out-of-bed part is going to be hard, you’re going to notice a lot of benefits once you start waking up earlier. You’ll feel less stressed, you’ll be able to take your time, you’ll be more productive, and you’ll eat a better breakfast. Keep a log of all the changes (even tiny ones!) that you notice as you start the process of waking up earlier. Keep track of how much you get done in the first few hours of your day as opposed to how productive you were when you slept later. You’ll be surprised at how much of a positive impact getting up a little early will have on your life.

It takes perseverance

Changing your sleep pattern to wake earlier isn’t an easy thing to do, but it can be done with a little perseverance. There are many benefits to being an early riser–according to Forbes magazine, early birds are more enthusiastic, better problem solvers, better planners, more productive, more optimistic, in better shape, and get this–they sleep better (research shows that people who go to bed earlier and wake up earlier get more restorative sleep). So while you are adjusting to your new wake-up time, just remember all these benefits and keep imagining what you’re going to do with all that extra quiet time.

See you in the morning!