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How to Better Master Your Monday Mornings by Harnessing your Mental Mind

Do you suffer from what is commonly known as ‘Mondayitis?’ Although a relatively new word, Mondayitis is defined as:

‘a feeling of weariness, sadness, apathy and general distress that many individuals feel when starting the Monday morning week.‘

If you ever feel like this, perhaps it’s time to find a better way to master your Monday mornings? While there are many proven ways, such as embracing specific behaviours until they become routines and habits, the ultimate key lies inside your head, While you may not believe you are in charge of your thousands of thoughts you have every day, you are. Working in the area of mastering your mental mind has the potential to transform Mondays, and indeed your life. Let’s explore this further.

Master your Monday mornings or suffer

Recently, a client told me how much she dreads Monday mornings. For her, Monday’s represents going to a job she hates, working with people she has nothing in common with. Furthermore, she feels there is a lack of support and a complete misalignment with her core values. Overall, she feels a sense of purpose and joy is missing. As a result of letting her mind ruminate over her situation she was experiencing high anxiety on Sunday nights, in anticipation of Monday morning.

If you dread Monday’s, you have two choices. You can change your attitude and the stories you tell yourself, or change jobs. If it isn’t possible to change jobs right now, the best choice is to reprogram your mental chatter. Instead of ruminating on how bad things are, find a higher meaning and purpose that helps you think more positively.

What you think about habitually influences your experiences and how you master your Monday mornings

To illustrate how your mental chatter, your habitual thoughts, shape your day, here is a fictitious example using Mary and Melinda.

Mary:

‘Oh no, I can’t believe it’s Monday again. That means it’s another week of work. And I’ve got another two boring meetings today. I wonder how much time they will waste? How am I going to get through my current workload? No doubt my manager will dump more stuff on me. I hope I don’t have to put up with everyone else’s whingeing about the new system. I wish it was Saturday and I could stay at home.’

Mary hits the snooze button and dozes. Twice more… nearly being late.

‘There goes that button again. Oh no, I have to get up. I better not be late again.’

Mary drags herself to the kitchen and pours a strong coffee, trying to wake up while continuing her story on autopilot.

‘I hate my job. How did I get here? I wonder who will be at the meeting and what we will talk about today? Probably the same old stuff. I just want to be left alone, so I can get on with my work. And I wish someone would give me some direction as to how to use this stupid new system. It’s SO frustrating, and I waste so much time. Better go. Haven’t got time to make some lunch. Oh well, here goes my healthy eating here. Here we go again…’

Mary reluctantly leaves, feeling unmotivated and lacking energy. Thinking about everything that might go wrong and is wrong with her work.

Mary is totally unaware there is a better way to master your Monday mornings.

Sally chooses to embrace an optimistic mindset which is the key to master your Monday mornings

‘Monday. Time to get up and go for my morning walk.’

Sally jumps out of bed and goes for her morning walk. On her walk she enjoys being present, and she focuses on what she is grateful and appreciative of in her life. Moreover, because she has done this for the past year, it has become a good habit, a useful mental practice. Unknowingly, she has tapped into our brain’s greatest secret, that it can change, due to its neuroplasticity. Furthermore, she now has what Carol Dweck has famously termed, ‘A Growth Mindset.’

Sally arrives home from her walk, eats a healthy breakfast and takes five minutes to run through her short routine. She checks in on her vision and her ‘why.’ She reminds herself of why she is doing what she is doing and this energises her.  She asks the same three questions every day:

1. ‘What’s my intention and focus for the day? ‘

2. ‘What can I learn today?’

3. ‘Who can I support today?’

Sally takes time to make a healthy lunch and ignore that voice that whispers it can’t be bothered to make lunch. Furthermore, she knows later in the day she will be glad she took time to do this. Having packed her lunch, she chooses to leave the house with a smile, feeling energised as she anticipates a positive outcome for her meeting. She knows the importance of steering and focusing her mind on positive outcomes. This has been her key to discover how to master Monday mornings and avoid the nasty ‘Mondayitis’ virus.

Surprisingly, while this is a made up story, it illustrates exactly how many people react to their Mondays. Furthermore, the ‘Mondayitis,’ and Mary’s story is exactly what happens in millions of people’s minds every Monday morning.

What does Monday morning conjure up for you in your mental mind?

The question is, are you a Melinda, a Mary or somewhere in the middle? More importantly, what insights can you get from the above example?

Do you need to make a change, adjust your attitude or applaud yourself as you love what you do?

Remember, you have the power to change your story. You can choose to ignore those negative stories and create a new meaning. Creating a positive meaning and having purpose is one of your greatest superpowers. Changing stories shifts the focus of your mind to a better place. When you move your mind to a better place, you are more likely to take better actions and do the things you know you should do, but often don’t.

Importantly, creating specific actions, repeated daily, become rituals for your morning. Having routines helps you perform better, stay on track and saves energy and time spent wondering what to do. However, a word of warning. Consistency is a vital ingredient in establishing new habits! Habits are the foundation of everything we do, and make or break our success. Furthermore, we operate the majority of our life by habit. I believe this means it’s worth a little time and effort to work on creating better habits in your thoughts and actions, don’t you? Ultimately, to master your Monday mornings. When you discover how to create winning habits, and understand how powerful they are, you have important keys to skyrocket your results.

Viktor Frankl, a holocaust survivor, gives us a great lesson about life

In his famous book, ‘Man’s Search for Meaning,’ Viktor Frankl, a holocaust survivor, talks about how hope, purpose and meaning are the way to overcome any situation.

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

Finally, remember this. You always have a choice. While you may not be able to change your environment or workplace right now, you can change the way you respond and react to life’s events. You have the power to change or reject your thoughts. I promise you, when you become aware of your mental chatter not only have you found the key to mastering your Monday morning, you have a powerful tool for thriving in all of life.

About the Author

Mandy Napier is a Global High Performance Mindset Coach who is dedicated to supporting high achievers fulfil their potential and achieve extraordinary results professionally and personally. Transformations are the norm, and results guaranteed.

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The post How to Better Master Your Monday Mornings by Harnessing your Mental Mind appeared first on Mindset for Success.

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