It’s Friday post lunch and Mike is already excited about the weekend. It’s not just Mike, all of us are usually stoked to get out of work and hit the road to catch up with friends or get some drinks with best buddy or just be home in Pajamas with take out food and Netflix. Just anything but work.
FF to Sunday night and Mike feels quite the opposite of excited. The usual Monday morning syndrome has already started to haunt him. Sounds familiar? How many of us feel elevated to be up in another few hours to be at our desk at work? Think about it! According to a study 82% of the working population feel Monday sucks! However most people turn up, because of the inherent need to pay bills and realize they aren’t the Kardashians living a fancy reality TV life and paid to ‘just live’ their lives. And surely money isn’t growing in our backyard, or is it?
Come to think of it, why don’t we look forward to a Monday as much as Friday? Do you know Mondays can actually be as exciting as Friday?
I do not want to sound like a moron, who is going to ruin your weekend mood and act like that one ‘I am a workaholic’ bragger we all have at our workplaces! No! Definitely not.
In fact, I discern there’s no such thing called ‘workaholic’. Work can’t be an addiction. But passion can :)
As humans we need balance; specifically work-life balance. Work and personal life are like two sides to the coin. I perceive weekend to be an icing to the cake. Cake is good. Just that, be sure to eat the cake of your choice. If you love the flavor you’re going to love eating it every day and not sulk about having ordered the wrong one! That is it. When you’re passionate about what you do, you’ll automatically start loving your Mondays.
So the first step towards loving Monday is to make sure you love what you’re doing. If you don’t, it’s time you rethought your career choices.
Do what you love. I do not want to sound preachy. But most of us know for a fact that we perform better and love doing our gig because that is what we have set our hearts set at.
Growing up in a family of doctors and engineers, I was automatically expected to pursue one of those professions. I’m sure my parents and relatives did not know that something called ‘Marketing’ even existed back then. And even if they did, just like how general public assumes ‘marketing’ was connoted as sales. More like a ‘stand on the road and try and sell stuff that people don’t need’ job!
Nevertheless, like all good South Indian kids I did pursue engineering in my undergrad and was asked to pursue Masters of Engineering for Post grad. That was hilarious! Let me tell you why…
For someone who cannot solve math theorems and can’t code for life, continuing in the engineering stream would have been suicide. Well, as history has it, I was assertive that business interested me the most. And ‘Marketing’ was my forte. I knew I had to create stories that resonate with audience, create magic with words and squeeze that brain to deliver creativity.
Okay enough of my story. I had to bring it up only to assert the idea that once you pursue a job you love, you’d never feel bad about having to get back to work on a Monday.
The BEST thing about work is that you have something to hold on to. Work defines who you are. No one in history was glorified for being someone’s son/daughter, or mother and father. History has always celebrated people who did their trade with passion. All great people in history are termed GREAT because of what they did!
Just remember, you aren’t working to only pay your monthly bills. You are building yourself up. If you are a designer you’re working to become the digital Picaso. If you are a coder, you’re working to gain enough skill set to maybe build your own software, later. And so, Monday is your start to that consistent journey of growth.
Work is not about the money. It is about creating and amplifying your own value. If you perceive work as slogging for someone else to get paid month on month you will start resenting it at some point or the other.
Work means how well you’re learning and trying out new things to improve everyday. You are given the 9 to 5 opportunity to improve yourself, right?
Make the most of your weekdays, both professionally as well as personally. Look at it as part of slow living, taking each hour as the step towards your growth. You will feel upbeat this way, even if you feel that your energy is draining fast.
Have jotted few weekend tips to make your Mondays better. Figure if you can take one or two of these and implement in your life.
Plan your weekends. Weekends essentially need not imply partying or movies! Practice the 80/20 rule. Something I personally try and practice in life. While you spend 80% of your time at work on weekdays and spend 20% at home, reverse it on weekends. Do a bit of work or self growth activity like learning or coding or anything for about 20% of your time during weekends and spend rest of 80% on personal stuff and family. Remember, we are trying to strike a balance here. So, don’t unreasonably say you’ve got work on weekends and ignore family and friends.Just like you run a Netflix marathon during weekends, do some research,listen to podcasts or watch videos that ameliorate your skill set.
Do off beat fun stuff like getting outdoors for a game or visit the local farmers market. ( Well, I think most of us do this! I personally like visiting pop up stores and weekend exhibitions or do just window shopping at malls. This drives my other passion of designing clothes. These visits inspire my own designs.)Apart from self learning and trying out side hustle, you should be doing a bit of your office work. This work need not be typical mundane stuff or answering emails. It could be writing a new parser/ code or adding a few points to the blog that you are working on, just about anything.This is the key to make you feel better about your Monday mornings. Think of it like this: If you spend 5 hours during your weekend on the work that you’ve planned to do the following week, you could ideally save at least one hour each day during your workweek! So that’s 5 hours of your 48 hours!
Plug off and pamper when needed. Netflixing and partying aren’t bad either. So when you have to stop hustling and give that brain the rest it needs, turn off and have your ‘ME’ time. It could be reading books, just having tea or watching your favorite series while getting your mani/pedi done.
Keep your Sundays free until at least dinner. If you overburden yourself with work during weekends, for the sake of working you’re going to burn yourself out. I strictly try to keep Sundays personal and exclusive time for ‘la familia’. After dinner make your to do list for the week, so that you are setting the right mood to hustle towards your growth for the week.
Having said all this, I’m here writing away to my heart’s content on a weekend. This is my form of weekend therapy!
Let’s create clarity and energy during the weekends. Let’s create Happy Mondays!