Mondays are hard. We know this. When our alarms go off in the wee hours of the morning, feelings of dread sink in. We hope it’s a dream. We beg for five more precious minutes of sleep. But our pleading goes unnoticed and we throw back our covers in despair.
Because, for a lot of us, Mondays irrevocably suck, I have provided a somewhat certifiable list of how to get through this day we all seemingly dread. It may not make you feel better, but it will definitely elevate your levels of pre-work productivity; I guarantee it.
- Plan what you wear the night before. I know, I know. You’ve heard this before. So as you nod in exasperation that, “YES, YOU GOT IT,” actually do it. Try it out for a week and see if you find your have just a little extra time before leaving to go to work, and if you don’t than I apologize.
- Have your coffee set on a timer. AKA if you have a fancy Keurig, I’m pretty sure you can time it so that you already have a piping cup of Joe ready for you as you wake up. Nothing is better than waking up to the smell of coffee. Nothing.
- Make your lunch the night before. This means packaging everything and getting the whole debacle situated. That way, you can just grab it out of the fridge on your way out.
- Splash cold water on your face. Go for an early morning workout or hop in the shower. Do something that will wake up your senses because that jolt is the only way you are going to experience maximum Monday productivity.
- Have a protein-filled breakfast. Whether you like to make eggs in the morning or good old-fashioned oatmeal, eat something. Fuel your body and in turn fuel your mind.
- Don’t check social media until after you get to the office. Those things are mere distracters and you don’t need to get distracted when you already have t-minus five minutes to get out the door before you are officially late.
- Make sure your car is filled up with gas Sunday night. Or you at least have enough to get to work and back on Monday. Nobody wants to stop for gas on the way to work.
- Drink water throughout the day and pack a snack. Everybody gets hungry around 3p.m. and nothing is worse than staring at the clock as you wait for the chance to grab a bite. Drinking water helps too. Hydrate people!
- Charge up your laptop and computer Sunday night. Yes, research says it may not be good to keep your phone charged once it is at 100%, so charge it for an hour before you go to sleep. There is nothing worse than getting to work only to realize your phone is dead and you have no way of communicating with the entire world for the rest of the day. Even though the entire world may in fact be your best friend and your mom. But still… they count.
- And, if your case of the Mondays is actually a case of the workdays, and you hate your job, wake up early and be productive in the sense of finding something else to do with your time. Waking up an hour before you normally would to send out job applications is time well spent. This way, when you go to work, dreading your day, at least you can know that you did something, no matter how small, to make your life a little better.
