Monday Stinks And Its All My Fault

Looking at the “worst” day of the week and making it my best.

There is no secret that for most people, Monday is the worst day of the week. It follows the weekend, the is usually the start of work — not the passion, but how we pay our bills. Even if it is a job we are passionate about, it takes it out of us to start up again on Monday. We run on dopa mine, and the highest generator of work related dopa mine is on Friday afternoon — aka fun time.

We usually attribute that feeling to a bunch of things around us, our bosses, early mornings, the commute we have to deal with. With that said,a lot of issues could be helped first by looking at what changes we can make as people, and what we effect.

Where does that suckiness start — for me, I tracked it to Friday Afternoon.

I have been researching the effect of routine and habit for the last 18 months. This research has been very fruitful, as books such as the power of habit made me make some serious changes to put controls in my life. I generally make a list of 6 things I have to do each day to make it a success — I can do more, but its those sick things minimum that help me avoid lost days on the calendar.

On Fridays, I take a look at the week before, and try to see where my wins and losses were, how I used my time, and if anything is left on my head at the end of the day. These things include

What did I accomplish?

What are my Goals next week?

Any old projects that need to be ressurected?

Talk to bosses to make sure I am meeeting expectations, and a little small talk

Great start, but usually after that, I completely break away and start to boot up creative Adam — the guy who does everything other than programming, completely shutting down the guy that took most of my cycles that week. This process is usually sped along with a night of a few drinks, and like magic, I am born again as a comedian/creative.

Fast forward the weekend, and I arrive Monday ready to force programmer Adam back into place, and I end up dreading it. Not the work, but the routine and the place.

I've spent the week looking at some small experiments and writing about this at lifeasusual.me (my everyday blog), but I came up with two conclusions.

I need to stop splitting things up and keep a consistent flow with everything

I need to get up earlier to get all the things I want accomplished done, with enough slack time to take care of myself.

The first point gets me to focus on the whole picture, instead of compartmentalizing. I’ve noticed that although it stakes some time and I dread Mondays, since I have make it a point to plan my work week on Monday first, I have accomplished a lot more with less, and I keep track of things a lot better.

The problem is, I only do this with work. There is a lot more that could be done in the sense of getting all my projects. The only problem is I don’t have access to the things at work unless the second thing comes into play.

I have to get up earlier to manage my day from home completely. Usually Monday mornings feature me running around — generally late — trying to beat the clock to get in and start my day. I need to reate an enviorment where I can wake up and do it for all my endeavors, so I feel a sense of completion.

I become a better person when I get these things done. I think clearer, and I accomplish more while understanding exactly where my time went, and being able to make smaller adjustments to getting this stuff done. I feel like my productivity will shoot up with these two experiments.

I will be making this my focus — and will be keeping track of it on Life As Usual. Talk to me about your Mondays at @thehonorableAT on Twitter, and we will sort ours out together.