TGIFs sometimes kill motivation

My workstation

I feel lazy at work every Fridays - officemate

My alarm plays the first song.

It’s 4 AM. I’d have to walk towards the shelves where my phone was ringing. Before sleeping in the night, I always place my phone to somewhere a bit far away from the bed but is not too far enough to keep me asleep even if the alarm sings MisterWives. I wake up at that time but I usually get up to formally start the day at around 4:30-ish.

I start my morning stretching and exercise. A pretty modest 100 jumping jacks, one-minute planks and 2 30-second side planks, 10 right-angle push-ups, 5 burpees, and 15 hindu squats. I increment the difficulty of each type of exercise every week so that means I just started.

For the timed exercises, I really don’t use a stopwatch to remind me that I reached a minute or so. Why?

Once I realize I’m about to finish, my body drastically runs out of gas faster than the acceleration of a free-falling object.

Same goes with what I just experienced during my internship. My officemate sighed and exclaimed to no one saying, “Why can’t I be productive every Friday?”

Why? Because we keep reminding ourselves that it’s Friday — the day to end the excruciating routine of weekdays and the day before the start of a weekend.

What does this mean? I am not saying we should literally forget it’s Friday. But we must not succumb to the idea that the weekend is near. It impedes our productivity, hinders us from doing more than what is asked of us.

Earlier during my exercises, I mentioned that I do not use a stopwatch that would sound loudly when I reached 30 seconds when my goal is really to hold the plank for a minute. I play music that’s very familiar to me while I do my planks so that on one hand, I know intuitively when will the 1 minute-mark drop and on the other hand, diverts my attention to the song and not the pain I feel and the idea that the pain will almost be over. This is the sole reason why my body tires easily when I use a stopwatch.

Same goes for work. Let yourself dive into the ‘productive unconsciousness’. Little did we know it’s already time to go home. And it’s Friday. No time wasted.

Start the week well. Have a great week!

James David Bradly R. Carballo

Written by

Data Science Intern at August 99, currently a 4th Year BS Management Information Systems student at the Ateneo de Manila University.

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