The Monday bike ride.

When I was in school I hated these lessons of dragging words out letter by letter.Now that I am older it now follows me around on a Monday, dragging out the word and slowing down my voice, the time, the bug that is flying by reminding me that this is only the beginning of a loooong week. We put such a focus on a Monday because it is the first day after the weekend where we find ourselves right back where we were on Friday, working. For everyone that feels this way I think there comes a time when a person must at least try and change that focus.  

This is not at all easy as we tend to do just the opposite, we try and not have a focus on Mondays.

We love to Call in sick on a Monday, talk on the phone endlessly , browse the internet or do some online shopping. We go to the bathroom often and discuss all the details of our weekends with our colleagues while our employers sits and waits for results. Less productivity in the workplace means less money in their pockets and we as Monday haters are causing exactly that but so what. 

So what do you do? I don't think it is at all about what you do, I think it is more about how you plan to do it. Yes we might find Mondays awful but what about the other people out there that does not. Monday to them is like any other day, a happy day, a day when dreams still comes true, why?

1. Believe in what you do. Whatever it is you do each day of your life, somehow you are directly or indirectly dealing with people. Someone like a construction worker, building safe homes for the future, a waiter making someone else feel good by the words they speak. Even a job considered so low like garbage disposal means that you are keeping people healthy and protecting the environment  Ask yourself the question, what if there was no one else but you who believed it? 

2.Encourage others. Negativity is common and something you can easily step on. Whether your workload is high, or the deadlines are approaching, shifts are getting longer don't get negative and tell others to rather refrain from working at a place that is like yours. Is it not better to make that person believe that he can do so much more with the talent that he was given?

3.Do not show defeat. On a Monday keep smiling even though every part of you wants to be at home, what impression does it give to your superiors if you and your whole department is walking around mourning for  a weekend that passed away. Rather be the one that motivates, make it nice, buy some lunch or have cake, try  and be the better person. It will show who you really are and management will pick up on that. 

4. Prioritize. Organize your week, keep tabs on what needs to get done and remind others, this way the week might seem a bit more in control. We tend to walk around sometimes thinking, what is next? What can possibly make my week any worse? If you keep your mind organized, yourself in check and know that surprises can still strike and believe that you are ready for anything, Monday and the week should be yours. 

5. Take a breath. Don't push yourself like a steam train to rush through work on Monday, it never helps as rushing causes mistakes, and mistakes leads to trouble. Take it as a normal day, don't sit and watch that clock thinking, maybe if I keep myself extremely busy time will fly by. Time is not standing still as we believe, so get through the day just like any other, focus, focus, focus and when needed breath, get up and take a break. 

Monday will always be a funny day and I believe it is not as much as what we do on a Monday, it is how we plan on doing it like i said. Rather start off good than ending bad knowing that next week or even the whole week will be the same. No matter what you do it all comes down to knowing what you are capable of and staying positive no matter what comes along. You write your own story, it is just the path that will differ from the one to the next. Think of Mondays as a bicycle ride, it comes with it's fair share of hurdles along the road but don't give up and stop half way, you might just miss out on the view ahead.