3 Things I Must Do On Mondays
When it comes to Mondays, I’m with Garfield. Mondays have never been my jam. I always feel like I never have enough time to do everything I need to do through the weekend and by the time Monday morning rolls around it’s time to jump into the workweek. Of course, working from home has its advantages like being able to work and manage life at roughly the same time. I have the ability to hit the gym and quickly turn around for work instead of sitting for hours in a commute to an office. Over the years, I’ve come up with ways to make Mondays a bit more…tolerable. Mainly for my own sanity and so I don’t become forgetful.
Obviously, I don't think anything in this post is revolutionary and certainly isn’t something I’ve mentioned countless times before. But, if it helps just even one person it feels pretty worth sharing. Ultimately, Mondays will probably never be fun - unless you’re on vacation. To me it’s really about setting myself up for a day that goes by quickly, is efficient, and sets up the rest of my week to be (hopefully) a breeze. So here are 3 things I absolutely must do on Mondays to set myself out on the right foot for the week.
#1: Screen Emails for Urgency
It’s not uncommon to have multiple inboxes. It makes work and life much easier to manage. I primarily do this for my own sanity so, I can scan each inbox for urgent requests. Urgent requests can come in many ways either through freelance work, work requests, or even inquiries from this blog. Once I am able to see what’s being asked of me for the week ahead, I can better prioritize the order of things that need to get done. What tasks are urgent and most important? Which ones will be more time-consuming to complete? Which ones can I just get out of the way right now and not have to worry about? Just doing a simple scan and marking certain ones as urgent and filing others for later, really helps set the week in motion - and can even help me decide what emails genuinely deserve a response. Plus it helps me define my attention where tasks become more about quality rather than quantity (and simply getting sh*t done to get it done).
#2: Schedule, Schedule, Schedule
On Mondays, it can feel like an avalanche of meetings, requests, emails, tasks, etc. It can feel like the week is about to get stressful and hectic as soon as it starts. To avoid this feeling I always take a few minutes to look at everything and get things scheduled. Do I have important appointments for the week? Certain events or social time I need to keep track of? I sit with my calendars and day planner to write it out by the day. This is especially helpful with dividing up work tasks. I am the type of person who hears about a work-related task and immediately thinks I have to jump right into it in order to get it done. When in reality, that really isn’t the case. Most times the tasks aren’t even that urgent. There are plenty of hours to get everything done and there is really no need to Tasmanian Devil things. Looking ahead allows me to sort out tasks by deadline, priority, and just how long they will take to complete in order to be much more efficient and not forgetful.
#3: Get Freaking Organized
This one feels like a no brainer given the other two are about creating a less chaotic week ahead. The only difference with getting organized in this way is that it can me anything even those pesky things outside work. A lot of people spend. their Sundays doing these tasks to avoid getting the Sunday Scaries and while I sometimes do that, Mondays I really like to spend a few minutes getting my sh*t together. I make my bed, clean up any lingering nonsense on my desk, and pick up anything not in it’s place. Having a calming environment to start out the work day or week can do tremendous things for my mood and mental health. I don’t feel claustrophobic and overwhelmed. Not to mention things look much more neat and tidy for camera on meetings!