Let's be honest, Mondays tend to suck. In general, it is the worst day of the week. However, a good Monday will set the tone of your whole week whether you like it or not. Over the years, I have learned it's like domino's,; if Monday goes well, the rest of the week chips will stay standing or if Monday goes bad, it will knock down the next chips and the whole week will go badly . So how do you make it better? How do you make Monday rock so much your whole week goes better? Well here are my 5 tips!
1. Get a Good Nights Sleep and Wake Up
Starting the week off tired is not going to get you very far. Go to bed at a decent time on Sunday so you wake up refreshed and ready to take on the week Monday. I have a lot of trouble falling asleep but I have found a remedy that works well for me: reading a chapter in a book right before bed or doing some soft Yoga helps to settle my mind and body. I then take a Melatonin vitamin that helps me to fall asleep and stay asleep. melatonin is a natural enzyme produced in your body that helps to regulate your sleep cycle. Sometimes these levels get out of whack and the vitamin form can help you get back to restful sleep. (Take Melatonin a good 8 hours before you need to wake up to ensure you are not groggy the next morning and only take a recommended dose)
2. Plan Your Weekly Commitments
I use Monday morning coffee time as my week planning time. I sit down with a big cup of joe and a weekly planning pad and plan out chores, things to do, homework, appointments, etc. This helps me to anticipate how the week will go and prepare myself accordingly. Starting off Monday morning with a plan helps to avoid all the little breakdowns throughout the week when you forget an appointment or you skip chores all week and your house is a mess with friends coming over Friday night. A few minutes of time, a paper and pen, and a little bit of foresight can save your week from being a big hot mess. I always feel so ready to rock n roll after I have my week all planned out and I am ready to take it on!
3. Plan Outfits
I always feel better when I am well dressed. I take a few minutes Sunday night or Monday morning to check the weeks weather and plan out some outfits. This eliminates stress on the mornings I wake up late, I am moving slow or I just don't feel like putting the effort in before class. This makes it easier to grab one of my ready-to-go outfits instead of falling back on Yoga pants and a hoody. I complete my outfits on a hanger right down to undergarments or jewelry and they hang on the back of my closet door ready to go. 15 minutes of outfit planning makes my weekday mornings a breeze as I just grab an outfit, get dressed and go! Dressing nicely makes me feel so much better and so much more productive than if I just throw on my "lazy clothes".
4. Meal Planning
I always meal plan Sunday night or Monday morning and do my grocery shopping Monday afternoon on my way home from class. I leaf through the newspaper ads checking for great deals, consult Ibotta (an app that gives you grocery rebates) and ask my hubby what he wants to eat that week. I plan out a weeks worth of dinner recipes and lunch fixings and make a complete list of everything. Sometimes meals are decided by what's on sale ($5.00 a pound Beef Roasts at our local meal market for example!) and other times it's just whatever sounds good. I try to make 2 slow cooker meals a week for Tuesday and Thursday, when I have class from 9am-6pm; I do not have to cook when I get home, I just serve dinner right out of the crockpot! Other days I have more time to actually cook a meal when I get home. Meal planning not only eliminates the stress of "what on earth am I going to cook for dinner??" at 6:30 when my Husband is on his way home from work and also it cuts our grocery costs down because I often can use things multiple times in multiple meals (1 onion- 2 nights meals) and I know what I need, what I have and what I am cooking so I don't just wander around the grocery store picking up whatever looks yummy and throwing it away a week later because I forget about it or don't need it. Meal planning = life hack of the century!
5. Positivity
Monday sets the tone for the whole week. A bad Monday leaves you with an uphill battle to make the week better but a good Monday gives you a positive jumping off point for a great week. I have a few tricks for making Monday great. First, a little bit of "me time" can be the best way to start the week of right. Take a bubble bath or watch your guilty pleasure TV show; whatever makes you smile. Second, set some goals and achieve them on Monday. Sometimes I will set a goal to do all the laundry Monday evening and when I accomplish that, I feel like my week is off to a productive start and I am super proud of myself. I take that rockstar feeling and I just keep that energy going all week. Third, a great work out can be the best start to a week. I love doing a challenging Yoga session Monday afternoon. It leaves me revived and ready to keep it up throughout the week. If I skip my Monday work out, I tend to find it much easier to keep skipping through the rest of the week. Lastly, a hard core jam session always leaves me in a great mood. If you ever happen to pull up beside my at a stoplight, you are in for a show: I will have my 70's rock blasting, playing air drums on the steering wheel, singing at the top of my lungs and dancing my little heart out as much as my seatbelt allows. As ridiculous as that sounds, it makes me so happy and just starts my week off upbeat. That is usually how my drive to class goes Monday morning and I step out of my car in SUCH a great mood. Do whatever makes you happy and leaves you in a great mood to make Monday great.
How do you make Mondays great?
Happy Monday's to all!
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