So it’s that time again. The weekend was great and you got the chance to relax, have some fun, and recharge after a long workweek. But now it’s 6 am and your alarm is going off, and you’re lying there wondering how people get through Mondays in the office.
If it’s your weekly struggle getting up and being productive on Monday mornings in the office, don’t worry. It’s a common struggle, and there are easy ways to battle your case of the Mondays to get yourself through the day.
The Night Before: Preparation
Monday mornings have a tendency to begin badly. Sometimes you can’t help it, and you just didn’t hear your alarm go off the first three times. The only way to make sure that those extra few minutes of sleep don’t make you late is to prepare well the night before.
Before you go to sleep Sunday night, lay out the clothes you’ll wear the next day. Prepare the things you’ll need to make coffee and whatever you’ll eat for breakfast, and make sure anything else you’ll need like car keys and your daily planner are out and ready for your use. Doing all of these things will make your morning go smoother, and prevents you stumbling around in a tired haze trying to find what you need.
Also make sure that you go to bed early Sunday night. Especially on days when you are lazy like many people are on Sundays, you tend to reason with yourself that you’ve been relaxing all day and you don’t need as much sleep. In reality, only your body has been resting all day, while your mind has been working on overdrive. You need just as much sleep after a day of resting as you do after a day of activity, and it’s even harder to get up and get moving on Monday morning when you haven’t gotten enough sleep.
The Day Of:
Mondays are hard, there’s no two ways about it. But you can make them easier.
When you’re waking up on Mondays, try giving yourself more time. That way, you can press the snooze button a few times, or have a few extra minutes to enjoy your coffee. You won’t feel as rushed if you have extra time, and that will bring your stress level down.
Don’t skip breakfast. This rule goes for all days of the week, but especially on Monday. When you’re feeling tired and weak midmorning while you’re working on something at your desk, you can attribute it to being because you skipped breakfast. The brain and body work faster and more efficiently when they have good fuel to work with in the morning. What you eat is important, but the fact that you eat something is more important.
If you have a certain breakfast like a doughnut or chocolate chip pancakes or even a stop at Starbucks on the way to work that you only let yourself have once a week, have it on Monday! It’s something to look forward to before you really get your day going, and it might give you the sugar buzz to even have a smile on your face when you walk into the office.
Conclusion
The thing that will help you more than anything on a Monday morning is a good attitude. As hard as it may be, the best way to get through a Monday is to be happy. If you need to, wear your favorite shirt on a Monday or plan to meet up with friends for lunch. If you give yourself things to look forward to throughout the day, Monday doesn’t seem so bad, and you’ll find it easier to get up, get to work, and get things done.
Kate Stefanski is a volleyball player at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. She is originally from Chicago, Illinois, and she is an English major. When she isn’t writing papers and reading Fitzgerald, she is a professional blogger for FindAFax.