RedGage

Monday Power

Today’s Affirmation:

Monday is my day! I always get my week off to a fast start!

When you awoke this morning you may have had a fleeting moment of hope that today was Sunday. Quickly, though, the realization hit you that another Monday morning had arrived. “Do I feel sick,” you may have wondered? Nope. Is this Monday a holiday? Nope. It soon became clear that this was an ordinary Monday morning and you needed to get up and get ready for work.

You’ve entered the heart attack zone. Numerous studies have demonstrated that Monday, especially Monday morning, produces a significant spike in the number of heart attacks. Now this could be mere coincidence, but I suspect it has something to do with our cultural perspective about Mondays, the way that perspective is reinforced, and the stress that causes us.

We have conditioned our minds to see Mondays as stressful. In much of the world, Monday is viewed as the first day of the work week. The weekend escape from reality is over. It’s time to head back and tackle that pile of paper work, make the sales quota, or present the strategy for that big new project to senior management. For many people, these events can be summarized in one word – stress.

The world reinforces that stress. If you turned on the TV or the radio on the way to work this morning, you more than likely heard someone say something to the effect of, “It’s Monday morning. Time to get back to grind.”

So if we have programmed ourselves to stress over Monday, how can we overcome it? Here are a few things to remember this Monday to gain perspective and even excel.

1. Monday is one-seventh of your life. Do you really want to waste that much of your precious time on this planet feeling unhappy and stressed?
2. I’ve checked it three times and confirmed that Monday has six letters. It is not a four letter word.
3. Think back to last Monday and the Monday before. Were they really as bad as you saw them in your mind at 6 a.m. on Monday morning?
4. Do something positive for yourself or someone else first thing to get your Monday off to a great start.
5. See Mondays as a cherished opportunity at a new beginning.
6. Look for reasons to make Monday your favorite day of the week – maybe a favorite TV show airs or you get to spend time doing something you enjoy after work.
7. Value each and every moment of your life and refuse to let the Monday label deprive you of that value.
8. Breathe in, breathe out. It will be OK.
9. Create reasons to make Monday special to you.
10. See that pile of paper work getting smaller, your sales quota getting closer, and your presentation winning wave reviews. That’s probably how it will go anyway. So why stress about it?
11. If your job is really that stressful and that bad for you, it’s time to move on and do something more in line with your bliss.

This is your day. The only Monday you get this week. Make the most of it!

Ray

Ray Davis is the Founder of The Affirmation Spot and the author of The Power to Be You: 416 Daily Thoughts for Empowerment .