It’s Monday again! And for those of you doing what you love, that’s great news! After an exciting weekend, the start of a new week means that you get to plunge yourself into something that’s equally exciting and inspiring, something you’re good at, and something you get PAID to do.
But if you’re not doing work that you love, you probably have a case of the Mondays today.
Getting up on a Monday, after a great weekend, to go to a job you find boring or even a job you hate, can make you feel sick. Your energy gets sucked dry, the color goes out of your world, your body moves slowly, and you feel depressed. You probably need massive amounts of caffeine to get you going, and even still, actually going to your job and doing what you need to do there can make you feel like you’ve gotten hit by a bus. You don’t have the flu. You’ve got the Mondays.
If this sounds all too familiar, I’ve got a prescription for you.
The Mondays come from a sense of hopelessness. If you know that you’d wish for something more for yourself, but feel hopeless about how to get there, it makes sense that you feel weighed down. Do you remember when, as a kid, you were dragging your feet to get ready for school, getting yelled at by your mom that the bus was coming soon, and wondering if your throat felt just a little scratchy. . . and then, like a miracle occurred, school got cancelled due to snow? Do you remember how suddenly, you had more energy than two jack rabbits being chased by a coyote? That shift in mindset can help you capture the shift from hopelessness to excitement quicker than you can say “video games in your pajamas.”
Ultimately, you can stay with that energy when you’re faced with a Monday(a whole week, even!) full of doing things you love. But between where you are now, stuck in something you don’t love, to where you’d like to be, how do you connect with that energy so that you can feel better and stop enduring your precious days instead of cherishing them?
1. Find the oasis: Are there moments in your day you like? No matter how small these moments seem, try to focus on them and consciously enjoy them. See if you are able to expand them in your day – is there a way to add more of what you do like?
2. Focus on the good you do: What good do you do the world? Even if your work seems very far removed from something beneficial, try to connect with the good you are doing and let that sink in.
3. Love what you do: If right now you are not doing what you love, try to love what you do. Try to bring love to each action and activity. You may eventually move on from where you are now, but if you can bring love to the situation, it will improve the NOW.
4. Perform with excellence: If you bring your best to a situation, it will feel less burdensome. If the goal is to do your best, your focus will shift to how you are performing instead of how the situation isn’t right for you. Sometimes you will find that because you changed yourself, the situation then changes – for the better.
5. Have hope: Believe that something can change for you, and then make a plan to change it. That may involve working with me to problem solve and move through obstacles, or it may involve doing something different. Whatever it is, knowing that you have a way out and that you’re not stuck in the situation forever – and that you can see the path for getting to where you want to go, will give you energy and enthusiasm even before you reach your goal.