Mondays suck. Period. At least for college students, especially Narcoleptic ones like me. There’s no amount of motivational posts or productivity experts that can convince me otherwise.
How can we possibly start the week off right if Mondays suck? There’s actually a couple of things that can be done that require little effort, some of which you already do but aren’t doing so in a way that benefits you.
1. Start your week on Sundays
Now, I know you love your lazy Sundays, but why tf would you want to start your week on a day that sucks? Seriously, think about it. Maybe we should stop pretending like our calendars don’t start with Sunday and embrace Sunday being the start of the week.
What to do:
You’ll probably spend Sunday afternoon dragging yourself to brunch in the caf in your PJ’s or little red dress from your walk of shame. Spend that afternoon brainstorming your week. Make a list of things that need to get done, maybe even do some goal setting.
How it helps:
You’re exercising your brain power for more than just digesting food and getting over your slight hangover. Doing some planning on a day you don’t completely hate at the start of the week sets a great tone of productivity.
By doing some work on a Sunday afternoon, you allow yourself the freedom of not having to feel overwhelmed when you realize the amount of stuff you have to do later the night before or the morning of Monday. This way you don’t feel guilty for not doing work during your pizza and chill sesh with your friends at the end of your favorite lazy day.
2. Change alarm ring tone
We all hate that screeching alarm sound that goes off and forces us out of our sleep. It can cause you to feel more inclined to hit snooze, meaning you’ll end up waking later than intended and probably be in a bad mood.
What to do:
Put your phone on the opposite side of the room or in walking distance with relaxing/catchy alarm sound on that is set to be obnoxiously loud so it actually wakes you up.
How it helps:
Putting your phone on the opposite side of the room causes you to have to get up to turn it off. This gives you an opportunity to stretch, slightly open your window blinds to let in natural light, and in general get your body moving. A separate morning routine post that covers this more is coming soon.
3. Wake up earlier on Monday
No one really expects you to become a morning person, let alone a Monday morning person. So when I say waking up earlier than the very last second necessary to get to class on time, you probably feel like this is just another one of those motivational posts you’ve read hundreds of times on Buzzfeed on how to be productive. It’s not. But to be clear, I said wake up earlier, not be an alive and functioning human being earlier (that’s what coffee is for).
What to do:
Sunday night, pack your bag (books, pens/pencils, granola bar, etc). Pick next day’s outfit based on weather forecast app. Set alarm clock to an hour before you typically wake up. The next morning brush your teeth, wash your face, and do your normal routine.
How it helps:
By simply waking up earlier (although doing so doesn’t seem all that simple to most), your body has more time to adjust into work mode. This means instead of having time to only get a good swish of Listerine in and rushing out the door, you actually have time to wake up, brush your teeth, and do whatever else you need to in the morning. Plus, you’ll feel like the day isn’t extremely short. Mondays feel like they’re being taken up by only the things you have to do. All of a sudden, you’ll feel like there’s more time to do the things you want to.
4. Start the week with good habits from the jump
This one speaks for itself. Eat breakfast (granola bars/ caf food). Cut down on coffee. Exercise. Drink more water. Go to bed at a reasonable hour a few times a week. Start the work week strong, you’ll manage to pull through and develop good habits along the way.
What to do:
Create a list of stereotypical goals to meet in a day then narrow that down with specifics that relate to your lifestyle.
Example 1 – “exercise, hit treadmill for 30 minutes before psych lab @ 12pm”
Example 2 – “water, drink an ounce of water before I scroll through Instagram and go to bed”
How it helps:
This exercise is much like New Year resolutions. You can resolve to lose weight and eat better, but you have no tangible numbers to measure whether that goal is met and no specifics that guide how you reach that goal.
Treat every Monday like the New Year and resolve to accomplish goals so specific that you can actually reach them with no excuses.
