I've hacked Mondays (and so can you!)

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Do you jump right out of bed Monday morning, excited to get to work?

What? No?

Well, what if I told you I could make that happen?

Now, before we get any further, let me just say that I LOVE my job. Helping people increase productivity and decrease stress is the most fulfilling, rewarding work I’ve ever done. I truly enjoy coaching, delivering workshops, and designing online courses.

BUT, that doesn’t mean I don’t prefer my weekends. You can love your job and love your free time even more. Those perspectives aren’t mutually exclusive.

And even though I love my job, Mondays were not my favorite day of the week…until recently.

What changed, you ask?

I’ve figured out way to hack Mondays. Now, on Sunday nights I looking forward to Monday morning. No more Sunday afternoon blues.

Here’s how:

I made Mondays my “no meeting day”. Now, you’re probably familiar with the concept of a “no meeting day”. Lots of offices are trying them out. HBR is calling it an “untouchable” day. But if you’re not familiar with the concept, a no meeting day is a day without meetings, usually occurring once a week. It’s a day where you can get work done, without fewer distractions. It’s a day where you can get into the flow of those big projects that you just can’t tackle in the 30 minutes between meetings. It’s a day to get stuff done!

But it’s also hard to do, because we want to be accommodating to others, or because there’s just no other time in the day, or because someone schedules over the time we’d blocked in our calendar and we don’t feel comfortable pushing back. And I wasn’t great at protecting my “no meeting day” either, until I moved my “no meeting day” to Monday.

Wednesday used my “no meeting day”. And I would often schedule over it. I’d let people book time with me. It wasn’t very effective. Why? Because by Wednesday, work is starting to pile up, people are trying to fit each other in, and my “no meeting day” wasn’t sacred.

Enter Monday! Monday is different. Monday doesn’t have as much pressure. You’re not behind on anything yet. And by making Monday a “no meeting day”, you start the week with amazing productivity. I accomplish more each Monday than I do the rest of the week between meetings.

Now I look forward to Monday, every week, because I know that I don’t have to talk to anyone (I’m an introvert!), I can make real progress on my projects and I know I’m going to feel amazingly productive all week after what I accomplish on Monday.

(Now, very, very occasionally, I’ll break my own rule and schedule a meeting on a Monday. I’m human. But 98% of the time I’m keeping to it.)

Do you want to start loving Mondays too? Here’s how to get started:

If you work in a team:

• If your team already has a “no meeting day” suggest moving it to Mondays.

• If some people in your office are doing a “no meeting day” and others are not, suggest that you all sync your “no meeting days” to the same day (and make that day Monday).

• If you are not doing a “no meeting day”, suggest to your manager that your team experiment with one, and suggest that the day be Monday. (Send your manager that HBR article I linked above, or this blog post, to make your case.)

• Move all recurring meetings to a day that is not Monday.

If you’re a freelancer/working for or by yourself:

• Block off Monday in your calendar right now, as a recurring appointment with no end date. (This way, if you are using a scheduler like Calendly, others won’t be able to book a meeting on Mondays with you.)

• If you have any recurring meetings on Mondays, move them to a different day.