Week start: Tips for a successful week without Monday blues

The weekend is over, the work week begins. Colleagues are tired and in a bad mood. Good morning monday! For most people, Monday is the least popular day of the week - but it doesn't have to be. Don't get infected by the negative mood and give the Monday blues the cold shoulder. A good start to the week starts on Sunday. In this article you will find out why this is the case and which tips you can implement in order to start the Monday morning with energy, motivation and a good mood throughout the week.

Many people find it difficult to start the new week on Monday. No sooner have you been looking forward to the weekend than it's over again. A full stack of tasks is already waiting for you? How often have you heard from people around you on Sunday evening or Monday morning that they don't feel like going to work? How many times have you said that yourself? Negative thoughts create a kind of tunnel vision in which our perception focuses on what we think and believe. Everything else then no longer plays a major role and is filtered. If your environment thinks the same way, your perception will be reinforced. Your behavior is also influenced by your thoughts and is reflected in them. This can then be expressed in the fact that you are unable to concentrate, quickly digress, too procrastination incline and therefore do not do justice to your tasks or count every minute until the end of the day. All of this, in turn, can lead to a bad mood and dissatisfaction.

If you finally want to be more productive in everyday life and in your free time and go into Monday in a good mood, you should use the following tips and make a plan so that negative thoughts are a thing of the past. It is also helpful if you have a firm morning routine get used to.

Tips to prepare for a successful start to the week

Perfect for optimal Time management is a weekly schedule. This plan not only helps you to prepare the week more positively, but also keeps your goals in mind throughout the week and you know which tasks need to be done and where there is a need for optimization.

1. Get an overview of your tasks for the start of the week

Start planning your upcoming week on Sunday. That doesn't mean that you should start work on Sunday and not be able to enjoy your weekend. However, if you already know on Monday what to expect on the day and which tasks have to be done, you will not feel so overwhelmed by all the tasks that have to be done over the week.

Sit down for a few minutes on Sunday and think about each day of the day what tasks await you at work, what appointments you have and what leisure activities or events are pending. For one thing, it helps you Overcome listlessness to be able to or to prepare for the day and on the other hand you keep track of things.

2. Start the week with positive thoughts and appreciation

When you have created your weekly and daily plan, you can sit back, relax and enjoy the rest of Sunday. Before you go to sleep in the evening, your thoughts should be positive. This will make you fall asleep more relaxed and you will feel more satisfaction and a better sense of wellbeing. What made you happy that day? What was your greatest success? It doesn't have to be something world-shaking or something with which you can win the Nobel Prize. Appreciate the little things in your life. Did you have a good conversation today? Did someone make you laugh? Were you happy about the weather or that you saw a certain person? Was your favorite song on the radio and you remembered a nice experience?

A positive outlook on life is not only good for your health, it also helps you deal with worries, fears and Stress easier to deal with. This is because your awareness of your environment is expanding and you tend to think outside the box. You are more creative and think more solution-oriented by seeing more possibilities for things than in a negative perspective, where you may do everything badly and already doomed to failure. A positive outlook on life also has an impact on your interpersonal relationships. You appear more trustworthy and are more socially successful.

Positive thinking is a learning process. Find out your weaknesses and stand by them. Then practice more self-confidence by dispelling your entrenched negative beliefs. To do this, you must first consciously recognize them. See where your attitudes come from and gradually convert your beliefs in the positive direction. Stop using phrases such as:

• "That wasn't so bad at all.", But "I did that well."
• "I can / I can't do that", but rather "I can / I can do it"
• "Others are better than me", but rather "I am just as good as others"

Stop making yourself and others bad and concentrate on what you are good at. You don't have to be an all-rounder in every field, but you also have qualities and qualifications with which you can shine and for which you deserve appreciation (including from yourself).

3. Regeneration and restful sleep for a good start to the week

So that you can start your Monday morning relaxed and full of energy, you should make sure you get an optimal sleep. If you don't get enough sleep, you will probably notice this in your performance the next day. You are less focused, less alert, more irritable and your mood and motivation leave a lot to be desired. Prepare your sleep optimally by going to bed on time and doing relaxed things an hour before going to bed. Avoid blue lights so your body can make melatonin and prepare for sleep. Keep your bedroom as dark as possible and turn your bed into a restricted area. Connect this place with rest and relaxation: work has no place in it!

4. Start the week on a positive note: Be nice to yourself and those around you

Are you familiar with that? You got up on the wrong foot, look in the mirror and think to yourself: “It can't be anything today.” Would you like to turn around straight away and snuggle back into the duvet? Admittedly, speaking positively and above all being nice to yourself or giving yourself compliments can be a real challenge on a few days.

Instead of looking in a bad mood in the mirror and absently tormenting yourself through your morning, stand up confidently and give yourself a smile. With the embodiment principle, the psyche should not only influence the body. According to this method, body and self-perception should also have an influence on the psyche of people. At first you may feel stupid, but try it out and consciously affect your mood with gestures and facial expressions .

Also radiate your good mood and positive streak to the outside world. Even in a stressful day-to-day life, don't forget to thank your colleague for helping with a project or to compliment them on a job well done. You shouldn't forget yourself either. In today's competitive society in particular, we expect more and more from ourselves, which puts us under even more pressure every day. We often get the feeling that we are insufficient or that we are not performing well. Instead of focusing on things that don't work out well or as planned, you should concentrate on your successes and pat yourself on the shoulder. At the end of the day you can then use your ahead Daily planner Record your success of the day and go to bed feeling positive.  

5. Avoid hearty meals in the late evening

Large meals, sugary or hearty meals in the evening can be responsible for making you sleep worse. Meals that are very high in fat can strain your digestion and cause insomnia. Your body should be busy regenerating during your night's rest so that you are rested and in top shape in the morning.

The lying position when sleeping means that the food is more difficult to digest because it cannot “slide” down, so to speak. You have certainly already experienced that you ate something late at night and the next day you have a sour palate or an uncomfortable feeling in your stomach. You can imagine the same principle with a large meal: the body needs several hours for the meal to be digested. That is why it is healthier and more pleasant to have your last meal early enough.

For example, you can compare this to a meal before a workout. If you eat a lot before exercising, the blood is concentrated in the stomach and cannot supply your muscles optimally. It's the same with sleep: instead of transporting important nutrients, hormones, etc., your blood is busy with digestion. For example, it can take up to 5 hours to metabolize a piece of meat.

6. Set your priorities for the start of the week and set yourself goals

In a second step you can then prioritize your upcoming tasks on Monday that you wrote down on Sunday. Which projects are pending in the office and have to be done first because the deadline is approaching? Categorize your list of priorities and work off your tasks accordingly. In this way, you will know directly the next day where to start again if you were unable to complete the task the day before. For example, you can number your tasks or write them down in the appropriate order.

set goals makes sense so that you know what you have to do and what you want to achieve, as well as being helpful for maintaining focus. However, do not set yourself too much and think realistically what you can really do.

7. Motivate yourself by reaching milestones at the start of the week

Trick yourself and motivate yourself by reaching milestones and thus small goals. You will experience successes at the start of the week and have almost finished parts of your projects. If you have the feeling that you have achieved something, it has a positive effect on your mood and well-being, because you can go into the evening satisfied and check off tasks on your daily schedule. If you notice that there are too many tasks left open, you should break them down again into smaller tasks or consider whether you have put too much on yourself.

8. Enjoy your evening after work and relax in order to start the week successfully

If you go to work after work, then you should do so too. Switch off and do things that relax you and make you happy. You have done your work for this day and will continue to take care of it tomorrow. You know best what is good for you. Get moving, meet friends or combine these things. When you're on the couch after a cozy evening and a good movie, make yourself comfortable. When you switch off after work, you are relaxed for your next shift, have more energy and can work productively.

Next level: More tips for even more productivity

If you want to know what else you can do to improve your increase productivity Philip has other hacks for you that you can implement:

Summary

A weekend would only be half as nice if we couldn't look back on a productive and successful week. With all the obligations and tasks, you can really value your free time and probably use it more. With our tips for a good start to the week, which runs through to the weekend, you can leave your morning grouch and Monday tiredness behind you. Prepare yourself and document your tasks so that you always have an overview. Get yourself in a positive mood in the morning and turn up the music and plan enough time to get into the flow. Motivate yourself by reaching your milestones and appreciating yourself and your achievements.

 ¹Vitamin B6 contributes to the normal functioning of the nervous system and normal psychological function. Vitamin B12 contributes to normal psychological function and a normal energy metabolism. ²Riboflavin protects the cells from oxidative stress. ³Vitamin B12 helps reduce tiredness and fatigue. Study evidence: see EFSA Journal 2010; 8 (10): 1756