How to smash Mondays

Most of us experience fairly similar Monday mornings. We drive to a train station, have our train journey, walk to an office and then we arrive at work. For some of us, driving might become walking, cycling or running. If you combine this with low energy, a bad mood and dreading the morning after the weekend, you’re probably not set up for a great week.

But, what if there was a way to make our Mondays amazing?

And not just Monday.

Well, we’ve got several things that we can introduce into our daily routine to help that. Here are our 8 steps to smash those #MondayBlues outta here…

1. GET PREPARED

Don’t rush in the morning, get prepared the night before. Pack your bag, prepare your clothes, make your lunch. Whatever it is you are doing in the morning that could be done the night before. And leave 2 minutes before you have to, so that you can take your time, relax and feel less rushed.

2. SLEEP BETTER

No brainer right? But seriously, get enough of good quality sleep. The hours of sleep will be unique to us – with some people needing 7 and others 10 hours. However, you do need enough sleep to feel rested in the morning to welcome the day you have ahead of you and to help you feel refreshed and ready to go.

3. BE POSITIVE

Try and have as many positive interactions as you can with people you meet. It can be easy to get upset in the morning, e.g. if there’s a person in front of you taking ages to buy a ticket for the train or whatever. However, try to feel positive towards people as you will be feeling so much better.

4. EAT A GOOD BREAKFAST

It’s important to have a slow release of energy boosting nutrition such as oats, eggs, nuts, berries, fruit and water. Your body needs to have this nutrition to set you up for the day to balance the nutritional shortfall after a night of sleep.

5. WRITE A REALISTIC TO-DO LIST

Write a ‘to do’ list that you can actually do, not the one you wish to do. If you have 20 items to do in a day on your list and you only manage to complete 10% of it, you will very likely feel beaten down at the end of the day. Therefore, write a list that has 5-10 items, a list that is realistic.

6. NOTICE THE LITTLE THINGS

Be mindful of your surroundings. Breathe, look around you at what people are doing, what is out of your window when travelling to work. Have a think about what you like about the journey and what might be some new things you have noticed every day.

7. FOCUS ON YOU

Don’t forget to focus on you. Checking in with yourself on how you are feeling, whether you need something to eat or drink, time to relax, go for a walk, meditate, take a break. Know what you and your body need, you won’t regret it.

8. APPRECIATE ACHIEVEMENTS

Remember to appreciate your achievements. Don’t beat yourself up about what you haven’t done! Instead, think about the good things that have happened in the day and remember to celebrate and appreciate those things.

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