Mondays aren't for deciding

I know that Monday is seldom anyone’s favorite day of the week. But how you spend Monday mornings matters if you’d like to make steadier progress toward your goals.

Many people show up at work on Monday morning and then figure out what they intend to do with the day. Some industrious folks use this time to figure out the rest of the week.

It makes sense. But here’s the problem. Most people have more energy at the start of things than later on. If you make a New Year’s resolution to go to the gym, you go more times during the first two weeks of January than you do any other fortnight. If you decide to clean out the garage, you tend not to gain momentum as you go. Instead, you start strong and then have to keep yourself motivated through heavy bribery later.

Seize that Monday energy

This means that even though many people show up Monday morning a bit sleep deprived, they still have more energy for executing on things than they will on, say, Friday afternoon. If you spend Monday morning deciding what you need to do for the week, you’ll miss out on that initial burst of motivation. Plus, you just have less time to work with. If Friday afternoon will be a bit of a wash, then losing Monday morning for execution really starts to trim down the work week. If you’re not careful, you’re showing up five days but only getting real work done on three!

The solution is to decide how you’ll spend your time Monday morning during a lower energy time. I recommend Friday afternoons. That’s during business hours, so you can make appointments and send meeting requests, but most people aren’t doing much of consequence during this time. It’s hard to start something. It’s easier to start something Monday morning. So if you choose, on Friday, what you’ll tackle Monday morning, and you’ll make more of both blocks of time.

Get it done

And if you really want to level up your game? Assign yourself either your toughest task, or your most important task for Monday morning. That way, you can use that start-up momentum to plow through it. And then…it’s done. You’ve already won the week by lunch time. Whatever else happens you can still declare victory.

So, today, reflect on how you are spending Monday mornings. Do you tend to devote a big, solid chunk of time to one substantial task? Or — if your work doesn’t look like that — are you still using Monday mornings to advance toward your professional goals? Or are you figuring out what to do and finding yourself all over the place in the meantime? Choosing to use Mondays for execution, rather than deciding, can make you a lot more productive. It’s worth giving it a try.

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