Monday Motivation: 3 Ways to Get Motivated for Monday

It is a truth generally accepted that there is no harder morning to get up than Monday. Monday morning sucks. Yesterday we woke up full of freedom, relaxed and ready for life. But on Monday morning it’s lead boots and bleary eyes.

Well that’s the way it is for many.

There is however, those crazy few who don’t seem to mind Monday. They charge at it full of gusto knowing that they need to start the week strong if they want it to finish with a win. Or they are one of those inspired few who wake up full of juice everyday.

So how do they do it?

Well having gone from the first group, absolutely hating Monday, to the second group, forcing myself to start the week strong, now to the final group, where every day is a chance to put a dent in the universe, here’s a few tricks.

1. Lie to yourself
2. Keep that carrot right in front of you
3. Keep those models in front of you too

Make Monday a winner and you will set up for a winning week. And here’s how you get the motivation to start strong and keep it going.

How to get more Motivation for Monday

1. Lie to Yourself

Simple, you know it’s going to suck, but lie to yourself. I know, that sounds fake. But it works. I know this from personal experience.

I used to work in this terrible job as a kitchen hand in a deli, way back when I had started my climb back up the hill from the bottom. At the time, I was working my way through uni for the second time and doing it by cooking fried filth on my time off from study.

This “wonderful” job, would start for me on Monday morning -5 am, at the grill, cooking bacon and egg sandwiches. Hundreds of them. Man, I can still smell the pork fat and feel that greasy feeling on my skin at the end of a long day. To this day, I don’t know how I let myself do that job.

It was one of those great jobs, were you wake up on Monday morning asking just what is the point of being alive today? Why? Why am I getting up and slaving away? There was no passion and no build toward the future. It was a crappy Monday morning job that made life suck.

But then sarcasm came to the rescue.

My co-workers and customers would come in and ask the same rhetorical question. “How’s things?” And I knew it was rhetorical – it was 6 am by then and I was covered in grease. I mean how good could I have been? So to mess with them, I would respond with, “amazing, just thrilled to be here. You know, living the dream.”

That made them smile. And then I got some ‘fake’ good energy in return from them. And before I knew it, it wasn’t feeling so bad. I kept up that silly energy with my co-workers all day. And I messed, or flirted, or joked with the customers who came and went. And instead of feeling like a peasant slathered in bacon grease working for minimum wage, I was having a laugh, on the side, enjoying life while I studied to keep moving up in the world.

I lied to everyone and I lied to myself. And then I started to believe the lies and even now I look back with fond memories at that poor young man, watching the first rays of sun come up, before going in to get smothered in grease, for another minimum wage Monday morning in hell.

Lie to yourself – it’ll give you the energy to go after the good stuff.

2. Keep that carrot right in front of you

And speaking of the good stuff, it’s that stuff that will get you to wake up positive.

I’ve long since ditched the minimum wage, and what I’ve found is Monday morning for a good wage can, and does, still suck. Even in a rewarding job like teaching. The freedom of the weekend fades the second that alarm slaps you in the face.

So if money alone doesn’t get you jumping out of bed excited for an awesome time, what does?

The big carrot. And you have to decide what that is. It’s that big goal you are working towards.

Business

If you own the business, it might be that big project you’re excited about rolling out. Think about the excitement of something new and the great value your customers will get. Or think about the good things you get from your business; your ability to enrich the lives of your workers, the network of interesting people you have, or the passion you have for your field.

Work

If it’s the job, you may find a carrot, like only ten more payments and I get the Merc’ or the trip to the Maldives. Don’t focus on the work, focus on the good stuff. Maybe that is what you get, like the holiday, or maybe that is working with people, and some of them are good. Or maybe it’s the field you are in; you have a passion for technology or whatever. Maybe the job is not super exciting, but try to think through the everyday work of it and see to what inspires you.

Invest

As an investor, it’s another day and another check in the retirement fund. And that means early retirement and hopefully we invest well and it means some good living ahead.

Anyway, it’s all about the focus. If you focus on the work – it means pain and it sucks. If you focus on the good – it’s day one again, and you get to chase after some passion, some carrot, or even envision earning the great escape.

Keep those models in front of you too.

Now, I’m not talking about the pretty super type models, though if that’s your thing then maybe they are the right thing for you.

But I mean the models to show you can do it.

We should have a model that we model our life on. Now, the problem for many, is they model lotto winners of billionaires. They say, ‘I wish I lived like that’, ‘if I just won lotto’, ‘I wish I was that lucky’. And they get depressed, because they know it will never happen. And then Monday morning becomes the first day, of the many days in this week, and the many weeks, and months, and years, until they will probably never afford to be free.

However, if you have a genuine model, like the rich guy down the street. He worked until he was 40, he invested every dollar he had, he retired early and now has the boat. He’s average just like me. He worked just like me. Now I’m investing just like him. And if I keep doing it just like him, then one day I’ll be retired early, and I might have the travel and the boat and all the carrots I dream of.

Or maybe the model is that guy on Medium who writes just like me, or that guy who started the business and look at him go, or whatever the dream life you’re chasing.

Follow a positive, achievable model of the life you want and Monday morning becomes another day to apply the principles that will guarantee the life you want in the near future.

Final Thoughts

Monday can be an absolute nightmare, or it can be the exciting first day on the mission towards your dream life. Do the right things and you can turn hell into heaven and start to build some momentum towards having the life you want.

That starts with lying to yourself, if you have too. Just force yourself to change your view. Start by being funny with it. Be sarcastic. Tell the world, ‘this crappy life is amazing’, and watch how your brain will look for things to back you up and show you your life is amazing. 

Make sure you have an awesome carrot, a great inspiring goal that sucks you out of bed and gets you excited to go out to battle for one more day.

Then follow your leaders, your models. Do what you know will work to get the life you want. You know they will work, because they worked for someone else.

Attack Monday, and every day, with this approach and you will be on your way to an exciting, driven and wonderful Monday, Tuesday, Wed … well you get the idea.

If you enjoyed this you may also enjoy:

Systems and Routines for success

or

Seven Simple Principles of Successful People

Or more at SUCCESS24x7.