How to Beat the Dreaded Monday Blues

If you leave your home with a heavy heart as you head to work on a Monday morning, the time had come for change.

But for many people, the Monday Blues start with the Sunday Evening Dread, a realisation that in a few hours time they will be back at work. For many, work is the thing they do to get the money they need to pay for life, but if you hate your job, the time has come to shake up your life – and move from a job to a career.

#1 Identify the problem
Let’s be clear – there are times when everyone has the Monday blues or is not looking forward to going in to work the next day. It could that there is a tense situation that needs to be resolved or issues with a colleague.

That said, Monday Blues that are persistent every week, month on month is a sign that something is wrong. When this is the case, the first step is identifying the problem.

Are you bored in your current job? Have you done the same job for a long time and need a change? Or are the problems outside of work?

Outside of work, other issues can impact on your work life. For example, some life coaches believe that some of us are so busy with work and social engagements that we are not allowing ourselves the necessary time to relax or simply have downtime.

Many people find that a weekend that is not jam-packed full of activities gives them the time they need to unwind. It can also help you to feel that you have had time away from work because sometimes, the Monday Blues are down to the feeling that Monday has rolled around too quickly.

Key Point – don’t jam-pack every weekend with activities, otherwise, Monday feels like it arrives in a blink of an eye.

#2 Prepare for Monday on Friday
If the Monday Blues are not a sign of a deep-seated issue, there are some other things you can do to keep them at bay.

There are many successful entrepreneurs that seem to party hard and don’t seem to suffer from workplace blues. And that, says life coaches, is because they are organised to the nth degree.

It may seem boring, but planning for Monday morning on Friday afternoon is one way of beating the Monday morning depression.

Key Point – changing your work habits may help to eradicate the ‘back to the grind stone’ feeling on Monday morning. By arriving at your desk or work station knowing how you will spend Monday morning, you shift some of the anxiety. This allows you to have a great weekend and a great Monday morning.

#3 Ring the Changes
The main issue for many Monday Blues sufferers is the feeling that every day is the same. From the routine at work to the routine of every day (including the weekends that follow the same pattern) we can quickly become dissatisfied with our lot.

There are many ways to deal with these kinds of feelings, but life coaches tell us that making a list of things that excite us is a great plan. The other is to commit to getting back to some of these activities.

When the chips are down, when work is busy and pressured, and when your home and social life is under pressure, we ‘forget’ to do the things that truly make us happy. Relieving stress, understanding stressors and doing the occasional activity ‘out of our normal routine’ can all help to banish the Monday Blues and enrich our lives in the process.

This doesn’t always mean jumping out of a plane with a parachute attached to your back or spending heaps of money to feel better. It can be something as simple as a weekend away, a night out with your partner, catching up with old friends… whatever makes you smile.

Key Point – routine helps life run smoothly, but it can stifle your creative outlook. Are you caught in doing the same things over and over again?

#4 Disconnect
We live in a connected world. The barrage of information at our fingertips is constant. From connecting to your smart home to control your heating and lights, to checking out social media sites for the latest gossip and stories, we are connected to the web 24 hours a day.

IF we choose to be.

If we are not choosing to be connected but rather staying in constant contact with the digital world around us by default, this can be a problem.

It can give you the feeling of never really switching off or letting go. That means recognising that the world won’t stop turning if you switch off your Wi-Fi connection, or your phone, laptop, PC and tablet.

Key Point – not disconnecting means you are not allowing yourself a chance to rest and remove yourself from work and switching off from your ‘work mentality’.

#5 Check out Your Sleep Pattern
Are you late to bed? Are you restless? Do you rise later, only to find you are still sluggish?

Sleep deprivation is becoming a real issue very much in the UK, and it affects more people than you think.

Sleep is the body’s way of rejuvenating mind, body and soul. Your brain processes the information it has absorbed during the day, and it also rests muscles and nerves, giving them chance to repair themselves.

Ask any athlete and they will tell you the most important aspect of training is rest, specifically sleep.

Not getting enough sleep dulls the senses, and for someone who suffers from the Monday blues, this is bad news.

The solution, on the surface, seems simple, but implementing it can be difficult. You need to sleep more, you need to sleep better and you need to get up earlier.

If you need more information on healthy sleep patterns, take a look at what the experts agree makes for a great night’s sleep.

Key Point – is your sleep compromised? If you are not sleeping well, you will not wake refreshed. Ask yourself why your sleep is interrupted and what needs to change to restore it.

#6 Dress for SuccessIf you slump into work in ‘comfy, casual attire’, you could be doing yourself a disservice.

The Monday Blues is a mixture of emotional and physical issues. For some people, if they have been doing the same job for many years, they have fallen into a routine place known as the comfort zone.

This is where you feel most at ease, but not necessarily your most challenged nor at your most productive. There are many reasons why we fall into a comfort zone – it can be a great place to be – but it may be because we stopped ‘making an effort’.

The comfort zone allows you to work in a place where everything is in line and in order, but if you have stopped dressing for success you have a problem. Do you dress smartly for work, or have you decided there is not much point?

Ramp up your wardrobe and start dressing like you mean it!

Key Point – dressing for success means giving showing others that you are in control and doing a great job. It is a small but powerful physical message not only to other people, but to yourself.

But, is it Time for a REAL Change?
It can be a relief to finally admit that actually, the Monday Blues are a sign that they have fallen into a rut and the time has come to get out of it.

But how?

There is an adage that making life-changing decisions work best when you are at your best, and so that means understanding what the problem is and where it comes from.

Adopting real change means having a strategy, understanding where you want to be and by what time. It also means creating a plan to reach these milestones.

Making a real change doesn’t necessarily mean changing your career. You may be happy in your chosen career, but not in your current role – but what do you need to do to change it?

For others, it is the realisation that they have ‘settled’ on a career choice and are heading down a path that they no longer want to travel. This could mean packing it all in and travelling the world, or it may mean carving out a new career for yourself by acquiring new skills and qualifications.

A Big Step
This is a big step, one that needs to be taken with confidence and conviction. This is why many people complete a Life Coaching diploma to help them on their way.

Life coaching is a means of reinventing yourself. It means you have the ability to look forward, using lessons from the past, as well as your intuition and measured reasoning to take the risk that you always wanted to. It lets you leave the Monday Blues behind and take on new challenges.

Life coaching skills will not be skills that you use once and then forget all about. You will use them across all facets of your life, from your career to your relationships. They are skills that can help others, with many people who have completed the life-coaching diploma going on to carve out successful businesses helping other people.

Essentially, you can use life coaching skills to get yourself out of a rut, and also use them to help others come to the right course of action. Take a deeper look at life coaching, and how it can help banish the Monday blues for good.