If Sunday evening fills you with dread and you drag your heels on the Monday morning commute, the time has come to make changes. Find out how to motivate yourself to manage Monday with ease.

Who hasn’t suffered from that Monday blues feeling? Occasional feelings of ‘not wanting to go to work’ are part and parcel of any career but when it keeps happening, it is time to take steps to banish it all together.

If the relief of Friday and the weekend seem to pass too quickly, it could be time to make some changes and here’s how…

#1 Identify what the REAL problem is

Known as self-analysis you need to determine if the Monday blues is an occasional thing linked to certain temporary issues at work or whether it is symptomatic of a bigger problem.

For many, the dread of work after the weekend comes with being bored, something we associate with not having enough to do. But it is also a sign of being too busy as well.

There are also times when work activities are monotonous, a ‘must-do’ to achieve the larger picture and we all have parts of our jobs that we don’t like doing.

In some cases, understanding how to stay motivated is key to a successful and enjoyable day at the office but if, after really examining the problem you come to the conclusion the problem is not lack of motivation or boredom, you need to start thinking about what changes you could and will make.

#2 Pros & Cons, Strengths & Weaknesses…

If you know that deep-down, the Monday blues are all about the fact that you are no longer like what you do, you may decide the time is right to act.

But before you leap, you need to complete the important step of self-analysis, the skill of objective scrutiny.

Of course, the Monday Blues doesn’t mean finding a new job necessarily;

Plan A – I LOVE my job but…

If you enjoy your work maybe you have become stuck in a rut where you are doing the same thing. You don’t learn in your comfort zone but on the fringes of it.

Ask yourself is it time to make a move sideways or look for a promotion? Start by listing what you love about your job and what you are not so keen on. With the second column, look at how you could change the ‘not so keen’ on items.

For example, if you hate the morning and evening commute, could you change your working hours or work partly from home?

Plan B – I HATE my job but…

Hate is a pretty strong word but if you are clearly dissatisfied it may not just be your job, but the industry you are in.

Nothing is achieved by doing the same thing over and over and so, with a blank sheet of paper and a pen, write down what you would love to do.

Your ideas may sound implausible now – be a self-employed beauty technician or be a forensic scientist – and completely different from your current skill set but making a career change can be done. And it has been done by thousands of people!

Exercise caution, however. You have rent or mortgage to pay and bills with your name written all over them so if you are serious about changing careers and upskilling yourself, have a strategy.

Going to college is one option but you can also upskill with home study courses, a great way of getting back into the habit of studying as well as gaining qualifications that could be life-changing.

#3 Are you REALLY disengaging from work?

There are people out there who simply love what they do and can’t imagine ever doing anything else or wanting to do anything else.

And yet, the Sunday evening dread grips them in its vice-like features on a regular basis with their arrival back at their workstation on Monday morning made with heavy footsteps.

The answer may be simpler than you think. Physically and emotionally disconnecting from work is essential to your well-being and so when your last shift ends, are you shutting the door on work and really taking a step away?

Look at how you spend your weekends or rest days. Are you doing something with them? From enjoying a hobby to socialising with friends, to bracing walks in nature to being mindful about disconnecting from work and not just emails, but emotionally too.

How do you deal with the Monday blues? Did you make a significant career change?

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.

How to Beat the Monday Blues

Does Monday seem to come around too quick? Do the Monday Blues start on Sunday evening? Do you dread the slump of Monday after the euphoria of Friday?

The Monday Blues can hit anyone at any stage in their career. It can be a short-term slump, fuelled by factors that are quickly and easily rectified or it can be symptomatic of a much bigger problem.

So, which is it? Short-term why-can’t-the-weekend-be-longer or deep-seated, pit-of-your-stomach-dread?

Post-Weekend Come Down

The blues or feeling low results from many things but, say researchers, if you continually over-indulge at weekends, Monday will always feel blue.

Over-eating, over-indulging, over-drinking etc. all culminate in an artificial high that leads to the routine of work (and Monday) bringing your down to earth with a bump.

The solutions…?

• Have a more measured approach to your weekend – include plenty of time for socialising, but also schedule time for rest and relaxation.
• Watch your diet – three healthy meals a day are better than a greasy breakfast and take out for tea.
• Have an achievable weekend list – a source of the Monday Blues is the feeling of not having enough time to do the things that you want to do. Create a list of thing you want to get done when you leave work on Friday, but keep the list achievable. The feeling of guilt and low mood can come from not accomplishing everything you set out to do.

Ramp Up Your Workspace

Sitting in the same position, staring at the same screen, the same corner of the room and the same view gets monotonous. There is little, if any, spark of interest or motivation.

The time has come to have a move round with your desk, the objects on it, the view you look at and so on.

Clearly, you may be restricted by work boundaries, rules and regulations, which, if you are, you will need to seek permission to make changes. In most cases, this will be forthcoming so go ahead, make some changes.

Some tips…

• Add greenery – there is research that suggests adding a plant to your desk will give you an instant lift. Plants in the workplace are known to reduce stress and provide an uplift to your mood. And less stress and tension means more productivity – and that means your working day flies by.
• Move desks/offices/locations – if you can, make a move.

Smile More

Might sound frivolous but smiling more uplifts your own mood. You may not feel like it, hunched behind your desk, grumpy that the weekend has gone so quick and it is another full 37 working hours before you can clock off from work until the next party weekend but, smiling more will make a difference.

There is research to suggest, although how scientific this survey was remains to be seen, that people did not smile until 11.18am on a Monday morning when at work.

Take Time Off

When the Monday Blues strike, it can be indicative of something bigger. However, for some people it is a short-term problem that is easily resolved by taking time off.

When we work for long stretches at a time without a break longer than a weekend, it can feel like we are on a treadmill. Although we enjoy the familiarity of routine, it can become monotonous.

And if you find yourself sat at your desk or work station thinking “back again!” and being less than your happy smiling self, then the time has come to book some time off.

From a long weekend to a full-on fortnight break, a change of scenery from your workplace can be exactly what you need.

Make a Permanent Change

A short-term break may be the solution. Or it may not.

The solution may be something far bigger and far more exciting – a complete change of job or career. It might fill you with dread the thought of applying for a new job, the interview process and the uncertainty of starting a new job in a new place.

But is that a worse feeling than the Monday Blues?

Deciding on a new career may mean upskilling your qualifications so that you have a fantastic looking CV. Home learning is a great solution.

You get to study great courses like mental health courses or how to be a teaching assistant to special needs children and more – from the comfort of your own home. With flexible payment options and great support, you could leave the Monday Blues behind and welcome a new career.

Why not try it?