Monday Mindset

 Monday’s often feel like the toughest day in the week, especially when you’ve had a relaxing weekend and are coming back to a busy week.

Personally I feel like I’ve accomplished something simply by getting through Monday and starting Tuesday!

How can you make the Monday/Sunday blues have less of an impact on your week? And how do you go about finding a little bit of calm to start your week? Read on….

1.        Create a simple evening and morning routine:

Your evening routine is important. It can be 5 minutes or 50 minutes but routine is key.  It helps you get a great night’s sleep and helps you ease into your mornings.

Your evening routine needs to help you wind down! So try allocating time to yourself away from screens. As a rule, I make sure I put my phone down an hour before bed. Then in that time I do relaxing things such as read a book, stretch, or meditate. If you have a go at this, you will be surprised at the difference in your sleep after as little as a week!

When you wake up in the morning - try not to reach for your phone straight away but to do something that wakes your brain up. The brain is at its most productive first thing in the morning so make the most of it! Get ahead by drinking water, moving and being present.

2.        Affirmations:

An affirmation is a positive statement or sentence which you repeat to yourself throughout the day. It can be spoken out loud or in your head. They help to build a positive mind-set and can help increase motivation.

Affirmations work because what you focus on is what you bring into your life.  You can change your outlook by changing your thoughts and this is where affirmations help.

For example, saying “I am strong enough to handle anything” creates a subconscious mind that can handle anything.  The mind believes what you tell it to. It is your choice to tell yourself something empowering or something negative. I know which one I choose!

Remember an affirmation is in the present so: “I am powerful” “my body works in harmony” and so on. It will feel strange the first time you tell yourself the statement, but keep going and over the next few days you will feel a difference.

If you say “I want to be fitter” or “I will be successful” then you are telling your subconscious that you are not ready for what you want.

Affirmations can be used to create mantras - which are powerful statements that can be used as your core value. Have a go at creating one and see how it makes you feel.

3.         Get moving!

I’m not talking running a marathon or doing 100 push-ups here. (I’m totally not going to stop you if you want to but still)

What I mean is just getting up off the sofa and moving around. You could put a YouTube music video on and dance to it. You could even try a YouTube workout video if you’re feeling adventurous! Moving can even be as simple as going for a short walk to the shops and wandering round. It gets you out of your head and away from thinking too much.

This is even more important if you have a desk-based job. As an accountant I spend a good 8-10 hours of my day sitting down. I often feel tired and sluggish and doing something fun for exercise really helps. Once I do finally get up & go for a walk or do an exercise class the change in mood is ALWAYS worth it.

My favourite exercises lately are: Barre at Define London and Core Fusion at Studio Lagree. If you want to try something new give them a go and let me know what you think!

Which of the above tips will you try out? Have a go and let me know how you get on.

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