Recently, I was working with a manager of one of my corporate clients and she asked me, “Ed, what do you tell people when they tell you how much they hate Mondays?” My immediate response was “pretend it’s Friday!”
Recently, I was working with a manager of one of my corporate clients and she asked me, “Ed, what do you tell people when they tell you how much they hate Mondays?” My immediate response was “pretend it’s Friday!”
In all seriousness, this particular manager shared with me she really does hate Mondays. Or, that’s what her mind tells her. Many opportunities for exploration of this thought pattern run across my brow as I replay this transformational coaching session.
First, let’s examine the idea that it’s actually not Mondays she and many others “hate.” It’s her perception of what Monday’s represent to her. Monday is the “beginning” of another cycle of work/life balance; or imbalance. If your life is not moving in the direction you would like, Mondays really probably don’t feel very good. They could be a representation of everything that’s going wrong. If that’s the case, we’re reliving that weekly. And, the energy that it takes to bring us back to neutral is exhausting. If we actually ever try. This is creating stress physiology in the body with fear-based thinking in the mind.
For me, Mondays are exciting. It means a new week of opportunities, growth and expansion. What email will come in with some exciting news? How many new people will I meet? Which client will have a break-thru or an “ah ha” moment applying these tools & techniques? What cool experience will my daughters call to tell me about? What type of realizations and growth will happen for me in my own personal practice? There are thousands of new possibilities along the journey of life that can and do happen from the start of Mondays. But as you can see, Mondays can mean totally different things to different people.
By the same token, let’s explore my initial comment back by saying “pretend it’s Friday.” This was meant as a joke as this isn’t the answer either. Friday means the beginning of the weekend for many. Fridays can create a “perception” of what’s to come too. How many times have you entered into the weekend thinking “thank goodness it’s Friday” only to be let down because we had expectations of what would happen and how fun an event would be and it just wasn’t.