Monday Motivation #32 – Successful behaviour

Gooood Morning!  Welcome to your weekly dose of Monday Motivation!  Monday’s are usually pretty tough with the normal school routine.  I regularly resemble a screaming banshee by the time we leave the house and we are nearly always later than I would like.  Today is the first day of the school holidays for us and, even though I am still at work, there will hopefully be an air of calm over the house this morning.  Not having to get the kids out of the door at the same time as me and being able to get ready in my own time almost makes having to go to work pleasurable.  Notice I say ‘almost’!

I’ve been reading a lot recently about what successful people do on a Monday to ensure they have a great week.  I reckon I could give some of these a go and should probably do most of them every day – not just on a Monday.  So I thought today I would share with you my top 12 tips for having a successful week:

1. 1. 1. Wake up early – This is something I have heard a lot and I know I should do!  I personally find I work better late at night and then end up sleeping slightly later in the morning (I still have to be up by 6.30). I find it very difficult to come to terms with getting up before the clock says 6!  We are apparently a lot more productive in the mornings and I must say, I do love the peace and quiet of an early start when everyone else is still in bed.
      2. Exercise – I am officially rubbish at this.  Last year I had a really good run of getting up 20minutes early and doing a short workout but after we got back from holiday I never got back into it.  It’s ridiculous really because I always feel so much better for it!
      3. Eat a healthy breakfast – It’s so important to start the day off with a good breakfast.  I love porridge in the Winter and yoghurt and fruit in the Summer.  We rarely have anything cooked in the week as there isn’t often enough time, but my favourite has to be poached eggs.
      4. Arrive early – I guess this goes hand in hand with number 1 but I do love to arrive places early.  I hate when we are rushing out of the door.  I always tell the kids we are going to be late but we rarely are, we’re just late for me!  I like to arrive early for everything, rushing is not my favourite.  At the moment the mornings work pretty well as Phoebe gets to school for 8.15 and then I drop Archie at 8.30 I then have a 10 minute drive to work and don’t have to be there until 9am.  It means I can get stuck in traffic without having to worry, I can stop and get petrol or a coffee and I am always the first one in the office – I like that :-).
      5. Clear your desk and desktop – I hate a messy desk! An organised desk = an organised mind.  I share my desk at work and it isn’t as clear as I would perhaps have it if it was just mine, but that’s the joy of job share!  Having said that my desk at home is a permanent mess! I blame the kids for that!
      6. Keep some time aside for unexpected jobs – at work I don’t really have the opportunity to do this as I just do the work that is given to me.  When I’m working at home, however, I have started to write a to-do list with timings for each thing.  It may sound a bit anal but it’s the only way I can keep myself motivated to keep moving on to the next thing.  I always give myself a little bit longer than I think I will need for each thing so that there is a contingency for unexpected things happening – like friends popping in for a coffee, which is always a bonus!
      7. Screen emails for urgent requests – I do this daily as I get about a billion rubbish emails a day because I never get round to unsubscribing from things I really don’t need to be subscribed to!  I scan my emails every hour or so and flag anything that is important so I can find it again later and deal with it. Unfortunately this does mean a lot of unread emails that need dealing with at some point.  My current amount of unread emails in my inbox is 8,168 (I understand many people could not cope with this – but I’ve made my peace with it!).
      8. Tackle tough challenges first – When you have a list of jobs it can be very tempting to do all the little easy jobs first just to get them out of the way.  The problem is you are then left with the mammoth tasks and little energy and time left to do them.  Always do those big jobs first…once they’re out of the way you’ll feel so much better for it.
      9. Make an extra effort to smile – it can sometimes feel like a real effort to be happy and smiley, especially on a Monday morning.  Give it a go anyway, you’ll feel better and so will everyone else around you and pretty soon it won’t seem like such an effort.
      10. Remember to say ‘no’ – whether it be a boss or colleague that’s throwing too much your way or just a friend that wants to meet up when you had planned to get a list of jobs done.  It’s always ok to say ‘no’.  We can’t do everything and we have to prioritise and wade through the important stuff before we can take on more.
      11. Stay focused – Stick to your to-do list and keep working on those goals. If you had a plan for the day focus and get on with it.  It’s very easy to get side tracked but that’s not the key to success.  Allocate yourself time in the day for breaks and catching up on Facebook and then spend the rest of the time getting on with your plan. If you don’t have a planner or a to-do list then get one! Amazon have heaps to choose from.  Personally I love a desk planner as you can chuck it away when you’re done!
      12. Remember there is always Tuesday – If you don’t get everything done don’t beat yourself up    about it.  There is always tomorrow.

If you’ve read my recent post – The reality of working from home – you will know that I am keen to use these tips to make my week work better and so that I feel that I have actually achieved something at the end of it!  This last week has certainly been a lot better and, because I was working 4 days in the office, I actually made myself do extra hours in the evenings on Monday and Tuesday for my ‘work at home’ day so that by Wednesday I only had 3.5 hours left to do.  It felt so much more successful and I definitely felt like I achieved a lot more.

So what are your top tips for making your week a success?  Is there anything you do every day that you know makes the week run more smoothly?  I hope your Monday has got off to a great start and if you’re enjoying the school holidays then have a fabulous time…they will be over all too soon.

Until next time…

Nic x

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