How to Love Your Mondays in Five Easy Steps

No day of the week is more disliked than Monday. Unless it's the day you're having a root canal, Monday is the day that immediately causes stress. Do these things to love it more.

I often suffer from what I call, 'The Sunday Blahs.' For me, the 'blahs' a derived from the fact that during the week I have to get up at 3 a.m.. (which is why I don't like #2 on the list below). A few of these things definitely have kept me from hitting my alarm clock with a brick.

How to Love Your Mondays

1. Start Monday morning with your Sunday night routine. When you get ready to exercise, you warm up first. Consider Sunday nights your warm up for Monday. Get everything you need for the morning (and for your kids, if necessary) ready to go. Locate everything you need to get out the door or get started with your day on Monday, and have them in clean, working order and a convenient location. For some people, like my wife, this is second nature; they do it daily.

2. Get up early enough to start slowly, and extend the weekend feeling a little bit more. When you have a little extra time in the morning, you can gently settle into the day and keep that weekend feeling of ease as you start your new week.

3. Find a theme for the week. Every Monday, I post an inspiring quote or saying with the tag, "Monday Mantra." These are intentional! It can become a knee-jerk reaction to click "like" on cutesy Pinterest-worthy quotes without even stopping to consider what they're really saying. Whatever encourages you to be your best and inspires you for the week ahead.

4. Look at the week's tasks as opportunities instead of problems. What are you excited about for the new week? What problem-solving opportunities do you have? What's been hanging over your head undone from last week?

5. Make Monday night dinner something special. It's easy to make a special Sunday dinner, or go out somewhere fun later in the week, but Monday dinners often get short-changed. It doesn't have to be a fancy meal, but sitting down for it, getting out special dishes, lighting a candle...anything that feels special to you can become a wonderful thing to look forward to and to close out a well-spent Monday.

This is my favorite quote from this piece that was shared on Huffington Post:

When you are intentionally creating a life you love, Mondays begin to feel less like drudgery, and more like a beautiful new start!