Monday Motivation: 7 Tips How to Start Your Monday with Motivation

Imagine going through a hectic Monday. You’re stressed, you’re late for work, you stuck in traffic congestion, you’re hungry because you’re late for breakfast, and you don’t get to start your Monday strong.

Do you want to start your week in this manner? Luckily, you don’t have to start your Monday this way.

There is a Chinese proverb that says, “A year’s plan starts with spring; a day’s plan starts with early morning.”

Meaning, if you want to live a good year, you should plan it in spring. And if you want to plan your day, do it in the morning.

Most people are finding it hard to come up with motivation on Mondays because they don’t have a proper plan on how to deal with their days and weeks.

They just let things go by and leave things up to chances.

When you don’t plan for your week and day, or when you just let things happen, you will start your Monday feeling weak and stressful.

As a result, you will procrastinate and go through your entire week without much motivation.

On the contrary, when you start your Monday right and with motivation, you will find that you are driven and able to accomplish more than other lousy weeks and days.

This is why it is important to start your Monday with motivation.

Just like what Zig Ziglar said:

“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.”

When you start strong and begin your Monday at the right pace, you will feel that everything is going according to your plan and things are moving just right.

So, what do you need to do to make sure you start your Monday with the right motivation and rhythm? Here are 7 tips to help…

1. Prepare your Monday on Sunday night

Yes, if you want to have a strong Monday motivation, you need to prepare it on your Sunday.

First thing first, don’t stay up late on Sunday night. Try to get enough sleep so that you can wake up with energy.

When you don’t get enough sleep, you will get up feeling tired and sleepy. That’s definitely not a good way to start your Monday.

Plus, try not to take alcoholic or caffeinated drinks because you don’t want to disturb your sleep. You want to make sure you get a good quality sleep to kick start your Monday strong.

2. Prime yourself for motivation

Next, prime yourself for motivation. When you wake up early on Monday morning, prepare yourself for a great start.

Here are some of the things you can do to get yourself motivated:

Practice affirmations

Create your own personal positive mantras that will make you feel motivated and repeat them in the morning. Affirmations are powerful, but you don’t want to do it for the sake of doing it. Feel them too.

As you repeat your affirmations, whether out loud or in your mind, make sure you feel the power and energy flowing in you too.

Here are some of the inspirational affirmations that I love a lot:

• “My life is now filled with prosperity and abundance.”
• “I’m a money magnet and money is flowing to me from both expected and unexpected sources.”
• “Today I’m filled with positive energy and great things are coming to me.”
• “I’m destined for big success. I can achieve whatever I set my mind to.”

Listen to motivational music

Music can alter your mood and change your state. When you listen to slow music, you slow down your pace and feel more at ease. At the same time, if you listen to uplifting music, you will feel inspired and you want to move your body along.

You don’t have to listen to inspirational music every day, but you can do so just for Monday. Plus, it is a great way to kick start a strong week.

Read inspirational quotes

Yes, reading inspirational quotes can make you feel motivated too. Every time when I created inspirational images for my Pinterest account, I feel driven myself.

Just like positive affirmations, you can read the quotes out loud or in your head. Repeat the quotes and feel the energy in you. Here are some of my favorite examples:

• Don’t downgrade your dream just to fit your reality, upgrade your conviction to match your destiny.
• You attract what you are, not what you want. If you want great, then be great.
• Don’t be afraid to give up the good and go for great.
• Discipline is doing what needs to be done, even if you don’t want to.
• Don’t fear failure. Fear being in the exact same place next year as you are today.

You can also make it more effective by reading quotes from successful people who you idolized. Here are some motivational quotes from extraordinary people:

“If you are not willing to risk the usual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.”

– Jim Rohn

“All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.”

– Walt Disney

“It does not matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop.”

– Confucius

“You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them.”

– Michael Jordan

“You may only succeed if you desire succeeding; you may only fail if you do not mind failing.”

– Philippos

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

– Mark Twain

Envision the success you want

Another great way to prime yourself for motivation in the morning is to visualize the success you want. Visualization is a very powerful method that anyone can use to build up their motivation and boost their mood.

What you need to do is to take a few minutes to envision and see yourself living the successful life you want. You can picture yourself going through the hard work and are enjoying the success you deserve.

You can also use a vision board to help you envision better. Read this article to learn more about creating a vision board:

Vision Boards – The Ultimate Guide to Creating and Living Your Dream Life

3. Remember your purpose and your goals

If you want to jumpstart your Monday with motivation, you must remember your purpose and your goals.

This is also a great way to prime yourself for motivation. The key is to remind yourself of what you want to achieve and know your why.

You don’t want to just let your mind wander on its own or think about all the negative things that can go wrong, instead, you want to live an intentional life and focus on your targets.

Think about it, how will you go through your day if you don’t have a clear goal? You will become reactive and do whatever that comes to you.

On the other hand, when you have a clear vision or goal, your life becomes intentional. You become proactive and start to make things happen rather than waiting for things to happen.

Most people don’t have a goal in life, and that is why they find that life is boring and has no meaning.

One more thing, make sure you review the purpose of your goals too. You want to remind yourself why you want to achieve your goals.

When your purpose is strong and emotional, you will be more committed to achieving your goal.

Think about it, you set a goal but you can’t seem to find the motivation to take necessary action, well, maybe it is because your goal is not really important to you. And that is why you are not committed to it in the first place.

However, when you are 100% committed to your goal, you will do whatever it takes. This is why you must constantly review your purpose and understand your why behind your goals. Here’s a good article that may be able to help you:

Why Clarity of Purpose is Important to Success and How to Get It

4. Plan your week

If you want to start your Monday with motivation and make it productive, you must plan your week.

You can plan your week on Sunday, or you can also do it on Monday. If you plan your week on Sunday, review and go through your plan again to understand what you need to do on Monday morning before you start your day.

The key is to make plans so that you know what you need to do. Of course, you don’t have to fill in every minute of your day, but knowing what you need to get done gives you an advantage over those who don’t have any plan.

Remember, wars are won in the general’s tent. This is why you must make time for planning.

What if your day doesn’t go according to your plan? That’s okay, that’s experience and having a plan is far better than having no plan at all.

You plan your day because you want to give clear instructions to your mind as to what you need to accomplish. Without knowing what to do, you will become reactive and waste most of your time, or life.

Hence, every Monday morning, plan your day and your week. Here is a good resource to help you in planning your day:

10 Tips How to Plan Your Day and Live a More Successful Life

5. Have something to look forward to

Do you look forward to your day and week? Without having something to look forward to, you will never feel the motivation to go through your day and work on your goals.

Don’t just plan for work. You want to spice up your life. Create something each day that you will look forward to doing.

For instance, schedule time off for play. You can put in an hour for games or exercise or sports, whatever you like.

You want to schedule something fun and exciting that when you think about it, you can’t wait to do it. You want to use it as something to drive you through the day.

Imagine sitting in the office, facing the monitor and working for the whole day, isn’t it boring? If you don’t have any passion for your work, then your work will be boring.

This is why you must make something to look forward to. What do you love doing? Schedule and plan it into your day and week too.

6. Get the right attire for work

I used to believe that I can work productively at home in casual attire, but I was wrong. Well, maybe it will work for you, but I don’t find myself working at home to be productive.

Do you know why most corporate jobs require employees to dress formally? What you put on will change your feeling and thinking. Meaning, when you dress up properly, you are directly telling your mind that you are ready for work.

And if you dress casually like when you’re at home, you don’t feel as motivated for work. Your mood will be the “at home mood” rather than the “at work mood”.

And one simple and powerful method to increase your motivation on Monday is to simply choose the right clothes that make you feel great.

The environment we’re in can impact our mood, feelings, and ultimately affect our level of motivation.

When you dress properly for work, it means that you are ready and serious for work. That’s why you should at least kick start your Monday by wearing something that makes you feel good.

7. Start your day early

Lastly, start your day early. You don’t want to get to work late or stuck in the traffic congestion on Monday.

Why do you want to put yourself in a situation that makes you feel stressed and uneasy, right? Get up early, prepare yourself, and go to work a little earlier.

When you get into the office earlier than most others, especially on Monday, it gives you a sense of pride that you are winning. You’re already in the office and are ahead of your competitors who are still sleeping or jam in the traffic.

Therefore, start your Monday early so that you will have more time to prepare your day, to prime yourself for motivation, and to get yourself ready for the success that you want.