2 ways to avoid crushing Monday morning work depression
There was a time not too long ago when the thought of Monday morning would fill me with complete and utter dread.
Instead of actually relaxing and enjoying a Sunday off, I’d be depressed all day at the thought of getting up the next morning earlier than I wanted to so I could sit in traffic for an hour en route to a boring, unfulfilling job.
I don’t mind my job now, but do I love everything that comes with it: commuting, cubicle life, limited vacation, answering to other people, the lack of autonomy?
Absolutely not.
If I were, I wouldn’t be experimenting with a major project to leave commuter life within a year.
But the difference now is that I also have two good reasons to look forward to Monday mornings.
Allow me to explain.
Changing the narrative
The reason most people hate Mondays is that they have one really good reason to be sad (commuting to an unfulfilling job), but no good reasons to be excited.
If all you have going on in your weekday life is a boring office job and a long commute, of course you’re going to be depressed.
So how do you create professional excitement so that Monday is a reason to hop out of bed rather than a day to consider calling in sick?
I’ve found two extremely effective ways to accomplish the goal.
Strategy 1 for avoiding Monday morning depression
The first is that I started a content creation (writing and video) business.
Now it doesn’t really matter what your business is, but it does matter that you consider starting some kind of business that generates income.
Maybe it’s writing and YouTube like me
If you’re crafty, maybe it’s selling handmade goods on Etsy
If you’re an artist, maybe it’s art shows or print-on-demand
If you’re a graphic designer, maybe it’s a local creative services biz
If you’re a plumber, maybe it’s doing side jobs or making how-to videos
The possibilities are endless.
Monday, the start of the workweek, also signals the start of business week.
The kids are at school, people are out in the world trying to make money — things are HAPPENING.
To me, starting a side business has two benefits when it comes to coping with Monday morning sadness:
It gives you something exciting and fulfilling to do and to focus on rather than stewing about your dead-end commuter career
It provides the opportunity to potentially escape
Want to know why I’m excited to hop out of bed every morning regardless of what day of the week it is?
Because the first thing I do is light up my phone to see how much money I made while I was sleeping.
This is an insanely powerful thing.
The sooner you start building on the side, the sooner you too can experience what it’s like to want to get up and work, rather than hit the snooze 7 times.
Lots of people live for the weekend because it’s an opportunity “to do nothing” and “relax”.
They’re looking at things the wrong way.
Creating is happiness. Productivity is happiness.
Try it and I think you’ll agree.
Strategy 2 for avoiding Monday morning depression
Strategy 2 for avoiding Monday morning depression is to learn about stock market investing.
I love Mondays because that’s when markets open after the weekend, and when a whole new set of passive income possibilities opens up to me.
Some people look at this the wrong way.
Some people see market Mondays as the opening of a casino for the week.
For me, it’s an opportunity to take the money I earn on my side hustles and put THAT money to work for me too with a long-term investing horizon.
Now I’m not a financial advisor and this isn’t financial advice, so do make sure you speak to a professional before embarking on DIY trading and investing (and never bet money you can’t afford to lose).
But what I would suggest is starting to do some of your own research on self-directed investing.
At the end of the day, your best financial advocate is YOU.
Turn that frown upside-down
This will probably make some people sick, but I simply LOVE Mondays.
Truth be told, I find weekends a bit boring now.
I don’t get any enjoyment out of “doing nothing” and “relaxing”.
I want to be in motion. I want to make things happen.
And things really start happening on Monday.
I know that makes me a bit of a weirdo, but I’m OK with that.
At the end of the day, there aren’t a lot of “normal” people who wind up making extraordinary money and working for themselves.
That’s where I want to be.
How about you?
Publish Every Day project update: Day 30
I’m doing an experiment to see if I can make enough money to retire from commuter life within a year by publishing every single day on different platforms and investing my earnings into passive income instruments.
How much I need to retire: $250 CAD per day
What I earned on Day 30: $51.96 (writing) + $1.23 (YouTube) = $53.19 total
What I published in the past day:
My top 5 trending stories:
Star singer Adele revealed a MASSIVE challenge after you quit alcohol
The real truth of making big money writing online (they’re lying to you)
3 super healthy habits that keep Victoria Beckham fit as hell at 49
The 1 main reason most people fail to make big money writing online
My top trending YouTube video:
I suppose you could always start work on Tuesdays :-)