Magic Mondays
Mondays used to seriously stress me out.
When I worked a 9-5 even though I loved my job, company and clients— I would absolutely dread the rush hour traffic, jam-packed mornings of client and internal “check-in” meetings and pile up of fire-drills and emails that would flood over from the friday before.
Mondays were one of the first things I wanted to change when I could design my own workweek. I wanted to look forward to the beginning of a new week and create a routine that gave me energy and set me up for a successful and productive week ahead.
So I said goodbye to the anxiety and routine of my old mondays and designed my own new Magic Mondays.
I share this knowing not everyone can decide the entirety of their mondays—but many of these ideas can be repurposed for a magic morning or even a magic minute wherever it might fit into your life.
Let’s be honest, when I first open my little eyes in the morning, I’m barely coherent. I never wake up feeling refreshed and ready for anything.
So I ease myself into the day with some soothing sounds. With my eyelids barely opened and two taps of a finger, I turn on my magic monday Spotify playlist from my phone (which I have connected to my Sonos speaker outside of my bedroom).
My favorite thing to hear in the morning are hymns and anything from Beautiful Chorus, they sing mantras and intentions that are meditative and affirming, which really sets the tone for my day and transitions me into the next part of my magic morning…
Sometimes I’m ready to get out of bed, sometimes I’m still not. So I leave a book (or two) of mindful affirmations and super short one-liners of wisdom near my bed. I grab one, flip open to a random page and leave it up to the universe to take me to the page I need to read in that moment. And I make an effort to practice that message of mindfulness throughout my day.
I love having books like these around all the time. And beyond my magic mondays, you’ll find these little books on my coffee tables and at my desks. Whenever I need a little pick-me-up, I’ll flip open to a page and read something empowering, encouraging and uplifting.
This takes all of 30 seconds, but this little moment can set the tone for my entire day and even week. Think of it like a spiritual shot for your soul.
Ok, yes, at this point I should get out of bed. Hah!
I’ll head out and start to prepare myself for the day by first getting out of my pajamas (yes, even if I work from home). It’s important for me to physically change what I’m wearing in order to transition myself into a productive state of mind. I’ll make some coffee or tea, and a light breakfast that doesn’t leave me sluggish (my favorite is overnight oats).
Yes, those are chocolate chips in my overnight oats.
I’ll also step outside for a few minutes to breathe fresh air and if I’m lucky get a few rays of Vitamin D (and let my dog out to pee). Then I’ll head to the living space outside my office to light a candle and do a super light email check (10 minutes tops!) Mainly to quickly delete all the spam and flag important emails for responding to when I get to my desk and into real work later. Unless absolutely urgent, I am very serious about limiting this to only 10 minutes so I don’t fall down the rabbit hole of work during this time.
Then I grab from yet another pile of books (yes, more books). But these serve a different purpose. Never fiction, these books should be teaching me something new or empowering me to grow my business, myself or inspire the work that I do. I read for 30 minutes to an hour, and in this short time 99% of the time what I learn changes the way I run my business, how I engage with my clients or gives me ideas for my work. This may seem passive, but this is a very active, creative and intentional practice that literally anyone can do and doesn’t take much time.
This quick hour always gives me the motivation I need to power through a new week and ensure I’m staying on course and moving in the right direction.
Speaking of moving, the final part of my magic mondays….
Yes, my dog Kila includes herself in my yoga practice.
Left to my own devices, I will never get up from my desk chair—I neglect food, sleep, basic needs for my creative pursuits. I always feel like I have too many ideas and never enough time. This has always been my achilles heel and I’ve had to consciously redesign my life in order to avoid burnout, be a healthier human overall but also manage a whole lot of back and shoulder pain.
I mean we all know the damaging effects that sitting at a chair for 12-15 hours a day has on our bodies. Which is why in my magic mondays, before I allow myself to really get into work, I have to incorporate 30 minutes to an hour of movement.
Usually, I walk my dog and/or do a workout from my Nike app or my favorite is yoga because I can really stretch out my shoulder and back. My yoga sequences are almost always focused on shoulders, back and hip stretches because I need to counter the sitting that I inevitably have to do all day (and sometimes night).
I leave movement as the last part of my magic morning because the increased blood flow, circulation and endorphins give me that final burst of energy I need to jump into my work.
This routine usually only takes up the first part of my day, and if I’m up early I’m still at my desk between 10am and noon. I avoid booking any meetings on Mondays so that I can kick off the week being as focused and productive as possible. For me I find this takes the edge of Monday’s but more importantly sets me up for success later in the week.