Motivational Monday

Some days it is hard to get out of bed, but Monday always seems like the worst. You have had the last couple days of waking up when you want and doing what you want, and the rest of the week you fall back into your routine of getting up and getting ready for work. We all have a bunch of reasons why we get out of bed on Monday but sometimes none of them seem good enough. Yet week after week we get up and go on with our lives. What are some of the things that make you get out of bed on Monday? The thought of a nice cup of coffee, the sight of a loved one, the smell of a good breakfast.

Most of us get up because we have to go to work. While some of us love our jobs (of which I would not count myself among those lucky few, unless I am getting paid to write then I would) most of us can think of a million other things we would rather do then go to work. I would love to stay home with a hot cup of coffee, a dog snuggled up next to me and write all day, or complete one of the hundred projects I need to get done on or around the house. Yet every Monday I get up 30 minutes before I have to be to work and grab a quick cup of coffee, throw on some clothes and it’s off to work. I have my reasons to work too, one of which is that I like to eat, another is I love a warm, dry place to sleep every night. But we all go to work for money so we can buy the things we need or want.

If you take a step back and really look at why we get out of bed on Monday it boils down to the fact that we want to. We might not want to go into work (though some people love what they do) but we are working toward a goal. We want to provide for ourselves through our labor and skills and be able to reach those goals we set for ourselves. It can be different for everyone, for me I go to work to provide a place for myself, my wife and our two dogs. I get up so I can try to better my life and theirs. These are things I want, this is what pulls my mind out of that warm comfortable unconscious state known as sleep and thrusts my body into action. This is what drives me to put my feet on the cold floor and get ready to go work in a hot factory for 10 hours. This is what I think of every Monday. This is what motivates me each week to punch that clock.

I am not saying I want to punch that clock every Monday, far from it. To be honest my ideal work would be at home writing, and I am working on that (hence what you are reading). Yet right now I need to punch the clock so I can survive until I can thrive. So while I am at work, surviving, I set my mind to other things. What do you want to do? How can I make this story I am working on better? What comes next in the story? How would this character react to this situation? These are questions that are going to help me thrive so I never stop asking them, and I ask them louder on Monday then any other day. So while I loath getting out of the dog pile that is my bed on Monday morning, I do it knowing that I will reach my goals and I will get the life I want and I will thrive.

So what are the questions that you ask yourself while you are surviving that are going to help you thrive? They will come through loudest on Monday so be sure to listen and remember why you get out of bed on Monday morning.