It's Monday! Set yourself up well to show up big.
It's another Monday (or Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday...). Your calendar is richly scheduled. Lots of conversations to have. More on your to-do list than possible. And you have to show up for impact. A lot of it.
How you show up today will not only influence yourself and the rest of your week; it will also impact your inspiration prowess and how your people show up (your employees, peers, teams, kids, friends, even your dog).
Adding a bit of intention and some extra self-care can help set yourself up for an "end of day" that leaves you feeling productive, powerful, and like you rocked your Monday. Or exhausted, overwhelmed, and like you got rocked by Monday. It doesn't take a lot, a little goes a LONG way.
Here are 5 simple things you can do today, starting right now, to get the most out of your day:
1. Play 10/3/30: Spend 10 minutes at the beginning of the day setting your master intentions for the day (and even your week). (What do you want to get done? How do you want to show up? How do you want to feel? Who do you want to connect with?) Then before any meeting that day/week, give yourself 3 minutes to check in on how you're doing with your master intentions and to set specific intentions for that meeting or conversation. During the meeting, check in periodically (30 seconds) to ensure you're on track.
2. Make a "What I can control" list: There's going to be a ton of stuff you can't control today. That's life. Your job as leader is to navigate and show up well. If you're feeling overwhelmed, or just want to be a stronger anchor in the storm, creating a "What I can control" list, and then acting upon it, is powerful. What can you control? How kind you are, what food you put in your body, how present you stay, how often you check your phone, telling your truth, making requests, your posture, your 10/3/30... You get the idea. Find 5 things YOU can control, and then lean into them.
3. Be present: Of course this is on this list. If you're thinking about the past or the future, you're not here. The past is done. The future is to be created. Be here in this moment right now. Great news, you get to learn from the past and bring that wisdom with you into the present moment, and that wisdom, and your presence in this moment, will inform your future.
4. Eat well, hydrate, move, and take care: Plan for yourself here. Set yourself up for success today by putting good quality food in your body, drinking plenty of water, moving around, and taking really good care of yourself. The better fueled and energized you are, the easier it will be to navigate anything that comes up on this lovely Monday.
5. Journal learning and best practices: Spend 5 minutes at the end of your day (or the beginning or even better, both) and journal what you learned, what you're celebrating, what you're grateful for, and best practices from the day you'd like to remember moving forward. And then throw in some gratitude: Thank the day, thank your body, thank everything and everyone who contributed to you (if even just energetically) and go to bed. Your next day awaits.
We could go on here with this list, right? Other things you might play with? Gratitude journaling, asking for help, making an awesome lunch date, doing something great with your team, giving people acknowledgements, taking the day off... Yep... Many more we could add here. What are your best practices for making Mondays (or any day) rock?
