Monday is the most crucial day of the week for productivity and it is highly underrated because the fun ends for most people here.
Here's why I feel that Monday is the best day of the week if you are keen on being productive:
- Breaking the hat-trick cycle: most people love sets of three; after a two day weekend, it becomes difficult for people to come back to the normalcy of having to work.
- Mondays set tempo for the week: if you are unable to get things going on a Monday, you are unlikely to control tempo and reach a productivity level you hope to for your company.
- It's the weekly reset day: Monday is the first day of the week in most countries where productivity is given importance. Not being able to take advantage of day one will leave you playing catch up.
Mondays are the most crucial day for any business or entrepreneur
By definition Mondays are a reset for the week that has passed by. Even in a game like Pokemon Go, Mondays are seen as the first day of the cycle and you get rewards from last week on Monday.
Why is a reset day like Monday so important?
A reset day is where employees come back after a break that we assume was needed for rejuvenation and rest.
On a Monday, it's a chance to do the following:
- Look at issues from the last week.
- Figure out problem areas and fix critical zones in operation.
- Plan the week ahead.
- Get everyone in sync and ensure that they are ready and aligned with the team's goals.
These sure do sound like fancy corporate speak but in general it's because people are desensitised to its wants and throw it around to hide their own complacencies.
Therefore, a reset day like Monday can help you progress well for the entire week.
If you miss discussing important aspects on Monday, then you are catching up on Tuesday and you are already a day behind.
Being a day behind means that your employees will toil on a Friday to hit deadlines and possibly carry over work onto Monday.
Repeat this procedure for weeks and now you can have a backlog of more than a week.
Set your tempo with a Monday to get the best out of your week
If you feel like your business is not being productive and working at the pace that it should, take a Monday to decide where everything needs to be.
Founders, entrepreneurs and business owners tend to look at this on weekends and hope to get things in motion on Monday.
This is not how it works.
Employees will not care much on a weekend and when they come to office on a Monday and log in they are a few steps behind you.
If you plan on a Saturday or Sunday, you've had a day or two to think about the next steps whereas your employees only have a few hours to discuss the action items.
Instead, take the Monday for your team and discuss where everyone should be collectively.
Mondays are anti-hat-trick; work around it
A common complaint I hear from most business owners is that employees are too slow, groggy and disinterested on a Monday.
This is due to a simple concept where people love hat-tricks.
Once is nice, twice is good and three times in a row rewards the brain in a way that makes them feel fortunate or lucky.
This does not mean you give them a day off to complete their hat trick and that they come back super productive.
Mondays are anti-hat-trick. Your team should also be anti-hat-trick.
What I mean by that is simple: you need to build a team where they do not like hat-tricks and are eager to get back to work.
The more eager they are to come in on a Monday, sit together and solve important tasks decides how productive they will be throughout the day and then the week.
This also does not mean that you incentivise them by giving a free slice of pizza for coming in early.
The anti-hat-trick team member does not rely on rewards or incentives. They will find it their duty to be present at their desk, be it at office or remote, by the designated time.
There's a sense of eagerness to get started; and this is where we capitalise.
How we can get the best out of Mondays.
Firstly, do not use the weekends as a means to solve issues that are meant to be solved in the upcoming work hours.
The following advice is based on most offices who fulfil the following criteria:
- Working hours are Monday to Friday.
- You do not need to work on weekends (event companies for example).
- You do not have a four hour work week (this hits productivity harder).
Look at the past, present and future on a Monday.
Use your Monday to first solve issues and burdens from the past month or week, from least critical to most critical.
This can be replying to customer support, getting invoices cleared or talking to a vendor.
Then, look at all the important things that are to be done today and who takes charge over what action items: this is like any other day where you take client calls, handle inventory, etc.
When you are done, look at the future where you can use your Monday to plan for the rest of the week. This can be drawing timelines, making adjustments, introducing productivity methods, etc.
Clarity can come in a single day
With your Monday being utilised for future planning, you can bring clarity to your team with a simple guideline:
- What: the task for the week.
- How: how the task can be completed.
- When: by when the task must be completed.
This way, you have half of a Monday and four working days to tackle most issues.
Tackling issues with a minimalist approach
As a minimalist generalist, I look at problems companies face and the solution is a simple change.
This one change usually saves companies time, multiplies their revenue or improves productivity.
Whenever you are discussing an issue on a Monday, solve it with the most minimalist method you can think of.
If it takes only person to solve it in the fewest steps in a week's time then that's even better.
Let's say you want to send 5000 people an email with the customer's name.
The long path: write the email, type the name each time, co-relate it with the email and send it.
The somewhat short path: write the email, use [name] and replace it with the user's name.
Shortest path: use Hubspot, create an email template, use placeholders and it automatically does everything for you based on imported contacts.
To some readers, the last one spells out the longest but once it's setup the process is minimised and it does the work faster than all other methods.
Over a period of months and years it will save you more time than the one off or setup time.
If you want to make your business more profitable, productive and persevering I would love to help you manage just that. Please schedule a call to discuss the same.