Face It: You do not hate Mondays!

For the past twelve years, I have spent the early hours of every Monday morning in an airport terminal getting on a flight, or on a train, or on a rental car as a means to get to work.  As a consultant, I need to travel to wherever my clients and my projects are located. Yes, the commute is tedious, but it has its benefits. One intangible benefit is that I have met very interesting people from a wide range of professional and cultural backgrounds. In these trips, I have had the opportunity to chat and sit next to fashion designers, chefs, lawyers, motivational speakers, CEO’s, programmers, consultants, doctors, Federal Agents, pilots, morgue make-up consultants (yes, this one takes the cake in the creepy scale)…..well, I’m sure you get the idea by now. All these professionals, with such diverse backgrounds and careers had one thing in common: They all claim to hate Mondays.

The I hate Mondays schedule.

Each of my conversations with them usually starts with by their usual; “Man, I hate Monday’s” or “Who came up with Monday’s!” or “Can’t wait for this day to be over!” or my favorite “Why don’t work weeks start on Tuesday’s!”  Those tacky lines usually continue with ten to fifteen minutes of Monday bashing before we can finally engage in a real conversation. It is during these details conversations that I have been able to get an insight at the root cause for the Monday blues. As a business consultant, I have learned a couple tricks of the trade over the years that allow me get detailed information from a simple conversation. An effective consultant needs learns how to read people not by what they tell you, but by what we can read between the lines and by the way people speak through their body language. Effective consultants learn how to read body language to identify when someone is sharing facts, assumptions, when someone feels uncomfortable, and most importantly, if they are lying. Based on all my conversations I can assure you that what each of these professionals share in common is not their hate for Mondays. In reality, they all hate their jobs, and most likely, you do too.

What “Monday Haters” really dislike is starting every week on a job they have deemed as a dead end, or having to spend their week dealing with co-workers who they cannot stand, or worst of all; doing something that they do not really enjoy. I’m certain that after reading these statements, you just had one of the following reactions:

• The Know it All:  If you immediately responded with a “Tell me something I don’t know Mr. Genius. Of course I hate my job!” you certainly belong to this group. I am not a motivational speaker or a psychologist but can you ask yourself; “How long have I known that I hate my job?” and “What have I tried to get out of my current job?”
• Realization: If you just told yourself, “This might be right. I think I do hate my job!” then, my friend you are at the doorstep of initiating a wonderful trip. The whole process of discovering what you would like to do different and where you would like to end up professionally can be a very fulfilling process. Whether you go back to school or attend a training to learn a new skill or profession, or if you just end up mailing hundreds of resumes to see what new options you might have, I can assure that the feeling of not being cornered by a job you will be satisfying.
• The Denial: If your immediate response is, “Oh you are so wrong. I just simply hate Mondays!” I just have one question for you: Can you recall how you felt about Mondays during those times when you were away from work?  For example, while you were enjoying yourself on a vacation, during a personal event, or even during a sick day.

I highly recommend that if you have strong feelings about hating Monday’s, you should consider the possibility that the feeling might be a reflection of how you really feel about your job. Your job consumes at least one third of your entire life. Since our trip through life is so short, why you would want to spend time on a job that you hate? So give Mondays a break people!