Another week, another Monday. Which means we have another Monday Moving Forward bit of content (I came to kinda resent the word “tip”, that’s why I’m not using it – also, since I don’t give advice, just sharing some personal experience, this isn’t advice either, so it’s just a tiny bit of content).

Monday Moving Forward posts, published, obviously, on Mondays, are about some small actions that we can do to get unstuck faster and begin the week on a much positive and productive note. For me, personally, Mondays are notoriously slow, so, in time, I had to devise various approaches to get out of the weekend mud.

Today, something a bit counterintuitive: instead of relying exclusively on Monday, as time at our disposal, let’s cheat a bit and plan ahead from Sunday evening. I know this isn’t what we want to do on a Sunday evening, when we’re resting after a (hopefully) full and fun weekend, but it pays off.

So, with your calendar and a bit of conscious breathing, start visualizing your ideal Monday. Don’t try to solve anything, just think at how the day unfolds. If you already have something planned, some routine activities, make sure they are in your agenda already. Look over them and imagine how the day starts smoothly and ends even smoother.

That’s all there is to it. Now go finish your Sunday as you usually do. Like I said, it doesn’t have to be more than 15 minutes.

The effect will be that the next day you will have a bit more familiarity and the flow of tasks will not hit an unprepared, slightly hangovered mate, who can barely keep his eyes out of his morning espresso. You may still not be as productive as you are on Tuesdays or Wednesdays, for instance, but at least you’ll not feel taken by surprise.

And that helps quite a lot.