Monday, 9/16/24: Talking about what’s on my radar this morning

Happy Monday!

It’s a new week, which means it’s time for your next Monday motivation newsletter.

Read on below for some steps to a happier Monday and some positive thoughts to get your week started.

Three Steps to a Happier Monday

Each newsletter starts with three prompts to inspire gratitude and simple intention setting. Take a moment and jot down answers to these three questions. To give an example, I share my answers below.  

Step 1: What are three things I appreciated from the weekend? 

Step 2: What is one thing I can be excited about today?

Step 3: What is my intention for this week? 

GRATITUDE: I’m thankful for friendship, catching up with friends I don’t get to see every day and a really fun time in Wisconsin!! 

TODAY: Today, I’m most excited to get organized for the week ahead. 

INTENTION: My intention this week is to focus on what’s immediately in front of me rather than worrying about things far in the future. 

Okay, your turn! And if you want to share your three steps, I am all ears. 🙂

On My Monday Radar

Some Mondays, we aren’t ready to jump into our to-do list right away. In case you want some content to procrastinate with, here’s a roundup of a few positive things on my radar. Hope you enjoy! 

• I finished the book The Wedding People last week and am still thinking about the characters. Based on the title and the fun cover, I thought this would be a light read about a wedding. While it is about a wedding – it is definitely not light. It tackles heavy topics like grief and infertility… but the author writes in such a way where I also found myself laughing, dog-earring pages with passages that resonated with me and nodding along as she captures a lot about the human experience. I love character-driven books, I love flawed characters and I love books that make me feel seen, and this book did all of that. If you are OK with books that mention heavy topics, then I definitely recommend! 
• After finishing The Wedding People, I need to decide what I’m reading next! Have any suggestions? Read anything good recently? Natural Selection (A Short Story), Real Americans and Big Fan are all on my list right now but not sure which to start with!
• The Best New Books of Fall 2024. For more book inspiration… a great roundup of 33 new books!
• Do You Have a Case of the ‘September Scaries’? I hadn’t heard of this phrase before, but I like the tips included within, especially the planning things to look forward to!
• 25 Cozy Fall Recipes You Can Meal Prep This Week. The weather isn’t exactly going to be fall-like this week in Chicago, but I am starting to gather some new fall menu inspiration for when those colder temps hit!
• Ending with some inspiration for this Monday… love these gentle reminders!!

Picture of the Week

That’s all for today! I hope you found something in today’s newsletter that sparked motivation, made you smile or inspired a positive Monday thought. Don’t underestimate the power of starting small… a fulfilling week starts with just one fulfilling day. You’ve got this! 

Let’s make it a great Monday!
Megan