Monday, 3/1/21:  Talking about fresh starts and a quote for March

Happy Monday!

It’s a new week and time for your next Monday motivation newsletter. Read on below for some steps to a happier Monday, a short story and a roundup of 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: From my weekend, I am thankful I was able to see and spend time with one of my best friends, for time with my family and for a final run in the warm Florida weather.  

TODAY: Today I’m most excited about getting myself organized and reacclimated in Chicago. 

INTENTION: My intention is to settle into a new routine (more on this below!).

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

Meaningful Musings: The Fresh Start of March

Sometimes I wonder if I might be a “fresh start junkie.” Mondays are my favorite day of the week because of all the possibilities. I’ve loved writing previously about things like creating a mantra for summer and what I find interesting about the season of Lent. And while some people loathe them, I love the tradition of New Year’s resolutions. So much so that I usually set another round of resolutions around my birthday.

But recently I discovered some research makes me question if it’s actually the fresh start itself I’m drawn to or rather the increase in motivation that typically accompanies a new chapter.

University of Pennsylvania psychologist Katy Milkman has done extensive research on something she calls the “fresh start effect.” The basic idea is that we all have ebbs and flows in motivation, and when something feels like a “fresh start,” motivation is likely to be particularly high. And according to Milkman, New Year’s is not the only moment that gives us a sense of a fresh start. Rather, there are many moments or “temporal landmarks” throughout the year, such as a new week, a new month, or a new season, that can also feel like a fresh start and give us a boost of motivation to evaluate and consider new directions.  

This idea reminded of a strategy I read about recently in Gretchen Rubin’s book Better Than Before: Mastering Habits of Our Everyday Life. In the book, Rubin talks about The Strategy of the Clean Slate and how any beginning presents an important opportunity for habit formation as “there’s a magic to the beginning of anything. We want to begin right, and a good start feels auspicious.” She notes obvious examples of clean slates include the start of a New Year or a birthday, but a slate can also be wiped clean by changes in surroundings, relationships, or major life aspect, like a new job or graduation.

Especially on this Monday, which marks the start of a new week, a new month and – depending on your location – a new season, I find myself reflecting on these two concepts. Something I liked about both of the ideas is the acknowledgement that motivation to keep up a habit or routine is not constant. It’s a given that it will likely start off strong and taper off. Instead of being discouraged by this, I think it’s incredibly helpful. If we know when we’re more likely to feel motivated, with a little effort, we can take advantage of that window of possibility to adopt a new habit or routine we’ve been wanting to pick up.

In my own life, I’m relying on both of these ideas today. After having the wonderful opportunity to end 2020 and begin 2021 living with my family in Florida, I’m headed back to Chicago this morning. With so many factors up in the air and because I’m always sad to leave family, I really struggled with making the decision of when I should return to Chicago. However, when I saw that March 1 fell on Monday, I knew that, for me, it could be a great opportunity to harness the power of the fresh start effect and strategy of the clean slate. I knew the combination of all the fresh starts (new week! new month! new living circumstances!) would bring some enthusiasm and motivation to something I was apprehensive about.

Now that the day is here, I am excited. I’m also really glad to have the opportunity to reexamine and reevaluate my current habits and routines. I may love habits and routines more than the average person and think they are amazing tools that free us up to pay more attention to things that matter, but I also know it’s easy to slip into an auto-pilot mode of living just out of habit and not out of intent. As one of my favorite lines from Better Than Before reads, “habit is a good servant and a bad master.” 

If you feel like a recharge of motivation could be helpful, I hope you’ll join me in recognizing today as one of those “temporal landmarks” Milkman mentioned and as an opportunity to reexamine, reframe and refresh those resolutions we set a few months ago. With a new month beginning on a Monday, it just feels right. Happy Monday & Happy March!

On My Monday Radar

Sometimes we just aren’t ready to jump into our Monday to-do list right away. In case you want some content to procrastinate with, here is a roundup of a few positive things on my radar:  

• March’s quote + free phone background! “Peace begins with a smile.” – Mother Teresa. I just love this quote. It’s simple, yet profound. I wanted a constant reminder of the quote, so I made a background for my phone and am sharing it here today in case you like it as well. To download it, view this email on your phone, click on the link, click and hold on the photo to save the image and then scale it accordingly to your phone’s wallpaper.
• Podcast episode detailing strategies for habit change. If hearing about Gretchen Rubin’s book Better than Before above sounded interesting to you, I definitely recommend checking out this recent podcast episode where she chatted through 21 Strategies for Habit Change for those looking to re-engage with resolutions. 
• Almost a year later, I’m still loving this “no-makeup look” makeup product. Definitely one of the best parts about working from home, in my opinion, is getting out of the routine of wearing a full face of makeup every day. I love that my routine is now only three parts: moisturizer, a swipe of mascara and this “blurring & moisturizing primer” for some very light coverage. I didn’t realize how much I loved this primer product until I recently ran out of it. I thought I could do without and would maybe try something else, but after just a few days, I missed it so much that I had to run out and get it. Obsessed! 

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

Want to receive a note like this to your inbox every Monday at 6 AM EST? Sign up here! If you don’t receive the email, please check your spam or junk folder. 

Have feedback, thoughts or a question you want addressed in an upcoming newsletter? Drop an anonymous note to my mailbox here!