Monday, 11/18/19: Talking about decorating for Christmas, a goal setting exercise and book recommendations
Happy Monday!
It’s another new week, which means it’s 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 steps for 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 that my apartment is now decorated for Christmas (I know it’s early, but I am going to Florida for the holidays in about a month so want time to enjoy a festive apartment!), a fun Saturday night with friends and that the water pressure in my kitchen is finally fixed (lol, the little things, right? But as someone who doesn’t have a dishwasher, light water pressure was very annoying when hand washing dishes).
TODAY: I am most excited about two clothing returns I’m making after work. Yay for saving the money!
INTENTION: My intention for this week is to find a way to make myself feel energized every day (read on for more on this)Okay, your turn! And if you want to share your three steps, I am all ears. 🙂
Lesson of the Week: How Does That Goal Make You Feel?
Have you ever experienced that moment when someone says something and it resonates with you so much that you get goosebumps or butterflies or feel like the wind was knocked out of you? I love when this happens. It’s like God is underlining or highlighting something for me to make sure I really hear it.
I had that feeling last Thursday.
My friend and I went to an event put on by Neha O’Rourke, a career coach and founder of Somewhere in Between Coaching. The event was all about bringing women together who are dedicated to designing a career and life around the things they love. I took away so many great tidbits, but my absolute favorite part was a simple exercise led by Neha. I’m so excited to share it with you this morning.
I am going to ask you three questions and I want you to take a moment to reflect and answer. Don’t stress. Keep it simple and reflect on the first thing that pops in your head. And don’t look ahead!!
- What’s one goal you want to achieve?
- How does achieving that goal make you feel?
- What’s your timing for achieving the goal?
At the event, Neha had some people share their answers to question 1. Then, Neha said…
“Those are all really inspiring. But none of you actually told me your goal.” Wait what?
“Your goal is the answer to question 2. It’s how you want to feel. And there are a lot of different ways in besides the answer to question 1.”
INSERT MIND BLOWN EMOJI.
I loved this and couldn’t stop thinking about it! What I took away from the exercise is that I don’t have to wait until I achieve a goal to feel the way I want to feel. I can feel that way TODAY. And you can too!
The feeling I associated with my goal was “energized.” After the exercise, I recognized that the answer I gave to question 1 is just one of the tactics in my pursuit of “feeling energized.”
What are other things that make me feel energized? For me, that’s presenting in front of a group of people or having a great conversation with a good friend or working on this newsletter or finishing a workout.
While I will still work to achieve the goal I thought of in question 1, I will use some of these other “ways in” to infuse feeling energized in my daily routine, at work and in relationships. I personally am going to challenge myself to find a way to “feel energized” at least once every day this week.
Maybe the goal you thought of was running a marathon because it will make you feel strong or paying off your student loans because it will make you in control of your finances or getting a new job because it will make you feel challenged. Like Neha said, these are all inspiring things. And, I think you should definitely take steps to achieve the goals.
But don’t wait to feel those feelings! You could also feel strong by committing to 30 minutes of movement every day this week. Feeling in control of your finances could mean starting a monthly budgeting process and listening to one of the Ramsey Solutions shows. And, feeling challenged may mean you take up learning a new language in your free time. Heck, identifying that you want a new job because you want to feel challenge may even change how you approach the rest of your time at your current job and create a more enjoyable experience (you could ask for a different assignment, learn new skills and end up feeling challenged right where you are!).
I hope you found this exercise helpful. And if you have any questions, I would love to discuss and reflect together. Feel free to email me here or chat me over on Instagram (@MeganMondayMotivation).
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 but don’t want to scroll Instagram again, here is a roundup of five positive things on my radar:
- Simple ways to help veterans. Veterans Day was last week, so this article would have been great to include in last Monday’s newsletter, but I did not see it in time. So here it is! I loved how this article included simple ways to help veterans. My favorite suggestions was writing a thank you letter through Operation Gratitude. Not only does this seem easy to do, but it is also free! I am definitely challenging myself to write one of these letters before the end of the year.
- Have you read The Royal We? OMG. This was the best book I’ve read in awhile. Like getting up early to read before work good. The best way I can describe it is Prince William and Kate Middleton fanfiction. I love books about royals (please let me know if you have recs!), so I knew I would enjoy it. But I definitely wasn’t expecting to like this book as much as I did. Warning that it is a long book, but I’m so sad I finished it!!
- This Vogue article about best celebrity memoirs. After I finish a really good book I have this funny habit where I don’t want to start another book because my expectations are now too high. And I don’t want to be disappointed when the next book is not as good as the one I just finished. Anyone else?! I am going to try and get around this habit by switching to nonfiction and picking out a biography. The Vogue article gave me some great suggestions, but I would love to know if any of you have great biographies you recommend.
- You need to listen to this podcast with Gabby Bernstein. I am a huge Gabby Bernstein fan and I got the idea for this newsletter when listening to her latest book, Super Attractor (which I also can’t recommend enough). Gabby is featured on The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast and the conversation ranges from talking about the new book to some really important points about mental health.
- This interactive quiz about streaming services was fun! Is anyone else overwhelmed by all the different streaming services available right now?! I feel like there is a great show on every single one, but I need to find a way to mainstream and simplify.
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
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