Monday, 3/9/20: Talking about being stressed while trying to be productive and all the podcast episodes I listened to last week

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 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 for a catch-up phone call with one of my best friends Saturday, having time to relax and the beautiful weather (feel like I always mention weather here, but the past couple weekends have not been typical Chicago March weather. Need to document all this good fortune in case we get snow in April or May).

TODAY: I am most excited about my morning workout class. I didn’t go a few days last week and missed it!

INTENTION: My intention for this week is to focus on the three questions I mention below. Okay, your turn! And if you want to share your three steps, I am all ears. 🙂

Lesson of the Week: Being Productive in the Midst of Crazy 

Last week was craziness. For a variety of reasons, multiple deadlines shifted and landed on the same date. I did my best to prep and plan, but no matter how many early morning/late night hours I put in, I just felt like I was making no progress. I felt off. 

Have you had a week like this? How did you handle it? 

I hope you did better than me. I chose to let the stress seep in, sit in self-pity and abandon my routine. 

I thought allocating any extra time I could to working more would mean more work would be produced.

Spoiler alert, it didn’t happen. By Friday, I was irritable and not acting like myself. I reached for junk food when I normally would not. I had trouble concentrating and contributing in a 10 a.m. meeting because my brain had already been in work mode nonstop since the night before.

Exasperated, I looked to social media for an escape. While scrolling Instagram, I saw a post that triggered memories of two other similar messages seen/heard elsewhere. I recognized that this post was my third message on the topic. (Remember my rule of three? If I hear something three times, I know it is a sign that I need to lean in.)  

The three things all had to do with the misconception that working ourselves harder makes us more productive. Check them out below: 

1. This pie chart about what actually makes you productive.
2. Lauryn’s list of things that boost her productivity.
3. Kelly’s advice about the correlation between exercise and productivity. (at 27:25). 

These messages made me think about a bike’s tire. The tire’s movement is supported by a bunch of different spokes. If a few of the spokes are missing, the tire is not going to move forward as smoothly. Sure, you can still eventually get to the destination, but the output produced by the tire is going to be inefficient and low in quality. 

What are the spokes you need to be productive? A few of mine are a willingness to work really hard, sleep, exercise, healthy food and time spent connecting with others. 

Now, let’s be real. The goal here is not a perfectly balanced tire. Depending on your season of life, your week, even your day, some spokes are going to be more of a priority than others. But I do think a goal of striving for a majority of the spokes to be balanced is attainable. A goal of not going all in one spoke, like I did last week. 

So, how would I have approached last week differently? In hindsight, I would have asked myself three questions:

1. What spokes are realistically attainable? For me last week, hard work is an obvious choice. And then knowing I wasn’t traveling or in a unique set of circumstances, my second choice would have been healthy eating. This could have manifested with me prepping something at home the night before or deciding I was going to order in a healthy dish for lunch and dinner. 
2. What spokes do I need to modify slightly? I would have picked sleep and exercise. Not the priority this week, but also not unimportant. Instead of traveling to and from a full-length exercise class, I could stream a 15- or 30-minute workout from home. Or, I could choose to do a mindful activity instead of working out. On the sleep front, I would acknowledge that I’m going to get less sleep. But I would still make an effort to get to bed early, allowing myself to wake up a bit earlier because I do my best thinking in the morning. 
3. What spokes need to take a backseat this week? Again, we are not striving for a perfect balance. Some weeks the pendulum is going to swing in one direction before boomeranging back. For me last week, time connecting with others took a backseat. It was an easy choice because I know I’m getting an abundance of time with others with a few fun plans and a trip on the horizon. 

Wow, I bet I would have been so much more productive (and enjoyable to be around) if I asked myself these questions at the beginning of last week.

But that’s the magic of  Monday… 🙂 We are presented with a new day, a new week and a new chance to get these spokes balanced and strive for our best.

Let’s do this!

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:  

• Tik Tok Deep Dive. Hi, it’s me: the girl who is still obsessed and very intrigued by Tik Tok. I was SO happy to find this very detailed podcast episode discussing all my questions. What is it that makes this app different from other social platforms? Why is it so easy to lose track of time while consuming these quick videos? Can someone draw me a venn diagram of the Hype House members? The episode is very long (almost two hours!), but it was a perfect distraction for me as I reorganized my closet and ran errands. 
• Kelly Leveque on the Almost 30 Podcast. I mentioned this podcast episode above, but I thought it needed another spot down here. You know I am a fan of Kelly and her book from a recent newsletter, so it’s no surprise that I loved this episode. My favorite part of the episode is when Kelly talked about loving where you are right now and still having goals. I really related to that!
• Podcast episode with @lashesandlemons. Last podcast mention!! As you can tell, it was a really great week of content. I started following the Instagram account @lashesandlemons a while ago for simple, healthy recipe inspiration. And while I love her recipes, what I’ve really come to love is her approach to wellness and balance as a fellow young professional in her mid-twenties living in a big city. I was really excited when I saw that she was interviewed for a podcast. It was so cool to learn more about the person behind the Instagram! 
• The Ordinary beauty products. Have any of you tried the brand “The Ordinary?” I picked up their Hyaluronic Acid last week to help with dry, winter skin. Because of the price point ($6.80!), I didn’t have too high of expectations, but we are one week in and I am hooked! Skin is significantly smoother and more hydrated and I’m still trying to figure out how the price is so low.
• “Thank You Notes” series. Yesterday was International Women’s Day, so including this just feels right. “Thank You Notes” was an integration between Katie Couric and Olay and it featured a group of women being “challenged to surprise their role models — the women who inspired them to face anything — with a thank you note.” The videos demonstrate how powerful mentoring is, and even more, how much a simple thank you can mean to someone. Who can you say thank you to today?

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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