For the first time in forever, I took a few vacation days from work just to be away from work. By work here I mean the day job. No travel or other big fancy plans. Just a few days to wake up and do, or not do whatever I wanted. I don’t hate my job and actually enjoy learning and building skills in a challenging environment. However, I can’t whole heartedly say that I love Mondays. Do you?
Well this little Thursday to Sunday hiatus gave me a some room to think about life, work, careers and Mondays. (I’m writing this on a Sunday night by the way.) Monday is a dreaded time for many professionals. The Sunday night anxiety can be crippling! Many persons will even tell you straight up that they HATE Monday, and probably the days that follow. Don’t say amen just yet.
Today it hit me. The problem isn’t that you hate Monday. The problem is that you don’t hate Monday enough! That level one to four discomfort that we call hate is more like uneasiness. Symptoms include complaining, self-pity, blaming others and using unproductive activities to distract from dealing with the actual issues. When you really start to hate Monday it grows to a level of utter disgust that is absolutely unsustainable and unacceptable. When you get to this level, complaining and being dissatisfied with life and your career is insufficient. The only acceptable response is change.
You have to draw a line in the sand, take 100% responsibility for your future, and make active steps toward crafting a more positive outcome. Take all those negative emotions, the self-doubt, frustration and dissatisfaction and process it like raw sewage. Turn that waste into fuel to make you do the things you need to improve your state.
This may mean stepping out and doing things that make you uncomfortable. Why? Because your future is worth more that the discomfort. Begin to discipline your mind and your time. Dedicate more resources to the things that move you forward.
Over the weekend I hit a financial wall that I didn’t have the resources to climb. Quite frankly it pissed me off. I like having the option to buy things and choose whether I think they are worth the money, versus letting the absence of money make the choice for me. Most times I don’t buy at all, but enjoy knowing I could. I want to have enough money to fly first class and choose to fly coach at my preference on that day. Just like Monday, I didn’t hate financial limitations enough. Not enough to will myself into creativity, courage, confidence and action to remove the limits.
Today, I’m not here to be a cheerleader and tell you to magically stop hating Monday or whatever the “Monday” is in your life. This time I want you to lean in to the discomfort to the point where positive action is the only response you will accept from yourself. Study, read, create, call, speak up, save, sell, invest, experiment or whatever you need to do to get yourself to the next level of greatness.
If this sounds like too much work, then maybe you don’t hate Monday…enough.
Do you?
Dalan Vanterpool
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Dalan is a private banker, executive career coach and content creator sharing essential career advice for ambitious young professionals at dalanv.com. Catch him on social media @dalanv.