that last right up until 5pm…
on a Friday afternoon :-?
The above questions may make you smile :) or cry :( depending on your situation and maybe on whether you’re an employee or a manager.
That said, if you do get the Monday Morning Blues, what are the things that give you ‘the blues’? Is it one key thing or a combination of things, where just the very ‘thought of’ these things (usually on a Sunday evening) give you ‘the blues’, e.g.
Facing the prospect of another day or week having to put up with an idiot boss?
Colleagues who get on your nerves or internal conflict that eats away at you?
Ever increasing demands, deadlines, pressures with no ‘let up’?
Doing work you don’t like?
Doing work you do like but not getting the appreciation or respect you deserve for your contributions, getting no constructive or regular feedback?
The location or your surroundings at work?
The commute to and from work?
Work that’s boring, monotonous, little in the way of stimulation, challenge, personal development or growth?
Time away from the family or no consideration for work-life balance?
Top down directives and not feeling involved in the process or taken seriously, e.g. powerless?
And any other reasons specific to you?
Solutions to these kind of situations begin with questions of course but some people ask questions that:
a) just take them round in circles like ‘why can’t things be better, why can’t I change,?’
b) point the focus (finger) of responsibility at others like ‘why won’t they (management) do something about it, why won’t they change?’.
Often, the second question doesn’t get answered because management don’t know how some people feel as they’ve never been told but also, they’ve never asked them either.
Workplace solutions like the ‘Satisfaction@Work Diagnostics™’ platform help to raise awareness of such issues and focus attention on how to create collaborative remedies (not just insights where nothing gets done) so that teams are enabled to take more control of open, honest, respectful conversations.
Whether you have access to this kind of solution in your workplace or not, and it’s probably not isn’t it, the solutions to the blues can often be found in asking yourself better questions, taking full responsibility for the answers and then the actions that must follow.
Let me pose four key questions for you that can move you mentally from the past, through the present and into the future, namely:
What have you done about any or all of these issues, i.e. not just thought about but actually done?
What could you do about them right now?
What will you do about them in future and when?
How best will you go about making the changes and who will you involve in the process to help and support you to get satisfactory resolutions?
Everyone looks for solutions to their problems but when they can’t see ‘ways out’ they hesitate, procrastinate, do nothing and so things stay the same and life at work carries on as it is.
I can’t give you the ‘silver bullet’ answers and neither should I pretend to have them because everyone is so different, as are their circumstances, levels of experience, the bosses, colleagues, pressures and environment they work in.
Whatever the case is for you however, the quality of your answers, your choices, the decisions you make and actions you take will largely be dictated by the sincerity and the level of desire with which you ask the questions, namely: just how badly do you want to solve the problem of having the blues that last all week, every week and will not change unless something gets done about it… by you.
Removing ‘the blues’ frees up space for more energy, enthusiasm, motivation and success at work but also, often spills over positively into family life too because you have fewer work issue to take home.
Food for thought on a Monday and best wishes for a ‘blues free’ week ahead or at least at some point soon.
Best,
Reece
‘Reece is an award winning enterprise level account director, sales leaders and change maker, and author of the self-management psychology book + online course Strong Minds. He now spend his time providing mid-large organisations with ‘Blended Online + Offline Solutions That Transform Cultures’ specialising in turning around poor –average performing ‘Sales & Customer Service’ channels.
