How to beat the Monday morning blues

CREATIVITY. 107: HOW TO BEAT THE MONDAY BLUES CLAIRE BULMAN WWW.CLAIREBULMAN.COM STORIES FOR A NEW GENERATION How to beat the Monday morning blues and defeat the critics. So you've had a fabulous long weekend and now its time to get back to work. But you are having trouble picking up that pen, or worse still getting out of bed. You really don't want to start the new week. Up till now you have been inspired by your great new idea, and you have steps in place to get it from just an idea, to some- thing more. a day-to-day basis so that you can keep taking the next step? Putting strategies in place are crucial when the going gets tough, because it will, but that doesn't mean it is impossible. You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it. Maya Angelou However sometimes during the process things may start to look a little dull, the idea doesnt sound as great, and it just doesn't feel as much fun as it did before. Maybe the doubters or critics are getting to you. On that Monday morning, ask you, what is your pain on a scale of 1 to 10. Work out what strategy will help you keep going until you find that inspiration again. Lets ask a few questions to find out what is going on and look at some strat- egies you can put in place. So how do you manage this? How do you manage your state on 1. ROCRASTINATING? 4. JUST STUCK? Then get out your to do list. Haven't got one? Then get one started to help focus the mind. Go for a run, do your ballet rou- tine, distract your mind from trying to work it out. Or another option is to take counsel. Whether it is a trusted friend, who will talk to you straight, or a mentor. 00 2. DISTRACTED? Then start looking at your Why? Why am I doing this? Why did I start this in the first place? If your 'Why' was good enough will find a good reason to get back on track. 3. 5. CAUGHT UP WITH CRITICS? The critics are anyone who is not for you. They can be colleagues, friends and/or family who are not supportive or interested. And that's okay. Your energy needs to be focused on your idea or project. Let them go, take the next step, and surround you with the people you need to make this happen. Then dont start thinking 3. UNSURE AS WHAT TO DO NEXT? about what you should do. Often it is a natural reaction but you will find that you may start doing tasks for tasks sake. Relax, try a meditation and let the subconscious get past all 00 the nervous chatter. WWW.CLAIREBULMAN.COM CLATRE@CLAIREBULMAN .COM Claire Bulman