According to a recent survey on employee productivity, 39% of managers said that Tuesday was generally the best day for productivity. This beat Monday (24%), Wednesday (14%) and Thursdays and Fridays (a paltry 3% each). Why is that? Friday’s problems are self-explanatory, but there’s no reason Monday can’t be just as productive as Tuesday. This represents a missed opportunity providing the following challenges can be overcome:
Challenge 1
The first thing holding back Monday’s productivity is that many people tend to have a lot of meetings the first day of the week. Kicking off a project? People schedule a meeting on Monday morning. Trying to keep everyone on the same page? The Monday morning staff meeting is a habit in many offices. It makes sense, but the problem is that our energy levels peak at the start of a workday, and our most ‘engaged’ time is at the start of any activity.
Solution: Monday morning is prime time. Unless a meeting will truly use every bit of creativity and focus a person has, Monday is the wrong time to schedule it. Thursday or Friday would be much better.
Challenge 2
I often hear from clients “Monday ends up being a catch-up day,” mainly because people do slow down on Thursdays and Fridays, anything urgent from the previous week gets tackled on Mondays.
Solution: If you want to make Monday more productive you have to figure out how to be more disciplined on Thursdays and Fridays.
Challenge 3
The main reason Mondays aren’t productive is that people wait until Monday to figure out what they should be doing on Monday and indeed the rest of the week.
Solution: Most big projects can be planned and future work loads estimated. The key to a productive Monday is to show up at work knowing what you intend to tackle that day and that week. In other words plan! To achieve that spend some time before that 6 p.m. Friday, look at your calendar for the next week. Think about your goals and the projects you have going on now and in the near future. Write down the specific tasks you intend to accomplish in the next 168 hours. Then divide those tasks up over the workweek, with more planned for Monday than Thursday or Friday since ‘stuff’ will inevitably come up . Block in time to accomplish your tasks on your calendar. That way, when you sit down at your desk at 8:30 a.m. Monday, you won’t be thinking about what to do with the time. You’ll know, and you’ll know it will be something worthwhile.
