Some days are tougher than others. Monday has the reputation of being the most difficult day of the week as it comes after the weekend. We might feel weak, less productive and even depressed. Although it might be hard for Monday to compete with other days of the week, there are five simple ideas that can help you have better Mondays.
1. Go to bed early on Sunday. Although it is very tempting to prolong the fun you are having on Sunday, going to bed early ensures you have enough sleep. Not getting enough sleep leads to additional stress and may cause difficulties with concentration. Besides, if you go to bed early, you will wake up well rested. Get enough sleep and your Monday will look a lot brighter.
2. Do not plan boring stuff for Monday whenever you can. When you plan your week, do not clutter Monday with boring reports and other tedious tasks. Spread it out a bit. There will be Tuesday where you can push a little harder.
3. Add a fun activity to each Monday. Rewards usually motivate us and help us live through unpleasant things. However hard your Mondays may seem, you might be surprised how differently it feels to have a reward at the end of the day. Make it something really worthwhile looking forward to. It might be an evening out with a loved one, a box of chocolates or a new CD album. You can try different things until you find the right reward to do the trick.
4. Review your attitude to work. Having a problem with Mondays might be a signal for dissatisfaction with your job. Do you want more responsibility? A raise? A flexible time schedule? A million dollars? Surely, not all our wishes can be granted. However, dealing with dissatisfaction is better than simply suffering from it. There must be things that you can change if you give them a try.
5. Show more altruism on Monday. When we help people, we often get a sense of satisfaction. It feels good to do something really useful. People you have helped will be interested in helping you. The more people do good stuff on Mondays, the better reputation this day of the week is going to enjoy.
It is hard to imagine our life without motivation. A person who does not have any motivation would not do anything. Psychologists believe that there is a mechanism inside our heads and bodies that takes care of our motivation.
Basic Instincts
Why do some birds fly south? Because that is a part of their biological program. They cannot change their behavior, it is instinctive. Our instincts are the result of evolution. Some models of human behavior allowed for better adaptation. People who had them were more successful in life and had more children. In this way this instincts have become integrated into our genes.
Instincts lead to automated, inborn behavior. They are also a part of our motivation as we cannot avoid doing things that are instinctive.
James McDougal created a system to classify basic instincts. Instinctive behavior usually has a clear goal. Take survival, for example. So we can classify instincts on the basis of goals they attempt to reach. Mcdougal distinguished a number of instincts: parenting, reproduction, looking for food and a number of others.
Scientists often use animals to study instincts. Each instinctive action is associated with a specifc stimulus. Key stimuli are usually come from the surroundings.
Instincts are important for motivation. However, there is certainly more to human motivation then mere instincts.
There is a theory that I think I developed myself that pulls me through difficult times. It is what I call my dice theory. It is based on my understanding of the theory of probability. I believe that success in life does not follow the rules of fate, but rather the rules of probability. Trying something new or challenging is like throwing a couple of dice: you can have a winning or losing combination.
The good thing about life is that you can keep trying for quite a while. You can keep throwing those dice again and again until you have the proper outcome. My motivation comes from assessing the odds and how they improve after each try.
However surprising this may sound, this theory does motivate me to try harder. If I do not succeed at something I believe is important, I have another go. The more you try, the more you win, so to speak (don’t try this in a gambling establishment :D)
Is my theory an oversimplification? After all, life choices are more intricate than dice.
I thought about that too and came with a way to refine my theory to a certain degree (if you like complex stuff). For example, you could say that not all sides on the “dice of life” have equal chances. And each “throw” gives you feedback that can be used to adjust further behavior. Sometimes you may even need to get yourself a different pair of dice 
My Dice Theory of Motivation is not something to publish a book about. It is simple. It is stupid. And it if works for me, it might help you as well… What do you think?
It appears that personal effectiveness like many things in this life means different things to different people. Ask ten people about it and you are going to end up with twenty answers. Stehen R. Covery would rather ask a dozen. What most thinkers say is that we have to be active, find energy to renew ourselves and learn to work cooperatively with others.
There is also an interesting concept developed by Daniel Goleman called emotional intelligence. It is similar to IQ as there is also an EQ, but it has to do with one’s ability to manage one’s own emotions as well feelings of others.
When I was getting my MBA degree, I had a guest lecturer (don’t remember her name) who gave me a couple of nice ideas I still find useful regarding emotional intelligence. She said that to have power over demons people had given them names. To control our emotions, we could give them names too.
For example, if you are mad about something, stop for a second and give your emotion a name. You could say to yourself ‘I’m mad about that’. It might work even better if you add a touch of humor, so you say ‘I am ferocious’ or ‘I’m enraged’. See for yourself if this strategy works.
Naming the emotion helps you understand it better as it gives some time to cool off. Understanding our own emotions can be very helpful in learning what others feel. Naming demons in others might not always do the trick, but it can still give you a different angle on the situation.
We often ask ourselves what is personal development? Is spending 8h at work and 2h blogging is going to make you competent? Smart books say that personal development is about enabling people to fulfill their potential. I don’t know what about you, but I would like to get a sense of progress and satisfaction from life.
If you want to be successful, you have to achieve better performance. I know that it is easier said than done
First, you have to understand what’s going on when people interact. Basically, what affects our interpersonal behaviour. Then you should get to know yourself better. If you know your stronger and weaker points, and how people see you, you’ll be able to use this knowledge to your advantage in communication. Another important point is the awareness of others, or how well you can see and judge motives and abilities of people around you. Finally, it is the practice that matters. It is great to practice at places where the risk is minimal and where you can get feedback.
Why not start with a blog?
