Make Mondays automatic

Save your energy for what matters

In Kendra Adachi’s book, The Lazy Genius Way, she writes that Mondays used to be pretty rough for her — which I think we can all sympathize with! But then she hit upon the idea of making a decision once, and running with that decision again and again. She made one decision about her outfits and meal choices for Mondays, and began each week wearing and eating the same thing. With that decision about her Monday outfit and her Monday meals made, she could save her energy for other things.

I think this is a great idea. If you know that on Monday you always wear black pants and a sweater, then you no longer have to think about this question. If you know the answer to “what’s for dinner?” on Monday is pasta, because it is every Monday, you don’t have to devote brainpower to pondering this when you could be figuring out how to serve a new client.

Now of course you can decide once on stuff for any day, but there’s a particular genius to doing it for Monday. Many people start the week in a discombobulated state. They didn’t go to bed on time the night before, so they’re tired. They know there’s a big pile of work waiting for them, but they don’t know exactly what’s in the pile. It’s easy to feel fried.

That’s too bad because we tend to have more energy for anything at the start. Tackle a big project Monday morning and the week can’t help but be amazing.

To tackle that big project, though, you have to conserve your energy.

And here’s where the Monday choices come into play. Indeed, you could automate all sorts of things beyond your own food and clothes. Maybe the kids always buy lunch on Mondays. Maybe you always listen to a certain podcast in the car on the way to work. Maybe you meet with an accountability partner for lunch on Monday so that’s built in too. Maybe you and your spouse aim to chat for 20 minutes after the kids go to bed before scrolling or channel surfing so you start the week with something positive.

In any case, decide once and you don’t have to decide again, at least for a while. You can use your saved energy for whatever you’d like.