Friday evening: Victory! You’ve made it to another weekend.
Saturday: Time to relax, have fun, or spend time with loved ones.
Sunday morning: Sleep in. Run some errands.
Sunday evening: There’s a sense that the weekend is passing too quickly. Your mind turns to how you’ll survive another week. Dread creeps in. The last scraps of your weekend are ruined as you anticipate the week ahead.
Does this Sunday scenario sound familiar?
Here are 3 strategies for dealing with the Sunday slump.
Preparation
Consciously carve out a small chunk of time to prepare for the week ahead. This will prevent your from draining your mental energy by perpetually worrying about it while trying to simultaneously enjoy your weekend.
Sit down with your calendar. Look at the week ahead. Mentally run through the things you’ll need for the week. Make a plan for Monday. Ease yourself into what’s to come during your week.
Taking these steps will make your week feel more manageable. Plus, you’ll be able to take care of things that will make the week run more smoothly, like taking the suit you want to wear for your mid-week client meeting to the dry cleaners so that it will be ready. Once you’ve prepared for the week you’ll feel more relaxed, which will help you to enjoy your remaining weekend time.
Attitude
Not every aspect of working is fun, and that’s okay. Instead of focusing on the negatives, try to turn your attention to the benefits of your situation. This tip is not implying that you should put up with a terrible work environment, but if you’re in a reasonable situation you should be able to improve your experience by shifting your focus.
Remember why you are doing your work. It might be to earn money to care for yourself or to reach a financial goal. It might be that you believe in what you’re doing. Or you might be en route to a larger career goal.
Keep your reasons for working in the front of your mind. Remember that you are ultimately choosing to go to work. By framing your work as a choice you’ll be more likely to recognize your control over your work situation.
Acknowledgement
You may be in a situation that will not be remedied by the first two strategies. You’re in the wrong field or environment, and it isn’t working for you on a deep level. If this is the case, your Sunday slump is a signal that it’s time to consider a change. Acknowledge your dissatisfaction, and take action to move yourself to a new work situation.
The Sunday slump could be providing you with a helpful cue that something needs to change. This could be the way you prepare for your week, the way you think about it, or the work itself. Rather than diving head first into your next Sunday slump, take a big picture perspective to determine what you most need to do to have a better end to your weekend.
Have you ever experienced a Sunday slump? What was it like for you? Leave a comment below!
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