Cure Your Monday Blues & Reclaim Your Weekend

It’s not surprising so many of us suffer from weekly cases of the Monday Blues.

The 2019 American Time Use Survey found that 34% of full-time employed people work on average weekends or holidays. That in itself is a pretty surprising statistic. Still, it’s pretty par for the course when we consider all employees serving in the retail and hospitality industries, where weekend work is compensated for with other days off during the week. 

What it fails to consider, though, are the countless Americans among us who put in hours over the weekend– our days off– in addition to a full, 40+ hour workweek. Many cite the drive to stay productive. Others note that they would love to relax and unwind, but the constant pressure of their jobs stops that from being a reality. 

The Consequences of Too Much Work

Would it surprise you to know that the average annual work hours for an American top out at 1,757? That’s higher than Japan (1,738), the United Kingdom (1,670), France (1514), and Germany (1,353). 

When we allow work to seep into our family and leisure time, it begins to impact our quality of life. Our mental health, relationships, and hobbies suffer. It can affect our health, leading to sleep deprivation, poor nutrition, and lack of exercise.

Eventually, it gets more serious than Monday Blues. It can burn us out from careers we love, creating bitterness, resentment, and anger. 

It’s essential for business leaders, owners, and managers to recognize the consequences of overworked employees, including themselves. Once the problem has been identified, you can begin to make small changes in your own life and significant changes in the overall wellbeing of the people who help you ensure your business’s success. 

Changing the Tune of the Monday Blues

It’s not uncommon to deal with the Monday Blues. In fact, an iconic Italian food-loving cat is well-known for his 

feelings about the first day of the workweek. 

Fortunately, as a business leader, you have the power to create change that has an enormous positive impact that ripples far out from your organization. When you begin to honor leisure time and the need for work to stay at work, your family benefits from your mindful presence during the hours they spend with you. 

Once the culture is established, your employees benefit. Their families benefit. 

It’s a change that can only create a more positive, productive environment, where people are willing to dig in Monday-Friday, knowing that they will be able to recuperate on Saturday and Sunday.

But where to begin?

Start with Your Mindset

Guilt is tough to reckon with, but unless your business faces a profound loss of profit or client relationships, the world will not stop turning because you don’t check your email on Sunday morning. You have to be willing to live in the discomfort of restructuring your time and creating the opportunity for relaxation without allowing your mind to wander back to work. 

Think of it as a habit that you’re creating. It might feel contrived and awkward at first. But eventually, it will be a positive change that comes naturally. 

Set Clear Limits, Then Hold Yourself Accountable

When you decide to reclaim your weekends, it’s essential to start small. Your clients, employees, and partners may look at your decision with some scrutiny, testing the limits and reacting negatively to your expectation. Easing them and yourself towards the change can help everyone adjust. 

For example, be clear that you’ll no longer be answering work calls on Sunday. Then, bump up to emails or work calls. Then, transition to only working one Saturday a month, and so on until you’ve carved out a sacred weekend ritual where work is truly put on the backburner.

Create the Culture for All Employees

If you want to keep your weekends to yourself, you have to be willing to honor that same expectation for your employees. You should go so far as to encourage it actively. Your employees feel the same pressure towards productivity that you do, and they may be fearful that their weekend leisure will make them appear lazy in the eyes of the business. Shut that idea down from the start. 

If you still see someone who frequently leaves the office bogged down with paperwork and their laptop, invite them to discuss what can be saved for Monday. 

Dedicate Time to Ending Your Workweek Successfully

On Friday afternoon, ask that all employees spend the last hour of the day creating a plan for the next week. Ask that they be specific about the lingering projects they have from this week and how they can confront them on Monday. You do the same. 

This activity not only shows your business that you’re willing to create an environment that kindles the idea of dedicated weekend time but that you also recognize there will be projects that carry over into the following week. 

It removes the fear of disappointing you or the team because something wasn’t wrapped up on Friday and the subsequent scramble to get it done during their time off. When every person within an organization is transparent about their progress, it’s a lot less scary to admit that you need more time.