Mondays have always been one of my favorite days of the week. There’s so much brightness and promise shinning with the thought of an entire week just waiting to be filled with adventures, purpose, accomplishments, and memories.

We, as humans, regulate so much of our lives to habits. The way we wake up, the way we go to sleep, and about half the stuff in-between is habitual. (Well, that’s a guess anyway.) The cool part about it is habits can be choices. And I choose to think of things I’m thankful for when I first wake up – as in before I even open my eyes. This helps get my morning off to a great start.

I generally sit down Sunday afternoon or Monday morning and go through my previous week, then write a list for the upcoming week. It’s great knowing what I can expect to work on during the next six days and gives me a great jumping-in point. I also write a quick to-do list each night for the next morning. This is helpful for several reasons, including that studies show that the brain will sub-consciously begin getting you ready for the next day as you sleep. (Cool, right? Kinda like your own personal servant.)

Obviously, everyone doesn’t enjoy lists and tracking as much as I do, but it really does help the week go more smoothly when you can cross things off and put them out of your mind.

For me, it’s quite helpful to add little things to my written list. Things that I know I need to do, but don’t really feel like spending the time accomplishing. Because then I can start out the morning with a victory – no matter how small it is. This could be waking up at a certain time, choosing joy, working out, or eating healthy. It doesn’t really matter what it is, starting your week with a win will always be encouraging.

There have been days when I’ve messed up at the beginning of the day – been grumpy, gotten behind, or failed miserably on a goal. Y’all, on days like that I legit want to be like “Okay, I failed today. I guess I’ll have to start again tomorrow” and then I lapse into spending the rest of my day with the same mindset. People. Mornings are not the only times for beginnings. If you mess up, then move on. Start over right away. Just because you failed one goal doesn’t mean you messed up your entire day.

Grumpiness, joy, hope… They’re all choices. It can be hard at times to choose the right attitudes but it’s not impossible. Remember: What you dwell on expands. (Not literally, but you get what I mean.) When you choose to think about things that make you grumpy, well, you’re choosing to be grumpy. Not the best idea, folks. (Yo, this is something I’m working on, people. If someone does something that really bothers you, don’t let it play over and over in your mind. Deal with it. Forgive them. Choose joy.)

Did you accomplish a goal? Jam out to some music. Did you write down goals for the first time in forever? Go do a happy dance. Did you get to bed on time? Allow yourself the treat of a candle being lit as you drink your coffee in the morning. You don’t have to wait for something big to celebrate. And you don’t have to have a big celebration. I celebrate little things with little celebrations all day long. It’s rather glorious.

There’s hardly anything more demoralizing than spending all your time doing things that don’t seem to matter. If this is you, then you have two choices: Change what you do to something with purpose, or find the purpose in what you already do. I think most of us make a far bigger difference in the world than we realize.

What? You just spend your time cleaning bathrooms? Imagine what life would be like if no one cleaned bathrooms. (But please, don’t imagine it too long because that would be horrible.) Or do you find yourself taking care of little fussy children? Think of the love you felt as a child when you were being taken care of. Simple things like setting aside your work to read to them could make all the difference. Do you spend your time on school work? Yo, people. School is so important. For so many reasons, but one of the “undercover reasons” is it helps build character. And character is pretty big.

So that’s my list for today, folks! I hope you have a wonderful, blessed, delightful Monday! (And yes, I’m running behind. 😉 )

What I Listened To While Blogging: 
Narnia Soundtrack
Random Fact: 
I’m running behind, so this post was timely for me, too. 😉 
Question Of The Day: 
What’s your favorite day of the week? (Mine is Sunday, with Mondays and Thursdays following as a tied second, depending on the week.)