Yes, we enjoy our jobs but the anxiety that comes along with it…not so much. Like many of you, I too work in a fast-paced environment. There is very rarely a slow moment in the office and on Sunday night I find myself worrying sick about how Monday will go. #MondayBlues are not unusual. Many people experience anxiety, worry, and sadness when anticipating the work week ahead. Not to worry though! Here's what to do on Sunday night for a better Monday morning!
So make a cup of tea, grab your favorite blanket, curl up in bed, read this post, and get ready to decompress and reenergize yourself. Monday, here you come!
1. Make a list of things you are excited about.
I discovered this ritual in a Forbes article about stress associated with work and decided to try it out. On Sunday night, I make a list of all the things I’m looking forward to during the week ahead. Whether it’s drinks with a girlfriend or hearing back about a new opportunity, I write it down. I whip my list out on Monday before work just to remind me what I have to look forward to throughout the week. It may seem silly but it’s really effective. During the day, we are consumed with work-related tasks. It’s good to have a friendly reminder that you DO have a life outside of work and that Monday won’t last forever. The list has made a HUGE difference in my outlook on Mondays. I no longer dread Monday morning because I remember that it’s just a challenge to be met and the reward for a hard days work is written down on my list.
2. Complete one Monday task.
Tackle one of your Monday tasks a day early. By clearing your desk of one thing you’ll feel less anxious about the amount of work waiting for you on Monday morning. I like to check my email on Sunday to see if there are any tasks I can knock out ahead of time. Also, try checking your email and making a list of tasks that are priority for Monday. Just getting organized a day early will help you have a better handle on your work week. The list will help you identify where most of your attention should be allocated on Monday, so you don’t succumb to the pressure of a ton of emails.
3. Journal + Read.
Unwind. I’ve found that journaling is SOOOO decompressing. On Sunday night, your head may be buzzing with ideas, solutions and even worry. You are already trying to gear up for Monday, and your thoughts can become scattered. Unplug from your laptop and your phone. Spend sometime with yourself. Journaling allows you to expel all of those ideas, thoughts and worries swimming around in your head. Writing it down and expressing it can be so relieving. Read over what you wrote, many times you’ll find that what is worrying you isn’t even a big deal. Also, reading over your thoughts could kick up a solution to some of the things your anxious about.
My favorite reads!
Also Read. Curl up in bed with some snacks and some music and read a good book. I always like to think a lesson can be found anywhere. A professor once told me: “All the answers are hidden in a book.” We just have to read to find them. Whether it’s fiction or non-fiction, find something that you enjoy reading -- magazines included!
You're all ready for Monday morning! Just wake, pray, and SLAY!
What strategies do you have for tackling #MondayBlues? Share in the comment section below or tweet us @xoNecole
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Skylar sees things differently. At the time, she was shooting content on her iPhone. Temi came into the picture with a new perspective, an understanding of tech, and, eventually, a camera. “He doesn't give himself enough credit,” Skylar says. “He wasn't just my tripod. He wasn't just standing behind the camera and going ‘click.’ He was giving advice. He was giving me insight to how I could look at things from a different perspective. And I was like, 'Oh, he’s an artist.' I think it was maybe a heartbeat of that kind of energy of like, ‘Baby, can you take this picture?’ And it turned so quickly into, we're partners. We can work together in a way where we're advancing each other's creative thinking.”
The pair often says they’re two sides of the same coin. Skylar is an Aquarius. She attended art school, paints, and loves poetry. She’s more than happy to let the couple’s management firm and agency, Kensington Grey, handle their admin work. And, she loves to sleep in. Temi, on the other hand, wakes up early. He’s a Virgo. He loves a to-do list and regularly checks in on the couple’s brand partnerships spreadsheet to make sure everything is on track.
Because his storytelling was steeped in his love of technology, he didn’t always think of himself as a creative person. “Where I [am] the dreamer who wants to pluck things out of the sky and spend all day with my head in the clouds, Temi [is] so good at grounding me and helping me figure out how to make things make sense on paper. We just work together in such a complimentary way,” Skylar says.
It’s been more than six years since Brooklyn-based couple Temi and Skylar started dating, and nearly four since they cemented their working relationship. On TikTok and Instagram, the couple’s travel, fashion, and home content regularly rack up hundreds of thousands of views. They’ve worked with brands such as Coach, Aesop, Away, and Liquid IV, bringing their vibrant perspectives to every campaign they execute. Still, nearly two years since both Temi and Skylar committed to full-time content creation and creative directing, the couple says their romantic connection remains their priority.
“We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting,” Skylar says.
Working from home can make it hard to separate work from personal life for any entrepreneur. It can be even more challenging when your business partner is also your lover. Temi and Skylar had already used couples therapy as a tool to help them effectively communicate with one another. When they ran into challenges while working together, their therapist helped them set physical boundaries to help combat the issues.
"We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting."
“It actually took us doing very specific physical things to create boundaries between work and play in our relationship,” Skylar says. “So, for instance, we will only have conversations about work when we're out of bed or we're at the table or in the office. Initially, when we started, we had to light a candle to say that, 'Okay, this is a space where we're connecting, we’re not talking about work.' We needed really hard boundaries at the top. And then it became a little bit more organic.”
The boundaries have been crucial to implement, especially because the couple began working together so naturally. When the pair first met, Skylar was NY-based a social strategist for BuzzFeed and was using content creation to drive business to her lingerie company. She was shooting her own content. Temi was working for Microsoft in D.C. He’d recently traded in his DJing equipment for a camera. “I've always loved taking pictures,” he says. “Even when I was a kid, my African mother would wake me up at 3:00 a.m. [during a] party, and be like, 'Come take the family picture.'”
Growing up, Temi says he watched his parents support each other and be the true definition of partners. He knew he wanted the same for his own relationship. But, the couple also wanted to make sure they were being financially responsible. The pair didn’t quit their traditional jobs until they’d saved up two years' worth of their cost of living. And, Temi received his Master of Business Administration from New York University with the knowledge that it could either help him advance in his corporate career or be applicable to his business with Skylar.
Temi and SkylarCj Hart @hartbreakToday, they say their working relationship is more of a “quiet dance.” They still implement some of the boundaries they learned in therapy, but they also lean into their natural strengths and deep love for one another. When we speak, Temi has planned a date for the couple to see Princess Mononoke in 4K IMAX and added it to their Notion so they can factor it into their busy schedules. “I fully plan to date for the rest of my life,” he says.
Skylar says the couple doesn’t just wait for date nights to check in with one another, though. This often happens in the mornings, after Temi has made her peppermint tea and poured himself a cup of coffee. When they ask each other how they slept, she says, it’s not just a “nicety.” It’s a genuine question meant to foster connection.
“A lot of it happens during the day in the midst of work. We'll stop and we'll hug. Or we’ll slow dance in the kitchen,” she says. “Sometimes it's hard to set a whole date night when you have 7,000 things going on. So, we must grasp these moments and check in when we can. And I think it's become so organic to us that I actually didn't even realize how often we do it. But all day long, we're like, 'Are you good? I felt like your energy shifted,' because we're best friends, we just know. We just feel it happen.”
What’s better than being in love? Building wealth while doing it. Watch Making Cents here for real stories of couples who make money moves together.
Featured image by Cj Hart @hartbreak