How To Keep Your Monday Motivation All Week Long

Woman with sunglasses holding hands up in victory

We’ve all been there. We get geared up for our new week and we are sure it’s going to be the most productive week ever! We are going to MAKE THINGS HAPPEN THIS WEEK! Monday morning comes around and we wake and we’re ready to slay the day! This is your week! You are all over it! You’ll probably make it through Monday being super productive. And then we get through Tuesday, you’ll be just a little less productive. Then by Wednesday, we are tired, and the motivation is slowly ebbing. By Thursday, we are exhausted and just trying to get to Friday at 5 pm, and our to-do list? Oh, it’s long forgotten and likely untouched since Tuesday-ish. Sound like you? Hey, I get it. It sounds JUST like me. And losing motivation happens to all of us. Me included! To help you (and myself!), I’ve developed some little tips and tricks on how to keep your Monday Motivation going the entire weeklong!

“When life gives you Monday, dip it in glitter and sparkle all day.”
Ella Woodward

What’s Your Goal?

Always start with the end in mind. So, first things first, you should decide what your goals are for the week. Take a little time, make a to-do list, and really think about what you’d like to accomplish this week. What are the things you need to do? You need to list your must do’s for sure. And then you need some things that will make you proud you accomplished this week. Make your list and then decide on a few goals for the week.

coffee cup on a napkin with "a goal without a plan is just a wish" written on napkin

What Makes a Good Goal?

So, what makes a good goal? Really there are 3 things, in my opinion, that makes a goal, truly, a goal:

Make it realistic.
Your goal should be specific.
Make your goal a little challenging.

Make it Realistic

It’s important to have goals that are realistic. For example, I’m five feet, five inches tall. I’m never going to dunk on a ten-foot basketball goal on my own and it would be silly to make that my goal. See what I mean? Realistic goals should be ultimately attainable. A good example of a realistic goal would be:

“I want to keep my house neat and tidy this week, and I’ll do so by devoting 20 extra minutes each day to making sure I get everything straightened up.”

That’s a good goal!!!

An unrealistic goal would be:

“I’m going to keep my house spotless all week long and clean it top to bottom every day.”

First, I hope that’s not your goal. (Clean your house in a snap with my speed-cleaning guide!) And second, no one could keep up with that. It’s not realistic.

Know Your Possibilities

Another example of a realistic goal would be cooking dinner for your family and sitting down together at 6:30 each night for dinner. That’s a fine goal, but if one kid has ballet 2 nights a week, another has baseball practice till 7 each night, and another needs to be in the bathtub by 7pm each night, it’s not realistic that you can make that goal happen.

Making a goal realistic means making sure it’s in the realm of possibility with the logistics of your life. Instead your goal could be, I’ll cook some food at the beginning of the week that is perfect for nights we need a really fast dinner.

Checklist in a notebook on a desk with laptop and coffee

Make it Specific

Next up in the anatomy of a good goal is to make it a specific goal. The old saying “What gets measured, gets done” is incredibly true. So, make your goal specific and know what steps are getting you closer to your goal.

So, for example, don’t just say, I’m going to eat better this week. Instead, say, I’m going to eat better this week, and that looks like me having a salad for lunch each day, a healthy breakfast, mixed nuts for a snack, and dinner includes a protein and veggies each day. See? Specific!

Or, you goal might be cleaning up your office area this week. Which is a great goal. But put a few specifics on it to make it seem less intimidating and more attainable. For example:

Monday – Clean up the paper clutter
Tuesday – Catch up on filing
Wednesday – Clean up the floor in the office
Thursday – Wipe and dust equipment and office area
Friday – Organize drawers and cabinets

See, the more specific you are about your goals, the easier they will be for you to work towards each day. You won’t be left with this feeling of “Where do I even start?”. You’ll know exactly where to start to keep working on achieving your plans!

Make it a Challenge

This is my favorite part of setting goals! You get to make it a little bit of a challenge! You can’t make your goal something easy, like, go to work all 5 days this week. More than likely, that’s going to happen whether you like it or not each day. For more information on how to set challenging goals, try this article on MindTools.com.

I’ve got two good examples of challenging goals for myself. First, I will walk 5 days this week for exercise. 5 days will be hard to fit in, and it’s well above my usual amount of exercise. But, that goal isn’t just out of the question and impossible either. Secondly, I want to post every day on all my social media for my Supermom Shuffle blog. Again, challenging, but not out of the realm of possibility.

You want to make your goals just enough that you are challenging yourself each week. But not so lofty that you are going to fail week after week either. You want to have to work a little!! And then after you work at them and then actually achieve them? Oh, you’ll be so proud of yourself!

Chalkboard with someone writing all the things that lead to motivation

Motivation vs. Discipline

“If you’re tired… do it tired.” — unknown
Unknown

There are some days that sheer motivation will carry you through and keep you working on your goals. And then there are other days where that simply won’t be enough to keep you going. You might be lacking the motivation that particular day, or maybe the day has gone haywire and you have spent your day trying to just recover from the tailspin. No matter the cause, it’s important to know, that motivation won’t always be there. So what do you do then?

That’s where discipline kicks in. There are days you just are simply not going to find your motivation. That’s when you need your discipline to kick in so that you still work on your goals anyway. Because you know your lack of motivation is a temporary thing, and that it’ll be back in the next day or two. So, you use your discipline instead to push through and continue working on your goals that week.

Remember, you will never always be motivated. Knowing how you are going to power around that is very important. Know you’ll have to tap into your discipline every now and then.

Your “Why”

When you are making and working on goals, its definitely important to know your “Why.” Why do you want to achieve this goal? What about the goal is important to you? What would be better if you achieved this goal?

Having your “Why” in mind when you are working on a goal can be very helpful and quite motivating!

Here’s an example of my own “Why” for one of my goals.

My goal (as I said earlier) is to walk for 30 minutes, 5 times this week. It’s a good goal, to be sure. And it’s good for my health. Everyone needs exercise. But that’s not my real “Why” I’m working for the goal. My real reason is it will make me a better mommy this week. Even though it’s not my favorite thing, exercise ultimately relaxes me. And it gets the good endorphins pumping. Then, I feel GOOD about myself when I exercise. And that all leads to me feeling good overall. And that trickles down into everyday life. I’m much more calm, patient, and have a ton more energy for my kids. See the difference? That’s my “why” for my goal.

Slow Progress Is… Progress

Sometimes you will have to go slow on your goals. A huge goal isn’t going to be accomplished in just one week. Sometimes you may have to plan out a goal that may take several weeks to complete. Just select the parts of the goal that you are working towards for this particular week and work on only that part of your bigger goal. Remember, slow progress is progress!

Tracking Your Goals

I recommend writing your goals down and keeping track of them. I’m providing you a free goal tracking worksheet as part of this post. And I love it and it’s what I use for myself. But whatever you decide to use, just keep track of your goals and track your progress! The power of checking things off a list is HUGE. You feel your wins coming and it keeps you motivated to keep working and propels you forward!

Know Yourself

There are other things you can do to help yourself achieve your goals too. Knowing yourself and your personality is very helpful when you are making your goals.

For example, I know that by Thursday I’m going to be exhausted and cooking dinner is the very last thing I’m going to want to do. So I try to make sure I cook some bigger meals on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to allow for plenty of leftovers or ingredients for easy makeover meals towards the end of the week.

If you know your motivation will go down each day as the week goes on, make sure you front-load your week so all the bigger and challenging things happen at the beginning of the week. Eat the frog on Monday or Tuesday. If there is something you absolutely dread, do it first thing Monday and watch how much momentum you give yourself after that!!

little girl with flight goggles and helmet on with cardboard wings strapped to her

Other Motivational Secrets

What are some other ways to keep your motivation going all week long? Here are some of my tried and true methods that I’m going to share with you!

Quotes

Find some good quotes and print them out. Keep them where they are visible and most useful to you. Put them on your desk, the fridge, your cabinets, a mirror. I like to have a Pinterest board with all motivational quotes that I can scroll through any time I need to muster up some motivation. Wherever is a good spot to really look at it and draw motivation from it, that’s where you want to put it! I have some on my desk and a few in my car also.

“Mondays are for fresh starts.”
Unknown

Useful Tools

I like to surround myself with good and motivational tools. Have a few great podcasts that are motivating that you can listen to. Or watch an episode of your favorite TV show while you do a task. (My kitchen takes exactly 1 Friends episode to clean up each night!) Make yourself a playlist of songs that will pep you up and motivate you to get going on your goals!

Reward Yourself

Have a reward set for yourself if you achieve your goals. It doesn’t have to be a big reward. Or it can be a big reward. This is your system! You decide! It could be simple like ordering in a favorite dinner. Or going to get a pedicure! Or ordering that new book you were wanting! I always find it a little extra motivating to have a little carrot dangling at the end of the week to help me achieve my goals!

Goal Setting Helpers:

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When Your Week Goes To Crap

It’s also super important to know, sometimes your week is going to go to absolute crap and nothing will go to plan. Don’t freak out and don’t get mad if you don’t get to work on your goal as much as you had planned. Sometimes life happens and you just have to roll with the punches.

Now, I’m not saying use your circumstances to justify not achieving your goals. Not at all. You want to achieve your goals in spite of your circumstances if you can! But there are times when you come across a day when your kids get sick, your car won’t start and the roof is leaking. On those days, just strive through getting through the day. And don’t worry about moving your goals forward. Progress. Not perfection!

Woman jumping with her back to picture on a dock in the ocean

Wrap Up – How To keep your Monday Motivation All Week Long

In conclusion, there are lots of ways to keep your Monday motivation going the entire week through. And that secret is all about the planning and goal setting! If you have a plan that’s clear and easy to stick to, it’s so much simpler to get started and keep going on your goal until you are finished! And the real success comes when you really plan your goals out and march through all your steps to achieve them! Keep that Monday Motivation and as always, just keep shuffling!

How To Keep Your Monday Motivation All Week Long

What’s Your Goal?