Over the years, there have been many songs and articles written that have promoted the belief that Monday should be the most reviled and avoided day of the week. I am sure that many of you would like to have a three-day weekend every week of the year so that you could skip multiple monotonous Mondays and start your week with truly terrific Tuesdays. It may seem surprising for you to know that Monday may turn out to be the most motivating, memorable and miraculous day of your week if you take advantage and use every minute of the most productive hour of your work week. What is the most productive hour of your work week? Monday morning from 8:30-9:30a.m. You may be wondering why this could be the most productive hour of the week for you. Some of you may just be waking up, eating your breakfast, doing an intense workout, walking or cycling to work, planning your day or week, answering texts, e-mails or phone calls if you are fortunate enough to either work in a home office, have flexible office hours or live within walking or cycling distance to your office. If you commute to work, you may be sitting on a train, bus or subway or, if you are very lucky, enveloped in the solitude of your own vehicle in traffic on a hands-free phone call or, even better, listening to your favourite artist or author which is converting the frustration that you feel at your lack of progress into pure bliss at the opportunity to spend some private time listening to the book or music of your choice. If you look at the list of activities that were mentioned in the last two sentences, you will see that they are all very productive activities.
You can look at this time as the most productive hour of your work week for three reasons. First, it is the perfect hour to prepare yourself professionally for the week ahead, whether it is booking or confirming your personal and professional commitments like social or personal care appointments or more formal meetings with contacts, colleagues or clients/customers, blocking your time for projects, listing your top three daily priorities, defining your three weekly goals or setting the pace and defining the tone for the week. Second, if something good or bad has happened on Friday afternoon, often it is the latter more than the former, and it always seems like you are the only one around to handle the opportunity or challenge presented by this person or situation, you can find the answer that you need or get the focus and attention of the ideal individual who can deal with it before they get involved in the other meetings, problems and commitments of their week. Third, most people, whatever their level or position in an organization, are usually sitting at their desks during this hour as they tend to schedule meetings for 9:00a.m. or 9:30a.m. If you need a moment of their time to get a decision, response, direction or commitment, you can visit or phone them and nine times out of ten, they will be in their office or answer the telephone and you can get your business presented, discussed and resolved in a matter of minutes. If you miss this window of opportunity, it can sometimes take the better part of the week to get a chance to catch them for a few minutes. In the meantime, the person or situation may be costing you and the organization valuable time and money especially if it is an angry client/customer or a product or project that requires approval to proceed.
I have frequently heard people say to me with joy and amazement how they were able to successfully connect with someone during this time whom they had been trying to reach for all of the previous week. So start this week in a proactive, positive and progressive way, use the most productive hour of your work week on Monday.
