Everyday….except Monday
As a high school teacher/coach, part of my routine involves arriving at the school very early in the morning (4:30 a.m.) to workout prior to the start of each school day. Essentially I have a free gym membership, and because I choose to workout so early, I usually find the weight room empty, an added bonus! In fact, at one of the schools I worked at (I won’t say which), I was asked to disarm the building’s alarm because I arrived so early. Most of the time, however, the building was already disarmed as the night crew was still working. Even though it was inconvenient, each day I made sure to check the building’s alarm upon entering.
One day when I entered the weight room, I was surprised to see one of the custodians mopping the floors. He was surprised to see me as well (I don’t think he had a lot of visitors at 4:30 a.m.), and we struck up a conversation. He was very friendly and mentioned that I shouldn’t have to go through the whole process of disarming the building because he would have already done so. “What days of the week do you work?” I asked. He replied, “I am here every day of the week.”
That conversation occurred on a Friday, but when I arrived at school the following Monday, there were no other cars in the parking lot. The building was armed and my new friend was nowhere to be found. It’s a good thing I double checked the alarm and didn’t just take his word for it, or else the police would have been called (I’m not so sure that they or my principal would have been too happy about being disturbed at 4:30 in the morning).
In my experience, people tend to drag on Mondays or use it as an excuse for their lackluster work ethic or bad attitude. The movie “Office Space” famously refers to this as having a case of the “Mun-days.” The reality is that Monday is no different than any other day; it has no special value or meaning. The sand pours down the hourglass at the same speed regardless of what day of the week, just as a touchdown counts as the same 6 points regardless of when it is scored in the game. Therefore, Mondays are not an excuse to avoid your obligations, just as the weekends are not a reason to practice poor nutrition habits or stay up late. Every day, regardless of what letter it starts with, is filled with the same 86,400 seconds and contributes equally to 1/7 of the week. A key to success is to not treat Monday any different, because it’s not.
Disclaimer: I later learned that the night cleaning crew did not work on Sunday nights (which makes sense because school would not have been in session the previous day), so the custodian had a valid reason for not being there. However, that is not the point. The point is initially he said every day of the week, and unfortunately, people often treat Mondays differently.
Coach Nelson holds a doctorate in sport and performance psychology and currently serves as a high school football coach, trainer for the positive coaching alliance (PCA) and adjunct faculty member at Grand Canyon University. He has worked for multiple professional sport franchises, a Fortune 100 Company, a division 1 athletic departments and has won numerous awards for his LEADership abilities.
His mission is to positively influence the world through Love, Effort, Attitude and Discipline (#LEAD). To learn more about the LEAD philosophy follow him on Twitter Levi Nelson or reach out via email at rln10@zips.uakron.edu He’d love to learn about or help you in your journey!
