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I get strangely excited about back-to-school season. Long after I left college behind—and before I became a parent—I loved scoping out the school supplies as soon as they hit stores. I didn’t have a reason to buy them; I just liked the idea of a fresh start. And it turns out, that’s a thing. Known as the fresh start effect, it’s a moment in time that signals to your brain an opportunity to redefine yourself and start over.
Or, as How to Change: The Science of Getting From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be author Katy Milkman told Women’s Health, the effect refers to “psychological fresh starts where nothing has changed except the calendar,” like the start of a new school year, a new year (hence our obsession with resolutions) or even a new week. What’s amazing about it is how we tend to think of these dates as a new chapter and process time differently. It’s like it creates a clear before/after—Women’s Health cites how we feel more distant from our “former” selves when we think about who we were on Dec. 27 vs. Jan. 1, compared to ourselves on Jan. 1 vs. Jan. 3.
But it can also apply in smaller increments, like the week ahead. When the Sunday scaries or gloom sets in, for example, you can choose to reframe it, making Monday your fresh start—a new chance to be a better you (and have a better week).
How to Improve Your Mondays Using the Fresh Start Effect:
1. Define your core values.
Feeling like you’re doing something meaningful—even in the tiniest doses—can improve your week overall, making you feel less like a cog in a wheel. You only need to do this seasonally or annually, since your values will likely stay the same for a while, unless you’re going through a major life change.
In Own Your Morning, author Liz Baker Plosser suggests asking yourself a few questions (How would you describe your ideal day? What lights you up? What are you most proud of?) and looking for any common words or threads that can clue you in to your core values. With a core value defined, you can seek out ways to incorporate it into your week, whether that’s through a project at work, a volunteer opportunity or even just scheduling 30 minutes a week toward a passion of yours, like baking something new or knitting.
2. Create a mental dump of everything that’s on your mind.
This is one of my fave end-of-the-workday or I-can’t-sleep activities: Just jot down everything that’s on your mind, stream-of-consciousness-style. Getting everything out onto the page makes it feel like it’s contained somewhere, so you won’t forget it, giving your brain permission to focus on other things.
3. Organize it into a to do list.
Looking at your brain dump, you can start to organize it into work and personal categories, organizing things by order of importance. Or spread them out as to do’s to tackle in your planner for the week ahead, working through a little each week so it feels less overwhelming.
4. Highlight the top 3 things you want to achieve in the week ahead—two that need to get done, one that’s purely for yourself.
You won’t get through everything on your mental dump list—or, realistically, even your to do list—so tighten your focus with the top three things you’d like to achieve. They don’t have to be big wins; whatever would make you feel a bit lighter at the end of the week. Two may be “have to do” things—obligations you just need to tackle, like delivering a presentation or scheduling a dreaded appointment—but one should be self-care related; something that brings you peace or joy, like catching up with a friend, working out or, hey, making your own candles (just me?).
Viewing Monday as an opportunity for a fresh start, rather than a return to the monotony of the daily grind, can be a game-changer. At the very least, it’s worth a shot, right?
Lead photo: Candace Braun Davison