Oh my, friends! Monday’s can be tough. I know this. But I also know they can be managed if you’re organized and prepared in advance for them. I often find myself running behind with nothing ironed and my lunch not made as I need to run out the door for work Monday morning. However, when I take a little time on the weekend to plan ahead for the upcoming week, Monday’s can be a breeze! Read on to learn my top 5 tips for creating a winning Monday! 

1. Plan ahead!

Check your calendar for the week. What appointments do you have? What lunches do you have planned? Do you have dinner plans outside the house this week? When are you going to work out? When will you have your quiet time with God? Do you have any commitments that have snuck up on you?

Use a Weekly Planning document (freebie to come soon) or a weekly calendar to map out your schedule for the week for every half hour. Color code it to reflect the different categories in your life. Here are my categories:

Green = Personal/Church Commitments

Blue = Family

Red = AHA/ASA Go Red For Women appointments

Pink = Mary Kay appointments and reminders

Black = Work Reminders

Orange = Babysitting Appointments

Do what makes sense and works for you. Planning ahead on the weekend sets you up for the next four tips for creating a winning Monday. 

2. Wardrobe  Game Plan

One thing that can eat up a lot of time in the morning is trying to figure out what you’re going to wear for the day. If you’re anything like me, you’ll put on 18 different outfits before you declare you have nothing to wear and you need to lose weight! You want to know how I overcome this dilemma? 

On Sunday after I’ve looked at my schedule for the week, I go through my closet and ironing pile and pick out my clothes for the week based on my schedule. Then, my “iron man”, aka my favorite person in the world, aka my sweetheart husband will iron my clothes for me and hang them up in the closet. I have a designated space on my closet rod for the outfits I’m wearing for the week and I sort them by which day I plan to wear them. 

In addition to getting my work clothes ironed and ready to go, I also make sure my workout clothes are clean and ready to go for the week. On Sunday night, I lay out my running shoes and workout clothes for a Monday morning run or put them in my gym bag if Ryan and I plan to go to the gym after work. This helps create one less excuse to not workout on Monday.

Need a workout plan? Look for a “How to Create Winning Days” post all about fitness plans coming soon! 

3. Meal Planning and Prepping

Eating out downtown costs an average of $10-15 for lunch. Do this 5 days a week, and you’ll easily spend $50-75 per week on eating out for just lunch. That doesn’t include coffee breaks, snacks, or breakfast on the way into work. 

By taking some time on the weekend to meal plan, grocery shop and meal prep on the weekend, you can pack your lunch every morning or the night before quickly and without any surprises. 

(Meal prep post to come with more details and a meal planning freebie.)

4. Get on a schedule

Did you know that as you build a routine and habits around a set schedule every day, the things you do daily become like second nature and take very little mental energy to complete?! 

It’s also important to go to bed at the same time every night and wake at the same time every morning (even on weekends) to get your body used to your routine. After a while, you won’t even need an alarm clock. Your body will just know when it’s time to wake up. Upon rising, make your morning routine the same every day. 

I wake up, take my thyroid pill with the water on my night stand, get out of bed, use the restroom, put my work out clothes on, go downstairs and give the cat her thyroid pill (like mother, like cat-daughter?), feed the cats, then start my quiet time. 

Being on a schedule helps all this happen so that as I’m walking through the dark house like a zombie, the stuff that needs to get done is happening without me even having to think about it. 

5. Quiet Time with God

Last but certainly not least on “How to Create a Winning Monday,” always start your day with at least 15 minutes of quiet time with the Lord. At a recent Proverbs 31 Ministries conference I went to, one of the speakers mentioned doing at least 5 minutes in the Bible, 5 minutes journaling about what you read, and 5 minutes in prayer. If you can add an extra 5 minutes listening to positive, upbeat worship music as well, it will help get your mind in the right place for the day! The more time you can devote in the Word and in conversation with Christ, the more centered your mind will be on Him and His desires for you throughout the day. 

I will share more about my quiet time routine in another post in this series! Stay up-to-date with all my posts by entering your email address in the sidebar to receive email notifications about new posts on my blog! ➡️

Friends, if you can commit to just one of these tasks on a Monday morning, I suggest you spend at least 15 minutes with the Lord getting your mind in the right place. I promise, it will be the best 15 minutes of your entire day!

Want more tips on “How to Create Winning Days”? Comment below with your questions or struggles and I will try to answer them in our “How to Create Winning Days” series!