Every Monday, we are bombarded on Social Media by “memes” or comments expressing a hatred of Monday and the soul-crushingly long working week ahead. I’ll bet you’ve already seen more than a few of them today, and you’ll continue to see them throughout the week. Wednesday is hump day; the week is half done and we need a self-congratulatory pat on the back for making it this far. Then on Friday, TGIF, we are out of work, life is about to begin again.
It is easy to see why the transition from a weekend of indulgence, socialising and sleeping as much as you wish, back to a rigid work environment is difficult. We would all prefer to keep the party going for a little longer, but most people couldn’t afford those two days of fun if they weren’t working for the intervening five days. Our only solution is to live from grumpy cat Mondays to camel hump Wednesdays to the elevator leap on Friday evening, and so the cycle continues.
But it doesn’t have to.
Tell me why…
To paraphrase the Boomtown Rats…tell me why you don’t like Mondays? “I hate that the weekend is over and I have to go back to work”, “My job is killing me, I can’t stand it in there”, “I’m just not motivated in work anymore” “the week drags by, I just live for the weekend”.
Then change!
Our (Irish) economy is getting back on track. Things are picking up across the country and businesses are slowly, tentatively, growing their teams again. For the first time in years, there are real opportunities for change.
If you want to break that cycle, where do you start?
- First thing’s first. Talk to your manager, if you are a key member of the team they will work with you to find something to make things better.
- If they are not willing to work with you, then look for something else. (Cpl.ie has 2316 live jobs open at the time of publishing this article)
- Update your CV and get on to the jobs boards, talk to Recruitment Agencies, use your network of contacts and find something new.
- Know your value. You can’t go out to the market and make informed decisions without knowing what your experience is worth. Cpl has a salary guide to help with this.
- Update your CV, it is what you are using to sell yourself to a potential employer – make it good.
Choose to change
Yes, it’s a daunting thought, and yes, it requires effort – but why live for two days a week and hate the other five? Spending 40 hours a week doing something you hate is going to break your heart and eventually it will start affecting those two days in the promised land of the weekend.
You are in a privileged position. You have a job and a pay cheque coming in every month. Yes things might not be perfect but you are in the driving seat – you can choose to make a change. Stop posting your grievances on Social Media and do something about it instead.
Ready for a new job?
This blog originally appeared on LinkedIn.