Why I Can’t Stand “A Case of the Mondays”
If you’ve ever worked one single Monday in your life, it’s possible (and probable) that you’ve heard – or used – the expression “a case of the Mondays” to explain a bad mood on a Monday morning.
I can’t stand that.
Call me crazy, call me closed-minded, call me unsympathetic (or just call me reasonable), but it drives me insane to think that people let something as completely intangible as a certain day of the week determine their mood and attitude for 24 hours.
I’ll admit there’s a difference between having a bad day that is coincidentally on a Monday and an actual “case of the Mondays.” That’s understandable. But am I the only person that goes crazy when a conversation with a person on Monday morning transpires like this? –
Me: “Hey, how’s it going today?”
Person: “Eh, it’s Monday…”
Me: (While internally shaking my head and repressing near-violent anger) “Alright, well…I hope it gets better for you.”
Person: “Oh, it’s just a case of the Mondays. Things should be better tomorrow.”
Wait, what?!
You’re going to spend an entire day being in a bad mood based on the logic that it’s the first day to your work week? Seriously? Is EVERY weekend you spend that magnificent that it makes you dread your entire first day back to work? You’re going to let one day bring a depressing and dreary attitude into the workplace, to infect everyone with your negative, “my environment controls my attitude” outlook on life?
Uh-uh. No way. Leave that garbage at home. That’s what I say. You have a chance to make every Monday an exciting and opportunistic day for you if you choose to make it happen. Mondays are a fresh chance to kick off a great week and spread an “I plan to enjoy my day (and make it productive)” approach to everyone in your office. Why pass up that opportunity only to replace it with negativity? If you can give me one good reason, I just might retract this post and apologize for my errors. And maybe shave my head or something crazy.
Bottom line: This post was inspired by a Twitter offer from a coffee shop in Sioux Falls (which has been very, very good to the Deep Bench crew) called Coffea: “50% off drinks today for anyone with a ‘case of the Mondays.’” the tweet read. I love their approach. I love that they are using Twitter to create a tribal experience (Seth Godin-style) of insider information. Like a secret password or handshake that actually provides value to customers. I love that.
But I don’t love “cases of the Mondays.” So I walked in, and asked if I “could still have a discount, even if I consider a case of the Mondays to be a good thing.” The response? “You know, if you think Mondays are a good thing, then I think you definitely deserve a 50% discount.”
I’ll say this: I respect and appreciate Coffea’s attempt to make everybody’s Monday a little bit better with a 50% discount (and I respect them even more for doing it with a social media approach). In fact, I’d even say that falls into Deep Bench’s “Do Good” aspect of our organization’s “Work. Play. Do Good.” mantra.
I just wish the rest of the world would try to approach Monday’s with a slightly more optimistic outlook. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, but I think wishful thinking is the small push that helps start turning the gears of change. So, from now on, I’m going to try to spread my “Positive Case of the Mondays” approach by sharing some positive thoughts, concepts, and probably music on Mondays just to add a little optimism to the mix and maybe create a little change.
Because really, why would you want to let an outside force like the day of the week affect your chance to enjoy an entire day’s worth of opportunities for success?
It’s that kind of attitude that almost…almost gives me a case of the Mondays.
If you agree or disagree with Mike’s mindset or his analysis on cases of the Mondays, let us know in the comments below or drop us a line on Twitter at @deepbench. Although it’s unlikely, it’s possible he’s wrong, so please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts with us.
8 Responses to “Why I Can’t Stand “A Case of the Mondays””
Mike, I agree completely. Much like you, I’ve always been an advocate of choosing your own attitude. People often fail to realize that a bad attitude causes one of two reactions from others. Either an imitation and passing on of the bad mood, or an awkward exchange. Either way, a bad attitude is contagious and passes uncomfortably from person to person. Even outsiders feel awkward when one person acts on a bad attitude (think about last time you watched somebody else complain to a waiter).
Something as trivial as the day of the week should not negatively impact those around you or your production. If something ’caused’ your bad mood, leave it there and proceed positively with others.
Glad you agree with the thoughts, Scott. Your studied-psychologist approach is much more knowledgeable than my “I noticed that this irritates me” approach, but it’s good to see that I’m not on my own planet with this one.
The complaining to a waiter thought is a completely applicable point of view that I definitely get. In fact, I’ve hit a point in my self-confidence (brashness) where I’ll call out the person being rude to the waiter (in total seriousness) and tell them to quit being a jerk. Usually the server gives a customary “Haha…it’s no big deal” reaction, but you can always tell the appreciate someone understanding their side of things. And just taking some time to be nice/polite.
I think it’s just my attitude that working hard to be positive could do so much more for people than letting outside elements drag you down (and consequently drag down those around you).
Either way, I already know I’m dominating next Monday, whether it’s ready for me or not. Let the revolution begin!
[...] our moods, which also happens to be somewhat related to a post I wrote last week on people who let “a case of the Mondays” ruin their [...]
This is just what I needed to read- and you’re so right. I’m gonna spread the word!! Reminds me of my annoyance after the recent celebrity deaths of everyone saying “wow, yeah these things always happen in 3’s.” DO THEY? What, were you just hoping that MJ’s at-first-rumored death was a reality to make your pretty little cliche true? Ugh. Get over it. haha
Thanks again for the great post, and I think I’ll make it a goal to inspire others on Mondays, too.
PS, I totally dig Deep Bench’s mantra.
I’m glad you brought this up, Mike. I’m a big believer in choosing your attitude (which Scott pointed out). Choosing to have a ‘bad case of the Mondays’ is allowing yourself to miss out on an opportunity for something great.
This also made me think of another point– if something happens to you right away in the morning that sets you off (i.e. you make a mistake at work, argue with a co-worker, you spill coffee on your white shirt, etc.), and your first response is “Well, it’s going to be one of those days,” aren’t you just creating a self-fulfilling prophecy? At that moment, you’re deciding whether to brush off (even laugh off) the situation, or to let it ruin your day. Deciding it’s going to be a bad day at 9am is a quick way to fail.
My long-winded point is that it is easy to get caught up in negativity, especially in a workplace. Positive attitudes are contagious, and I definitely support your “Positive Case of the Mondays” approach.
From what I can understand, the basic message of this post is that one shouldn’t let one’s environment affect their mood. I agree with that message and it follows that much of our cognitive thought cycles are effected by how we view the world, which is really just a neutral set of stimuli. It’s not until we attach a thought to a stimulus based on a variety of factors (culture, individual experience, biological predetermination) that we experience an emotional response.
That being said, I think that the article misses the complications inherent in dreading Monday. “Words are just words, days are just days” seems to be your argument, but you can’t ignore that there is a profound emotional impact behind what we attach to a word. In our society where only 10% of professionals love their work and 20% say they enjoy it (leaving 70% who range from neutral to hatred) it can be understood that for the vast majority of US workers Mondays represent the first stage of a grueling endurance race to get to their weekends.
It also represents a shift in attitude and a way of thinking from a 48 hour period of recovery and relaxation to “getting your game face on” and shifting of one’s mindset to preparing for the work week. It is often said of any challenge that the first few days are the hardest such as when one starts a new diet, attempts to quit smoking, or starts exercising. The beginning of any cycle is difficult. Momentum must be built, and that extends to the “workweek/weekend” cycle that most of us will be trapped in for the majority of our lives.
If you’re saying that what you disagree with is someone lashing out at another just because they’re feeling bad it’s a Monday, I completely agree with you. Others shouldn’t have to suffer for an individual’s moods (this is the same argument I make whenever I hear a girl treat someone terribly and then write off the behavior by saying “oh, I was on my period”). I can also foresee the counter-argument of “well, if someone doesn’t like their job and it makes them miserable, they can quit”, but this doesn’t take into account how many people are actually wage slaves forced into their job by the circumstances and the need to provide for themselves and more than likely their family as well.
In light of all of this, I think that to dread Mondays is perfectly understandable and reasonable given the working situation of the average person. Unless they are in some way threatening you, you are ironically engaging in the same behavior that you lambaste the Monday-haters for, namely allowing your environment to effect you.
-Valerie: I agree. The “Happen in threes” thing is a great point. The only time a point is made to share that is after 2 die anyway. If one random celebrity dies, people don’t start saying “Oh no, this will happen twice more…it’s always in threes!” The last few weeks it was in a four anyway, with Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson and Billy Mays all within a week or so of each other.
-Kristen: Totally agree with the need to simply brush off or laugh off a situation. I think part of that comes from being in an environment where that type of culture is fostered (such as in the Deep Bench office…where screwing up inevitably ends in much laughter 9.5 times out of 10). I agree with this thought entirely: “Deciding it’s going to be a bad day at 9am is a quick way to fail.”
Glad you both will be taking the positivity approach along with me. We can do anything we set our minds to. That’s my overly cheesy, positive thought for the day. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Ricardo:
First of all, I appreciate all of the thought you put into your comment. You bring up some great points and it’s awesome to see how well-planned your comment is.
Your first point is a good one as far as how I handle my approach. I’m one of those fortunate few who falls into the 10% of loving their work, so it’s easy for me to see the positives of coming to work. In fact, it’s almost weird how much I enjoy work. (Also, I agree 100% on the “well they can just quit” argument being a fair one…that is not the case for so many people, whether we’d like to believe it is or not).
The building momentum point you bring up is also a good one. I guess I just look at it as an overly optimistic person, but I can’t imagine starting an effort of any kind (work, getting in shape, etc.) by thinking of all the negatives I’ll have to face. It might just be a learned skill and method to my approach of life, but I feel like thinking all of the negative thoughts while warming up is just going to make me even more reluctant to accomplish those goals. If I plan to work out and spend the entire time leading up to the workout complaining about having to run 3 miles and thinking about how miserable I’ll be, I feel like it’d be so much easier to just find an excuse not to do it. I think approaching it in an “I’m going to dominate these 3 miles and feel great about it afterward” will make me so much more likely to get outside and actually start running. Again, it might just be a learned skill, but it’s the one I see being more successful on a consistent basis.
As far as the hypocrisy of my thoughts, you are absolutely right. Letting those negative people frustrate me is a reflection of what I’m mad about. I guess I look at it as me recognizing this frustration and steeling myself to be prepared for it in the future. This sort of reflects my thoughts from above, but if I hear someone complain about a case of the Mondays and I’ve set myself up to be prepared to respond with a positive thought, it’s one step in the right direction to fight that battle of negativity. As I said, it may be corny or cheesy, but I think staying positive about things internally is the best way (for me) to ward off frustrating external factors.
I may just be wired funny, but that’s how I look at all of this. People can be frustrated at having to shift gears and go into a job they don’t enjoy, but spreading that frustration to everyone else around you just doesn’t seem right to me. I guess the middle ground would be, if you are going to be frustrated about your job and want to blame it on the start of the week, go ahead…just don’t complain publicly about it (especially if I enjoy what I’m doing), unless you’re telling someone who can help you change that attitude. Hopefully that’s not terribly cold or inconsiderate of me.
Thanks again for sharing your thoughts and would love to see more great commentary from you in the future.