I bet that most of us are just happy to make it through a Monday.
But, ‘making it through’ is not ‘making the most of’.
Once, I had an enlightening conversation with a barista at a busy Starbucks in the catacombs of Caesar’s Palace where I was attending a conference. As I picked up my vanilla latte at the espresso bar, I chatted with her. The line streamed well outside of the line-maze dividers.
I joked, “Happy Monday.”
She said, “I love Mondays. Mondays set the tone for the whole week.”
Amidst the foamed milk and the sugar packets, she re-oriented my perspective and showed me the importance of turning dread into an embrace.
On my team, we’ve been using a tool called Podio to set our weekly intentions every Monday.
Intentions are the ‘big rock’ items that my team names before they are affected by the noise of the ‘urgent’ or the requests of others. The question we ask as we set intentions is “When I get to Friday. I will know this has been a successful week when ___________________.” There are usually 3-5 items on this list and we write them as if they’ve already happened.
[Confession] I find status reports a poor indicator of performance.
[Truth] I find Monday intentions the best indicator of what my team will accomplish, if they are focused on the most important items, and a great roadmap of how I can help during the week.
Intentions are your anchor point. A lighthouse in the storm.
And, you don’t have to wait until Monday to make the most of your day.
What’s your intention for this day?
Fill in the blank: “I will know this has been a successful day when ______________________.”
Go, now. Turn your intention into reality.