The Power of Mondays: 5 Ways to Maximize Your Workweek

Many entrepreneurs make time for self-care on weekends, but there’s power in starting your week off right—not just mentally, but physically. With careful planning and organization ahead of time, you can power through Mondays more effectively than ever before.

Monday can be hard – it’s the start of a new week, and you have so much to accomplish before the weekend even begins! As an entrepreneur, there are several ways you can start your work week off right so that the rest of your week goes well, too. Here are five ways to maximize your workweek as an entrepreneur starting with Monday.

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Starting Your Week Off Right

Many entrepreneurs make time for self-care on weekends, but there’s power in starting your week off right—not just mentally, but physically. With careful planning and organization ahead of time, you can power through Mondays more effectively than ever before. Here are five key ways that you can schedule your workday so that it’s easier to get through your Monday. And if you know how important starting your week off correctly is to success, why not give it a try? See what works best for you! You might be surprised by how productive you feel at mid-week with these tweaks under your belt. Best practices for staying motivated and organized as an entrepreneur: If there’s one thing most entrepreneurs have in common, it’s their ability to succeed when they simply show up and power through an average day.

The Power Of Mornings

While it’s important to block off time for your side hustle, you don’t want that commitment to detract from your main work. If possible, limit your side hustle commitments during standard business hours. Wake up an hour early each day and power through your Monday—and keep powering through every morning after that. This will help maximize your productivity throughout your week as well as allow you more opportunities for networking with other business owners.

Having a morning routine is one of the most powerful ways you can start your week off right. But what is it? How do you create one? Learn ways to walk through and craft a morning routine that maximizes your success. By following steps that accommodate your style, you’ll feel more energized, inspired, and productive when tackling new projects or making crucial decisions during your day. Plus, research shows that having good self-discipline in the morning will have positive carryover effects throughout your workday—and even in other areas of life outside of work. Find the best tips for starting your week strong by waking up with purpose, this blog has a number of those tips!

For example an awesome morning routine may not even begin with work. Here is an example of my morning routine/ritual to maximize my days especially a Monday (when I actually commit to them, ugh):

  1. Wake up before the sun. There is just something so magical and powerful feeling like you are beating most to the start of a day.
  2. Start straightening up my home like cleaning, moving things around, etc. It’s my thing and cleaning helps clear my mind and revs me up. My environment is a key element in how I produce throughout the day.
  3. Use my French press to make tea or coffee. I think I do this more so for the aromatherapy.
  4. Make a list of tasks/goals to tackle for day and week.
  5. Exercise! 20-minute HIIT or long walk with dog. That morning air is powerful!
  6. Tackle emails. I loath emails, it really effects me mentally. I am still learning was of tackling emails, so I prioritize them and answer those I can grant an immediate response to.

The Importance Of Scheduling

There’s a reason Monday is called New Week, New You. As an entrepreneur, you have so much to juggle every day—from tasks at work and everyday errands to business decisions and your social life. It’s important that you carve out time in your schedule for everything you need to do, otherwise, one thing will eventually fall through the cracks. The key to keeping track of it all? Stay organized with a weekly planner. Plan out exactly what you want to accomplish each week, block off times for specific appointments, keep track of how many hours you spend on each task or project, and set deadlines for both work-related goals as well as personal plans.

Staying Organized

As an entrepreneur, you wear many hats—which is why staying organized and prioritizing your week is essential. If you aren’t already using a tool like Todoist, Assana, or Trello for project management, set up an account ASAP; these tools make it easy to stay on top of things while making sure everything’s moving along according to schedule. Plus, they can integrate with nearly every other platform out there to ensure no task falls through the cracks. Having everything in one place not only helps keep projects running smoothly but also means you’re able to view what needs doing at any given time without spending hours hunting down information.

Staying Motivated

Starting off a new week can be daunting for any entrepreneur, and it’s easy to give up on your bigger business goals when you feel unmotivated. But if you want to power through Monday and maximize your workweek, there are ways you can stay motivated throughout. One way is by following a weekly schedule (hint: try getting stuff done early in your week!) or self-organizing yourself with apps like Evernote and Trello. It’s also helpful to keep track of all of your tasks so that you don’t fall behind—and finally, reward yourself for completion at each stage! Most importantly, remember that just because one day goes wrong doesn’t mean you’re doomed; every successful entrepreneur has had their fair share of setbacks. You’ve got what it takes!

Most Successful Practices Of Entrepreneurs: & Recap

Monday can be the most productive day for entrepreneurs. If you’re not already powering through your Mondays, start now! Here are some best practices that will help get you started. 1. Staying Organized & Staying on Task (Weekly Focus): One of the biggest contributors to success is organization; without organization, an entrepreneur doesn’t have control over their business or their time—which are both very important assets. Starting with a plan helps keep yourself accountable for your tasks and reminds you what exactly needs to get done throughout your week—and it won’t take more than 30 minutes once per week. 2. Listening to Audiobooks While Working Out: It might sound like too much at first, but listening to audiobooks while working out is ideal for two reasons. First, you don’t need to focus on something else during workouts; just listen while continuing other activities such as running or weight lifting. Second, audiobooks allow you to multitask; combining reading books with exercise and workouts becomes even easier. 3. Creating Systems Over Goals: This practice seems counterintuitive because we’ve been led to believe that goals should be set in order to achieve them. However, creating systems around small daily habits yields better results than setting vague long-term goals or big monthly ones—plus they’re easier to create and maintain. 4. Tracking Weekly Effort Hours: In addition to tracking hours worked, keeping track of effort hours means keeping track of how hard you work each day. When efforts exceed expectations, then those efforts become part of your new standards for future days. 5. Keeping Track of Your Daily Routine: It may seem boring and pointless, but keeping a log of your routine makes it easy to assess which parts can be streamlined or improved upon by comparing today with yesterday—or last month with next month.

APPS YOU NEED AS AN ENTREPRENEUR IN THE GIG ECONOMY

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I am calling this the supa dupa of management, apps that is. Often you hear me speak of business management and the need for constant accountability of finances, time, and data. Entrepreneurs, giggers, freelancers fall for the age old trick of feeling a sense of accomplishment when in fact we’ve done absolutely nothing in comparison to what we thought or think we’re doing. Being self-employed is attractive, seductive, alluring, and can easily grant a false sense of production, because let’s be honest “we’re always busy” with some aspect of our business or the business of others. We go from here to there, drained; seemingly masterminding (talking about what we gonna do) with others yet still getting nothing done. So how can we actually measure our daily productions, information, and income without all the in depth data analysis and time consuming reports? Well, I believe by the use of some simple, easy to use, and free/low costing apps to help you gain perspective on in your gig business life.

Now, if you’re anything like me, you find some way to squeeze in some new app. I am an app groupie, but often I do a cleansing evaluating those I use on a regular basis from those that are taking up space. I am going to briefly showcase some apps that you may want to consider for use that are multifunctional and simple for you daily accountability needs. Some of these apps do cost or have free versions, but I will be honest I found it worth paying the low annual fee if applicable, your investment will yield you a greater return. I have come to realize, growing wise in the notion that we tend to value and use those things which we actually pay/invest in. You want to maximize the operation of these apps so you can maximize your efforts and gain more efficiency and time in your life and business life.

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Before I begin suggesting apps for use I must say I am only speaking from being an iOS user. If you use android check and see if available and if not may I suggest reading up on some reviews of apps of its caliber in comparison and consider using those, you may find some that are actually better!

  1. Hours (yes that is the app’s name). This app allows you to list all your gigs and color code them. You can ad in work hours, break, and amount earned. The only thing is you’re only allowed 5 gigs to list so I suggest you list only your 5 top earners or rather those that require a lot of your time weekly. You clock in and out like a real job and can export the data into Microsoft Excel program if you choose. The paid version which is $19.99 annually on iOS is unlimited and well worth it.
  2. House of Gigs. It is a little plain Jane(ish) but I must say my favorite because it’s so simple and you can enter all the info at the end of the day regardless of how large or small the gig was. This app is free and creates awesome goals and charts for you and your earnings. This app is so simple and you can list an unlimited amount of gigs. I do some gigs like Roadie, which is considered an “on the go gig”. The Roadie app doesn’t do a go breakdown of hours worked and earnings in my opinion especially when I literally may only pick up 2-5 gigs a weekly on the platform. This allows me to track my gigs so much better and see actual weekly earnings without penning them down myself.
  3. Dropbox. This is one of my ultimate favs! I have a resume company, publishing company, and media company where I create a lot of content. I use multiple devices and it was tiring having to always convert documents and email them. Dropbox is definitely a great investment. Now the app is free, but depending on the storage and monthly usage you may have to pay a subscription fee. I use a great deal of the app and have yet had to pay. You can have others send you documents for signing or video, etc. without the conversion issues. I store important documents for easy access to, like, drivers license, EIN’s, business certificate, etc. for forwarding or in case I lose them. I highly recommend this app if you’re a serious business owner.
  4. Simple (yes that’s the name of the app). This is a nutrition app specifically for intermittent fasting. Use entrepreneurs either need reminders to eat or something to keep us from eating/snacking throughout the day. Our nutrition tend to fall to the waist-side because we’re constantly eating on the go. As a business owner, gigger, anyone having multiple hustles that vary from day-to-day hands down the best option for us is intermittent fasting. It keeps us disciplined to eating in a specific eating window and keep the weight gain at bay. This app is pricey, the annual cost is $39.99 or month to month for $7.99 on iOS. But, please trust me this app is worth every penny! I absolutely love the app and it grants you awesome data!
  5. Focus Keeper!!! This app is really good for us content creators that tend to like to do 10 things at once. If you create vlogs, blogs, an author, or do consulting and web building, etc. anything that requires in depth concentration and focus this app is perfect. I can get in some great workflows in creating content, but I have a bad habit of wandering in my mind and on my phone while working. I will be on a roll for 10 minutes then check my emails, IG, website, or worst watch YouTube clips of something stupid like cat drives truck, next thing you know 15 minutes and 8 videos in I’ve wasted time and mental space. This app sets work time in increments of your choosing, I usually do 20-25 minutes and take 5 minute breaks in between. It is free and fun to use! I love the low-key ticking sound that subconsciously reminds you you’re running against the clock which for a competitive person like myself is awesome!

These were just a few of the ones I believe will buy you back more time, earn more, and appropriate your time in a manner that will cause you to feel more driven and in control of your work/life balance. So many entrepreneurs stay busy doing absolutely nothing, once you see how much you are actually doing or rather what you’re not doing you will shape up hopefully. Remember we are our own boss, meaning you are actually an employee too! You work for you, now let me ask you this, if you were paying someone (you) would you hire or fire them? Are you working optimally? Well here’s a way to do so if not.

App organization is the key to you being the efficient business owner you envision yourself to be, start today, hold yourself accountable.

CEO DriveHer

Be sure to visit my website at http://www.ceodriveher.shop for my ebooks and consulting/coaching services. You can find many of videos on YouTube at CEO Driveher and follow me on Instagram @ceodriveher for daily motivation and gig info.