Setting the mood for the week

Mondays Feel Different Now (And It’s Not an Accident)

I used to hate Mondays. Not dramatically—just that low-key dread that starts Sunday afternoon and quietly ruins your night.

I’d wake up, grab my phone, scroll until I felt bad enough to get up. My to-do list wasn’t a plan—it was punishment. Well, my internship at the time made it seem like a punishment.

Then I changed one thing.
I started writing.
Not typing. Not voice-noting.
Writing. On paper. With a pen.

The Weekly Spread: Not Just Plans. Patterns.

Sunday night or Monday morning, I sit with the Weekly Planner.
No rules. No pressure. Just “what am I walking into this week?”

I don’t try to look impressive. I try to be honest.
Sometimes I think:
“Stop booking meetings you know you’ll cancel.”
“I need to stop making endless iterations to the journals and just bring it out”

The spread shows me patterns. What I’m repeating. What I’m avoiding. It reminds me that time isn’t the problem—attention is. I make it a habit to go through last week to make sure I don't repeat mistakes.

Fact: On average, people check their phone 344 times a day. That’s once every 4 minutes. No wonder our weeks disappear.

When I lay it all out on paper, I’m not reacting. I’m deciding. At least I'd like to think so.

The Daily Planner: Where structure comes in

If the Weekly Spread is the big picture, the Daily Planner is Monday zoomed in. This tool saved me from multitasking myself into oblivion.

Here’s what I write:

• 3 priorities

• My day in blocks (meetings, deep work, food, silence)

• One honest affirmation to myself

Last week, that note was:
“You are not behind. You are building.”

Even when I don’t follow the schedule perfectly, just seeing it calms me down. There’s structure. There’s a container.

Fact: A study from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that people who pre-commit to specific times for their tasks are 91% more likely to follow through.

The Manifestation Journal: Where I Don’t Lie to Myself

This is the one I resisted the most. “Manifestation” felt like pretending.

But what I’ve learned is that manifestation isn’t about wishing. It’s about getting brutally honest with what you want, and who you’re willing to be to get it. Which is important because why do we keep lying to ourselves? If you really want something, admit it to yourself and never feel ashamed to want it. 

Every Monday, I open this journal and ask:

• What am I scared of this week?

• What would it look like to stop playing small?

• If I already had what I wanted, how would I act?

I’ve written things that made me cringe. I’ve also written things that came true 6 months later. Plan it selling over 3000 copies of the Manifestation Journal and Guide was nowhere near it. It's completely okay to be brutally honest with yourself, in fact, try doing it all the time. 

Fact: Visualization has been studied in Olympic athletes for decades. The brain often can’t distinguish between real experience and vividly imagined scenarios. That’s why journaling works—it creates mental reps.

This journal helps me rehearse the life I’m trying to build. Not someday. This week.

Look, It’s Not Always Perfect

Some Mondays I forget. Or I pretend I don’t need this. I skip it, spiral, burn out by Wednesday. Then I come crawling back to the planner like it’s a friend I ghosted.

But most Mondays?
Most Mondays feel like a reset now. Not a punishment.

I still feel stress. I still overbook. But now I know what’s mine and what’s noise. I know what I’m building and why it matters.

That’s worth more than any productivity hack.