I haven't always been a fan of Mondays. After the weekend, Monday morning comes a little too early. By the time I've struggled to wake up myself, get my daughter to school, and drag myself into the office, the last thing I'm excited about is work.
Of course, we always tell entrepreneurs to solve their own problems and do things about which they are passionate. That seemed like exatly the kind of advice that could be thrown at Monday.
As you've probably gathered by now, I'm very passionate about startups and entrepreneurs. Nothing gets me more excited and optimistic than spending time with startup people, talking about their projects (especially young and/or first-time entrepreneurs, who have limitless optimism).
When you put these two things together, the solution becomes immediately and completely obvious: I turned Mondays into "Open Mondays," in which I open up my calendar to the world, and do nothing but meet with other people and talk about anything at all that's important to them. By the end of the day, I've said "how can I help" at least a few times, learned several new and interesting things, and built up my energy and enthusiasm for the rest of the week.
(Full disclosure: On Sunday evening, I do have to spend a few hours getting the week's work queued up for the team in order to make this work, but it's toally worth the investment.)
Want to see just how great Mondays can be? Grab 30 minutes and let's go for a walk. Seriously!