“Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.” – Lou Holtz

It never ceases to amaze me that so many people rely upon the calendar to determine their emotional states.

On Facebook I see the weekly gripefest from those who have decided that Monday is designed to ruin their lives in various ways.

These people also celebrate "Hump Day" in the middle of the week as they experience the mid point of their self-imposed treacherous climb up a mountain of daily life. 

Friday of course is the day they feel they've been paroled from the drudgery of gainful employment to a two day furlough after which they are wrongfully returned.

I'm not minimizing the difficulties of any one life here, I am making the very important distinction between genuine challenges and the completely irrational belief that the day of the week has some overwhelming power to determine the quality of your life. 

I have no interest in telling you how to live your life anymore than I want your advice on how to part my hair. I only seek to offer suggestions based on the many options I've discovered. The point being, if the way you do things now doesn't result in your happiness, don't accept the unhappiness, do something else.

Let's explore some of the options you have in the word itself:

Motivation or Monotony

Is energy given to you or taken from you? A more important question is, are you energized, excited, lit up? If not why not?

What you seek so shall you find. Once you've determined your day is going to suck your mind has this stubborn need to be right. You will then seek out any and all evidence to support your original hypothesis that Monday's suck and you will then end your day by jumping on your favorite social media outlet to share your findings and prove once again that you are particularly skilled in the area of the self-fulfilling prophecy. 

If you're going to be motivated to prove anything, prove that you can make it a great day instead of simply proving that you're capable of remaining in a rut. 

Outcomes or Oh No's

What experiences do you want to have today? One of my clients has really embraced the importance of shaping their family life according to the outcomes they want to experience. So much so that they've made asking the following question of family members a standard practice, "What are you going to do to make it a great day?

This simple question reminds each of them that they can be personally responsible, proactive, focused and create their experiences instead simply sitting back and passively waiting for life to happen. 

Next or No Fairs

What's next? A single event doesn't define the quality of your day. So often one of my kids will come home from school and say he had a bad day. Upon further examination what typically happened was that one or two things happened that he didn't like and he chose to fixate on it and miss any opportunity to move past it.

I've also met many people who don't learn from their experience because they don't believe there's a lesson in their experiences. They instead act as though they simply have a series of random events in their lives that have no purpose other than to inconvenience or punish them. 

Discovery or Dissatisfaction 

Are you celebrating everything that's wrong with your life or cursing everything that isn't good enough. I'm not a sports fan (BLUNTNESS ALERT) and I'm grateful because when I read posts from people who say that their life will be over if their favorite football team doesn't win a game then I really have to prioritize keeping these people out of my circle of influence.  

I implore you to examine whether these events truly deserve the importance you give them. Does it really make sense to hang your emotional health on an outcome in which you have absolutely no say? 

Attention or Avoidance 

Where's your focus? Do you spend your day alert, aware and engaged or hopelessly tuned out just trying to get through it. Life is for living not for surviving. 

YES or Yikes

Move into your day with enthusiasm instead of dread. Realize that you are stepping out into a world that provides more than the same s**t different day. It provides a day where every moment, every thought and every action can move things in a whole new direction.

How will you make it a great day?

Photo Credit c.martyn via Flikr