Think about tomorrow: It's Monday

The following is from one of the authors of The Wealthy Freeelancer . It guides you through a great approach to your work week.

Please be sure to check the end of this post. Learn how you can receive three free chapters of the book.
-- June

How to Make Monday Your Most Productive Day
by Pete Savage

At a Pitney Bowes sales training conference years ago (yes, I was sales guy in a past life) the company's VP Sales
came in from head office to speak to us sales reps.

He talked about the importance of having a strong work
ethic and how, back when he was a rep, he would make cold calls and visit customers right up until 5pm every Friday.

Then he said something that surprised me: "Everybody needs to slack off a little bit, though, so I always used Monday morning as my water cooler day." He explained that on 
Monday mornings he kinda took things easy... came into work
 late, hung around the lunch room, drank a lot of coffee and had a good, long natter with the office staff.

He explained that slacking off on Monday morning was fine,
because it was the worst time of the week to find any customers interested in talking about the exciting stuff Pitney Bowes was selling, like photocopiers and postage meters.

"Most people in the corporate world are bummed out on Monday morning, so best to steer clear of them and let them come out of their funk," was his advice.

It May Work For Sales Guys, It Doesn't Work For Freelancers

As a salesperson, I saw that this was in fact true. You could take it easy on Monday mornings and do just fine. As a
freelancer, however, I discovered that a sluggish start to the work week always turns the rest of the week into a
race against the clock.

When you have an unproductive Monday, it makes your entire week more stressful, daunting and exhausting. Fortunately,
the opposite is also true... when you have a super-productive
 Monday,you tend to have a more productive week.

Here's are six easy-to-implement tips (actually, you might find the first one a bit hard to swallow, but read 'em all...
they get easier) to supercharge your Mondays and get more done throughout
the week...

How to Make Monday Your Most Productive Day 

1. Add an extra hour (or two) to your Monday. 
I know, I know.It sounds crazy to voluntarily make your 
Monday longer. (And if this sounds nuts to you, imagine 
what your friends in the corporate world will think when
 you start doing this!) But honestly, we're just talking one day a week here. An extra hour of productivity right off
 the bat can go a long way to reducing your stress, so start
 work early or finish late - just on Monday.

2. Let important people know Monday is your "Power Day". 
Let your spouse, partner and family know about your new 
office hours on Mondays. If you work from home, ask the
 family to be extra-conscientious about distracting or
 disturbing you.

3. Watch the clock like a hawk. On Mondays keep an especially close eye on time-wasting indulgences. Take a 
short lunch.Monitor what you do on breaks. Desperate for an extra cup of coffee? Fine... give yourself two minutes to 
go to the kitchen,fill your mug, then get back to work. No 
surfing the net, no personal emails. Challenge yourself to 
see how disciplined you can be, all day long. I promise
 you'll feel like a champion at the end of the day.

4. Yes, you get to eat dinner on Mondays. But don't make a big deal about it. You need to be able to work an 
extra hour or so past your normal quitting time without 
feeling stressed about dinner. Ask your spouse to take care 
of preparing dinner on Monday nights. Or cook your Monday
 night meal on Sunday (make it something you love!) so that 
all you have to do on Monday night is warm it up and enjoy 
it. Or even better...

5. Reward yourself. Give yourself a treat for working hard
on Monday. Have your favourite take-out meal for dinner.
Enjoy a lovely glass of wine and a long, hot bath. Or, start a "Monday night out" tradition that might include
dinner or a movie with your partner or a friend.

6. Don't schedule "due dates" on Mondays. The point of making Monday your Power Day is so you can work on things that you decide are important to your business. If you're rushing all day to meet a deadline then you'll feel trapped
and you won't have the energy you need to put in that extra hour or two of work.

(Extra Tip: Try to schedule any major project due dates for
Wednesdays and Thursdays, so you have a couple days of
runway leading up to them. With a Monday due date,you're 
more likely to find yourself hard at work on the Saturday or Sunday prior, which makes it harder to follow through
 with your "Power Day" commitment once Monday morning hits.)

Don't worry... working a little harder on Mondays won't leave you feeling extra tired at the end of the day. In fact,
after a super-productive Monday, you'll find you actually
have more energy for the week ahead. Instead of being stressed about your workload, you'll experience a wonderful
 kind of mental high as you look at all the work you completed in a single day.

Pete Savage is co-author of "The Wealthy Freelancer: 12 Secrets to a Great Income and an Enviable Lifestyle" (Penguin/Alpha). To grab 3 free chapters and a complimentary copy of his Freelancer’s Income Expander Kit (containing 4 reports worth $126), visit www.TheWealthyFreelancer.com/bonus