It was the Boomtown Rats that sang ‘I don’t like Mondays’ – and that idea seems to resonate with a lot of us. Hopefully none of us are planning to ‘shoot the whole day down’ – but research shows that most sick leave days are taken on a Monday, the stock market is generally lower, and more people call helplines on this much-maligned day.

One reason for feeling a bit blue on Monday mornings is most people don’t get enough sleep during the week, and think they will catch up on the weekend – the idea being that Saturdays and Sundays are a great time to stay in bed longer. The actual truth is that we are slaves to our body clocks, and sleeping later, even just an hour, confuses our biorhythms, and makes it even harder to spring out of bed on a Monday morning.

But I believe Mondays are actually an opportunity to set the tone for the rest of the week. Try dressing up, or wearing something new – dressing for the job you want, not the job you have helps you perform better, makes you feel like you can take on anything thrown at you, and will get you excited about the start of the week. There is no doubt about the power a great dress can have – looking good boosts confidence, and a bright colour is mood enhancing.

What is it about Fridays that we look forward to? Well the obvious answer is that is it the day before the weekend – and weekends are fun! We hang out with friends, we relax and rest. But because we love Fridays so much – does that really mean we have to dread Mondays?

One way of dealing with the negative feelings about Monday is to spread the love – don’t live for the weekends, plan something fun for during the work week. A shared lunch with colleagues, a quick drink after work mid-week – something to look forward to makes the week go faster.

And finally, if you really dread Mondays maybe you are just in the wrong job. Steve Jobs, of Apple fame said ‘I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: if today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today? And whenever the answer has been NO too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.’

‘When you start to do things that you truly love, it wouldn’t matter whether it’s Wednesday of Friday you would be so excited to wake up each morning to work on your passions.’ (Edmond Mbiaka)