Monday Motivation: Get Creative

By Loralyn Mears PhD Loralyn Mears PhD has been verified by Muck Rack's editorial team
Published on April 6, 2020

Monday motivation, it’s on! We see you, struggling with this abnormal-new-normal. Are you still in your jammies? It’s time to get your day started with a pick-me-up to launch your week on the right foot! If you’re a podcast person, listen to our Monday Matters content on our Spotify Grit Daily podcast channel. Or read on to get our Monday Motivation quick tips.

Studies show that your morning mood affects your productivity all day. Grit Daily is here to get your work week off to a good start. Pump your fists – it’s time for Monday Motivation!

Get colorful

Most of us have slid into the era of yoga pants and jammies-all-day but it’s time to put a little spark of color into your day. And I don’t mean red wine at 10:00 am. That said, if you do like theme-based suggestions for wine, movies, food and music, check out my wine down and chill column. If you like my writing, check out my new novel: I used my “spare time” to get creative and just published on Amazon, The Battle for Humanity. The more books that I sell, the bigger the donation to our NJ food bank – and it will take a LOT of books because they take one heck of a chunk!

Forbes cites creativity as the critical soft skill needed now as our workforce transforms, and they published that study before the pandemic hit. Now, more than ever, we need to get creative and colorful in all that we do because we’re more limited in how we can do things. As tempting as it would be to paint a room a bright, granny smith green or something cheerful, going to the hardware store to get the required materials currently isn’t possible, so we need to think on a different scale. 

Brighten things up

If you have young children at home, be sure to have them color in a rainbow to post it to your front window. Globally, children are participating in the Rainbow Campaign to show other children that there is hope and that we will get through this. These days, we’re all counting what really matters.

Depending on where you are in the world, you’ve been self-isolating (or on mandatory lockdown) for several weeks now. No doubt, things have gotten a bit dull. Maybe it’s also time to spark some joy in your life? You can do that with creative color.

Monday motivation encourages you to pick a few flowers, or even weeds, from your yard if that’s an option available to you. Just be sure to not take them from your neighbor’s yard!

Monday motivation tips to get creative

#1 – turn your feelings into art

Try this three times, whether it be days in a row or a few days apart. Create a word cloud by writing down every word that comes to mind. Think about how you’re feeling in the moment and put those feelings into words. Once you see all the words in the cloud, play with the fonts and colors and how those words are represented to convey your feelings through colors.

You can’t deny how you feel. If you’re scared and anxious, you’re not alone. Many of us are – but we’re also all in this together. Monday motivation and millions of people worldwide are here to help each other through this.

#2 – channel your inner child

That sounds weird, right? Not at all. Yesterday, my stepdaughter and I went out to the driveway, armed with chalk, a mini boom-box, her Spotify playlist, and we transformed the dull black space into a creative and colorful medley of positive messages and images. Monday motivation reminds you to look past the messy chalk and sore knees – that’s not what it’s about.

Getting creative means letting go of whatever stereotypes or expectations that you or others have put on you. Just have fun and be silly! If you think and act young, you won’t feel old.

#3 – select a new creative activity

Monday motivation understands that things aren’t easy right now, so there is no need to commit to a one-year or extended schedule. Start with a small, achievable goal. There are multiple options available online right now; you can find basket weavers to artists to musicians under the #withme tag on social media. Give yourself one hour per day for one week and see what happens after you’ve been creative every day for that long. I am confident that you will feel better and more productive.

Lead image by Alexandr Ivanov from Pixabay 

By Loralyn Mears PhD Loralyn Mears PhD has been verified by Muck Rack's editorial team

Journalist verified by Muck Rack verified

Dr. Loralyn Mears is a Columnist at Grit Daily and a podcast host (The Grit Files, which aims to shine the spotlight on female founders). She is a content marketer, founder of the WORKtech startup, STEERus, specializing in personal and professional development to address gaps in soft skills - communication in particular. In her consultancy practice, she helps clients with content and strategy. Loralyn spent over a decade playing with mosquito DNA, got her PhD, decided she would rather market science than be at the bench and has never looked back. Along the way, she’s wined and dined her way around the globe. She's authored two books, including the 2018 Gold Medal Indie Book award-winning, One Sip At a Time: a Memoir and the hard science thriller, "The Battle for Humanity: How Science Saved Us." 

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