Monday Motivation here we come! We see you – coffee cup in hand, trudging through a cold, dark morning cursing your commute. Don’t worry, we’ve got your back!
This column is for those of you who slog through your Monday mornings. If you lament the end of the weekend and dread returning to the office, you may need our Monday Motivation quick tips. Studies show that your morning mood affects your productivity all day. And nobody wants to go through their day like an unmotivated, unproductive sourpuss, right?
Grit Daily offers an avenue to connect with others like you. We’re here to help get your work week off to a good start. Pump your fists – it’s time for Monday Motivation!
Young at heart
What matters is how you think and how you behave. Those are the real metrics that eclipse any chronological reality or generational stereotype. This Monday Motivation column isn’t about accepting your age (we’ll get to that in a few weeks).
This is about being young at heart. Having that joie de vivre that your curmudgeonly counterparts envy. And maintaining a youthful mindset.
It’s about being ageless with respect to your curiosity and having an insatiable appetite when it comes to learning from others. And that learning has to come through a lens that pierces any unconscious bias that you may have towards gender, race, religion, politics or whatever aspect you may be predestined or practiced at filtering for.
Curiosity killed the cat – and our spirit
Why do we stop asking why by the time we’re five or six years old? Something happens to our curiosity as we age. Uninhibited curiosity dies. Cynicism and life-weariness take their toll and impede our interest to learn something new. We also develop a heightened awareness and deep pride in ourselves that we don’t want to be shaken when someone gives us a sideways look if we ask a naïve question. When we arrive at that stage or phase and feel that we have nothing left to learn, we begin aging. Rapidly.
Experts cite that “diminished curiosity is one of the first signs of aging.” Those who seek to constantly learn and be surrounded by younger people are the ones who win the war on aging. Sure, their wrinkles may suggest otherwise but that’s not what matters here. Youth is associated with vitality, adventure and learning without limits. Society and we, ourselves, self-imposed restrictions on how we should behave or what we should do by a certain age or stage.
“I could not, at any age, be content to take my place by the fireside and simply look on. Life was meant to be lived. Curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.” -E. Roosevelt-
Don’t think like an old person
Our fear of being wrong or, even worse, looking stupid, holds us back from being curious. In this era of always-on with high tech video recording devices (mobile phones and security cameras) everywhere, coupled with the potential for viral content on multiple social media channels, we hold ourselves back. Consciously and deliberately, we stop asking. We stop trying to learn from others.
Curiosity is connected with memory and learning which, of course, correlates with aging. So there is some natural biology that does put limits on what we can do and for how long, but, short of a mental health condition or brain dysfunction, there’s still plenty of time to keep learning. Even on Mondays when your Monday motivation levels may be slightly below normal.
