Erase Sunday p"ai"n using ai g"ai"n. Finally - Beat the Sunday Scaries"
I always hated the Sunday Scaries (who doesn’t?), even in the early part of my career when sometimes I thought I had nothing to worry about. They weren’t bad when I worked for a good company that treated people well. That seems to be a thing of the past. The Scaries were much worse when you had a loser boss or “teammates” – particularly the bullying types, which seems to be the majority these days. Without dwelling on the toxic workplace let’s figure out what the Sunday Scaries are and maybe how we can use (yes, you guessed it…) artificial intelligence, to combat them.
What Are the Sunday Scaries & Why Do We Get Them?
The Scaries? They’re that feeling of dread that creeps up on you as Sunday afternoon starts to turn into Sunday evening. They’re the wave of anxiety about the impending work week. The shadow that’s cast by looking ahead. What's really happening in your brain and body during these moments? It's a fascinating interplay of psychology, neurology, and sociology.
Anticipatory Anxiety: This is your brain's natural response to upcoming stress. It activates the amygdala, triggering the release of stress hormones like cortisol, as you think about the upcoming workweek.
Modern Work Culture: Societal pressures equating busyness with success intensify feelings of anxiety and dread about work, particularly evident on Sundays.
Weekend-Weekday Contrast: The shift from weekend freedom to weekday responsibilities creates a psychological jolt, leading to heightened anxiety on Sunday.
Disrupted Routines: Changes in sleep patterns and routines over the weekend can disrupt your body's internal clock, contributing to Sunday evening stress.
Coping Strategies: Recognizing these patterns allows for better coping mechanisms, such as mindfulness, relaxation, and strategic planning (like using AI tools) to ease into the workweek.
How to Combat the Scaries
Now, let's not just wallow in our Sunday sorrow. Here are some tips to combat those Scaries:
Plan Ahead: You could spend a few minutes on Friday jotting down Monday's tasks. Don’t wait until Sunday night to do this, which is what most of us do. It's like leaving breadcrumbs for your future, anxious self.
Sunday Funday: Keep yourself engaged in activities you love. Distraction is a powerful tool. In my twenties, during the Summer months, I used to play cricket (it’s like baseball) ALL weekend.
Relaxation Rituals: Whether it's yoga, reading, or watching your favorite show, establish a Sunday ritual that calms your mind.
Perspective Shift: Remember, work is just one aspect of life. Don't let it steal your Sunday joy.
Focus on planning
Planning? What a bore! Lett's spice it up with a couple of (pretty good) clichés – "those who fail to plan, plan to fail." AND the law of the Seven Ps “proper planning & preparation prevents p*** poor performance.” As much as you want to defend the weekend and squeeze the last juice of joy from it, you don’t want the specter of last minute catch-up on a Sunday evening looming over you, but that problem isn't gonna solve itself. Plan your way out of it! Get the planning & prep out of the way on Friday and then crack on with your weekend.
Sales World
People not in sales tend to think of it as all back slapping & palm pressing, golf and dinner, and all that jazz. Newsflash - It’s not that entertaining. If you’re not travelling on a Monday morning (and even if you are) there’s usually “team” meetings coming up. You know the ones - where a cast of thousands want to review your pipeline and provide sage advice from their years of meaningful experience in development, or marketing, or HR or finance, or law or janitorial services – you know lots of useful (less) sources. Or there’s other team planning, deal meetings, and God forbid you have client/prospect calls to plan for.
The problem with this approach – proactive planning for the week - was that it took time. In fact you could spend all weekend planning the following week, and by the time you were done with the planning it was Sunday night already! Without being a bore, the era of artificial intelligence is able to better equip you and really deliver on the idea of working smarter NOT harder.
In spite of my trying to avoid being self-serving here – there are lots of emerging ideas and tools in the Sales sidekick category of ai. Whether you use ours is not really the point here – but our tool (and I’m sure some others) will literally save you hours and frankly do a better job with research, insights, thought provocation, preparation, strategy identification and helping you create plans, strategies, tactics & find answers, so you’re better prepared, faster and with less effort for the roller coaster ride of the following week!
Final thought – sales is obviously not the only “world” out there – but it’s what we deal with. There’s lots of jobs where you suffer the Sunday Scaries, and you can plan your way out of all of those just as well. What you shouldn’t do is kick the “Monday Morning” can down the road into Sunday night. One of the things we dread, whether is Sunday night or not, is being unprepared. Who doesn’t, or hasn’t, suffered the dream of showing up for an exam to realize you know nothing about the subject…plus you may, or may not, be wearing any clothes! Having a considered plan that we feel good about can take hours, if not days to formulate, and it can cloud your mind when you’re trying to enjoy your weekend. In the case of sales, whether it’s an account plan, a territory plan, or a reactive plan to changes in a sales pursuit, they are challenging and time consuming. With the selective use of a.i., the cliché of “working smarter, not harder” might actually be achievable.