I was looking forward to some reading over the weekend but it didn’t happen. It was a bit like one of those dreams when you are trying to run away and can’t get the momentum up … was stuck in first gear all weekend. Not that this is a bad thing.

As I rode through the bracing morning air to the gym yesterday, the empty streets were peppered with people doing Sunday kind of things: three blokes drove out of a service station with a full tank, their surf boards strapped to the roof for a day chasing waves, a ‘serious’ bike rider rode the other way looking the part, a woman arranged chairs outside at one of those very Melbourne nameless cafes, people talked casually between their sets in the YMCA gym … everyone in first gear (except the cyclist). There was a time in the early afternoon when I considered grabbing my books and making a coffee, but the sun-warmed hammock won out.

But first gear doesn’t work for Mondays. Sometime Sunday evening or when I wake early, I shift gears. If I just roll into Monday without cranking up, the day slips away and before you know it the week is half over. For me this means getting my head into the issues and outcomes for the week, then getting up a bit earlier than other days so I can run at the week with energy.

Now everyone is wired together differently, so I wonder what other people to insure against Monday mediocrity. Strong coffee helps override the physical sluggishness, but what about the mental lethargy? What do you do? (Or what do you wish you did?)