Often, the day or week ahead leaves us feeling unprepared, underwhelmed or mentally exhausted. Before we've even set about tackling the most important tasks on our weekly planner or daily schedule, diary or 'To Do' list, we don't have the motivation to even take that very first step. In front of us, it seems, are nothing but menial, time consuming tasks with the joys of the weekend (or Christmas) somewhere in the distant future. 

I like Mondays.

You read that correctly. That is not a typo. When Monday morning rolls around and people across the nation in their millions rub their pasty eyes and grumble about work, I'm waking up with the same eager sense of anticipation an artist feels when they sit down to a blank canvas, brush in hand. If I sound mad, read on...

Now before you accuse me of being naive or insensitive to your distinct work situation, I will tell you that there were plenty of Sunday evenings past where I'd feel that deflating sense of inevitability, similar to that feeling you get on the trip home after a wonderful holiday.  No matter what I did or where I went as the sun set, I knew there would be no sleeping in for me because on the other side of the soothing shades of Sunday night, lurked mundane, mind-numbing Monday. Usually, the closest thing to look forward to was another 5 days away- nearly a full week! Even Friday afternoon, often treated as the opening ceremony for the weekend, felt like a long, very boring way away.

Since going into business for myself, however, I've developed a new appreciation for the first day of the working week. I realise that if I wanted, I could stay in bed all day. I could watch TV, ride my bike or do anything else I pleased. I could make every weekend a three-day weekend. But even if I do believe there should be 4 days in the working week and 3 day weekends for the average Australian, doing this myself in the current 5 days on, 2 days off standard would leave me feeling cheated. For me, Monday is a clean slate. It's the start to a week that could change my business, my career, even my whole life for the better. Hopefully you'll understand where I'm coming from (especially if you received that wonderful job offer, met the love of your life or had a child on a day that wasn't Saturday or Sunday!)

For me, Monday begins with breakfast and coffee and writing up my weekly planner, as well as my daily one (I will cover this topic exclusively at a later date.) For me, Monday morning is when I have the place to myself and I dwell on anything that was great about the week just gone. Then I think about what are the biggest things I want to achieve in the week ahead. If Tom Cochrane was right and life is a highway, then Monday morning is my road house. I pull in and refuel, clean my windscreen so my vision is clear, load up on coffee, plot my journey for the next 7 days and then hit the road again. As a side note, how many of you have that Tom Cochrane song playing in your head now?

How differently could Monday- the thought of it, the anticipation of it, living through it- be if you decided that instead of a return to the same old same old, it was the first day providing you with the chance to make this week even better than your last one?

This classic song by Paul Kelly, about the late Vincent Lingiari, is a song I have loved ever since I heard it for the first time when I was about 6 years old. I never really listened to the message of this song, however, until much later. Although the song retells the story of a famous Aboriginal land rights case, in many ways it is also a fable about persistence and commitment to a goal. As Paul sings in the chorus, "From little things, big things grow".

Recently, Scribe reached its' one year anniversary of being a registered business. There was no party, no cake and candles, no fat-o-gram (thank goodness) and no alcohol. But there was a brief appreciation of everything that has happened during the last 12 months. So many new ideas learned, new people met, programs taken part in and relationships established. 

As the year progressed, it occurred to me more and more how much starting a business is like planting a tree. You start out with a seed, an idea. As much as you envisage a mighty tree standing in the spot of your choice, the fact is that you need that seed to begin with. Neither can that seed be left alone, because if left unattended, nothing will happen of notice. For that seed to grow even a stem, the soil that seed is planted in needs constant watering and maintenance. Even if you pay constant attention to that seed, it's not going to turn into a tree overnight. In order for that seed to grow into a mighty tree, it takes time. It takes patience. Often, it takes the acquired wisdom of other gardeners to know that what we are doing is right. As it grows, that potential tree may even require some pruning. 

Starting your own business, likewise, can cause us to quickly become impatient. We want the results, the reputation and the money and we want it now. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how much you choose to examine it), starting a business from scratch doesn't work that way. Even the biggest corporations mostly took years of growth , careful attention and maintenance before they became the powerhouses they are now. Remember that.

The more people you meet and get to know who are established in business, the clearer it will be whether you are going the right way about taking care of that seed you have growing. Every part of the process involves new skills to learn- be it time-management, financial management, networking strategies or even just good old fashioned patience. If you want to have 20 clients in a week, first learn how to do a top job and be punctual with 2 clients a week. The better you get, the bigger the game gets.

From little things, big things grow.