Do you too hate Mondays? Try the Bare Minimum Monday coping mechanism next week
Have you heard of Bare Minimum Monday yet? Photo: DailyO
There's a new term on the block regarding the workplace.
It's called "Bare Minimum Monday".
Can someone take away the label maker from the Millennial/Gen Z?
Apparently, there are more terms to describe your miserable work life. But in a bit of a relief, this new term seeks to undo (some of) the misery. After the successful trend of workplace buzzwords, the term makers of quiet quitting, loud quitting, rage applying, and moonlighting have come up with Bare Minimum Mondays.
What is Bare Minimum Monday? Is it another term to justify slacking off at work?
- It is a practice where employees do the "bare minimum" only on Mondays to ensure they don't feel burnt out or elevate the stress of starting the work week.
- Usually, these Mondays start with doing only the most essential tasks, and giving time for extensive self-care or starting late at work.
In a nutshell: Don't set unrealistic expectations on your to-do list for a Monday; take it easy.
Doesn't it sound like quiet quitting?
- Quiet quitting also involves doing just what the job requires and pays for and not going out and beyond.
- While the bare minimum monday sounds the same, the only difference is that it's specific to one day of the week.
- Most importantly, Bare Minimum Monday seeks to negate "Sunday Scaries" (another new term ALERT!).
- Sunday Scaries are basically feeling the dread of the upcoming work week ahead. It makes you wake up on Monday mentally tired.
- Bare Minimum Mondays are a way to eaaaase into the work week.
Who is behind the new term?
Take a guess, you won't be wrong.
It's TikTok!
- TikToker Marisa Jo Mayes is credited with coining the term Bare Minimum Mondays.
- Mayes shared a TikTok post on how she starts her Mondays and her tryst with Sunday Scaries.
✨ bare minimum monday ✨ pic.twitter.com/aSN3CgkKSJ
— Mai (@maiidaze) July 25, 2022
- She says that having a hefty to-do list for Monday seemed to put too much pressure on her, making her feel miserable and procrastinate and feel worse again.
- But with Bare Minimum Mondays, she has started to take work a little easy by only putting the most urgent and time-bound tasks on her to-do list for Monday.
- She doesn't work the entire 8 hours, starts the day late, takes frequent and long breaks as needed and when she does work, she works intensely and is focused.
- This way, Mayes said she got more work done while working less than eight hours and did not feel miserable.
[ALSO READ: Nicola Sturgeon and Jacinda Ardern quitting shows Burnout has breached the last citadel, Politics]
Marisa Jo Mayes's story
- So, Mayes used to work in the healthcare devices industry and felt burnt out at her job, which made her quit. She thought the problem was her boss putting too much pressure on her.
- Now, she is self-employed. But when she started her entrepreneurship journey, she would start Mondays with a long to-do list, but dread getting to the tasks and sleep until the last minute on Mondays.
- She realised that she was just as miserable working for herself as she was in her corporate job.
- That's when she found doing the bare minimum on Mondays helped her out.
According to Mayes on Insider, "Managing expectations was really important. I learned to cut out 'wishful thinking' tasks and aim for two to three important things that'll move the needle, and I'm thrilled when I finish those."
But it may not be for everyone:
- Mayes says she's got her share of criticism. While some people lauded her efforts and said, "You're living my dream," others said, "What an entitled millennial who doesn't know the value of hard work."
- Mayes is self-employed and works from home, so Bare Minimum Mondays may not be realistically viable for some people.
- However, the basic tenet is to take it easy on a Monday if you experience Sunday Scaries or simply don't like Mondays.
If you thought Bare Minimum Monday was the end of it. No, it's not!
- There's Try-Less Tuesday
- Consider Work-Not Wednesday
- Thumb-Your-Nose Thursday
- And Fool-Around Friday
Or something this gentleman describes a four-day work week according to Gen Z:
[ILLUSTRATED: Identifying the toxic hustle culture]
Okay, so when do you work?
All these terms do not define any new concepts. For long, people have done what they can to prevent burnout or feeling miserable at work. It's just that now we can share these experiences with millions around the world and find the struggles relatable.
Productivity usually has natural ebbs and flows, so you don't HAVE to take it easy on a Monday if you don't feel like it. If you are energetic, get done what you want to, including the mundane things. You can maybe have a Bare Minimum Tuesday or Wednesday, when you feel like taking it easy.
Need for caution
The plethora of terms could be masking real stress and feeling of burnout among employees. So, instead of trying to find a coping method, try to identify the problems and address real issues.
[ILLUSTRATED: Are you going through a burnout?]