Happy Monday!

Being excited about the week ahead

--TLDR

Inspired by my friend’s consistent “Happy Friday” wishes, I also decided to start wishing her “Happy Monday”. My rationale: we should be excited about the work that we do because hopefully it makes an impact, no matter how small. Monday is typically the beginning of the work week so it should be a day we are excited to go out there and impact the world. Wishing you a Happy Monday!

--Verbose

When I started at Bucknell University, I wrote a version of my thoughts below about “Happy Monday”. This is the updated version.

My good friend from grad school, Juliana Su, started a tradition of wishing me “Happy Friday”, and almost every Friday without fail for over a decade, I have received a "Happy Friday" from Juliana (no matter where in the world she is).

When Juliana started this tradition, I also noticed a trend where people were excited about Friday mostly because it was the end of the work week and the beginning of the weekend with no work. It got me wondering why people were not excited about the beginning of the work week. I was thinking that the work we do should make an impact, no matter how small, so we should be proud of that work. Since Monday is typically the beginning of the work week, I thought we should be excited to be starting a week of doing something that has an impact so I decided to add to the tradition by wishing Juliana “Happy Monday”. I have not been as consistent as she is, so one of my resolutions this year is remedy that.

Today happens to be the first day back from the holidays at UofT. Both my classes meet today, and I am excited to begin the semester-long journey with the teaching team as we support students in developing in the area of engineering design. I am also excited to get back into the full swing of other aspects of my work.

What are you excited for this week?