Why Mondays are the perfect day to work on your digital product (and how to actually make it happen)

[00:00:00] Rene: Hey everyone. Welcome to Your First Digital Product, a show that helps maxed-out service providers create their first digital product so they can gain an additional income stream, grow their impact without increasing one-on-one work and experience more time freedom. On the show, I talk to business owners who have launched digital products and dig deep into how you can create, launch, and market your first digital product. I’m your host, Rene Morozowich. Let’s go.

[00:00:28] Hey everyone. Today I wanna talk about why Mondays are the perfect day to work on your digital product and how to actually make it happen. A few years ago, I started using a habit tracker app on my phone called Strides. I entered a few habits in the app that I wanted to track, drinking a certain amount of water daily, going to the gym three times per week, and journaling weekly.

[00:00:49] Just a note that you can track anything though in a ton of different categories, health, fitness, wellness, productivity, and money, for example. Strides has a feature where if you complete all of the tasks for the day, you get a confetti burst on your screen and your circle for the day is complete. Now, it took me a long time to figure this out, but what I’m going to share with you is huge.

[00:01:12] Well, it was huge for me. When I would do the tasks that were just a few times per week, earlier in the week, I would get more full circles and confetti bursts. This made me really happy. If I waited to do those tasks. I might get some full circles near the end of the week, but I definitely wouldn’t get as many.

[00:01:30] Okay, so let’s break this down. I’m going to use exercise because it’s something many people want to do, but don’t make time for. So let’s say you want to exercise three times per week. If you wait until the end of the week, you’re only going to get full circles and confetti on those days. But if you exercise early in the week, you have the potential to get full circles and confetti every day.

[00:01:53] Later in the week, exercising is no longer required because you finished it for the week. Now, [00:02:00] maybe full circles and confetti bursts don’t sound all that amazing to you, but I think they are so powerful because the circles are a visual cue that something is complete and the confetti bursts celebrate what you’ve accomplished.

[00:02:13] The tasks that you said you were going to do are done. How good does that feel? Back to the exercise. Let’s say you skip Monday. It might hang over your head all day. Then you skip Tuesday. Again, hanging over your head. The longer you wait, the more mental space it takes up. Also, when you wait until later in the week, if you do end up completing what you set out to do, you don’t really get any rest before the next week starts again.

[00:02:42] But if you do it earlier in the week, not only do you feel good on those days, but you feel good the rest of the week because it’s done. It’s a weight off your shoulders. You get to relax and focus on other things. So that’s the why, because it feels good. Now onto the how.

[00:03:01] Have you ever heard of Parkinson’s law? Parkinson’s law is the adage that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion, meaning that tasks often take the full amount of time you allot to them. If you allocate two hours for a task, it will take two hours. If you only allocate an hour, it will take an hour.

[00:03:21] So think about the tasks that you have to do for others, clients, family, friends, all the things that aren’t things for you. If you push them out a bit, let’s say, to later in the day on Monday or even later in the week, and give yourself less time to do those tasks, I bet you’re still gonna get them done.

[00:03:39] And it just so happens that that frees up earlier in the day on Monday. It’s the same concept of paying yourself first, putting on your own oxygen mask and every other thing like that that you’ve ever heard. Trust it. Trust that if you do something for yourself first, that you’ll still have enough time to do all the other things.

[00:03:58] Now, when I say this, I often [00:04:00] get a lot of resistance. I can’t possibly do something for myself first on Monday. There are so many other things to do. I totally get it and was in the same boat. Not to make this an entire episode about exercising, but for a long time, all of ever. I couldn’t figure out how to exercise at home.

[00:04:16] I was pretty good at going to the gym a few times a week, but then Covid hit. A friend of mine started doing Beachbody workouts and connected me with her coach. I joined an accountability group and picked a program that looked interesting. It was a bit bumpy at first because I didn’t know when to do the exercises or how to fit them into my schedule, but I settled into a routine.

[00:04:38] I wake up, take my son to school, exercise, shower, and then start my day. This has worked for me for over a year now. So here are a few quick tips on how to do your thing on Monday mornings. Now, you don’t have to do all of these. Just pick and choose what you think might work for you. So one, block the time on your calendar.

[00:04:57] I like to say if it’s not on the calendar, it doesn’t happen. People won’t be able to schedule a meeting with you and you’ll see the time blocked for you so you may be more likely to actually do the thing. Two, don’t start something else first. Do your thing first thing on Monday. Three set expectations. Pause your inbox or set your out-of-office message.

[00:05:16] Something like, Hey, I’m working on a project. If it’s urgent, here’s how to get in touch with me. Otherwise, I’ll get back to you later this afternoon. I actually wrote a whole blog post on this topic with email templates and software recommendations that I’ll put in the show notes. Four. Tell someone you’re going to do a thing and then tell them you did it.

[00:05:34] That’s one of the benefits of an accountability group. So to recap, why are Mondays the perfect day to work on your digital product? Because you’ll feel so good getting it done, and then you’ll feel good the rest of the week. And how can you actually make it happen? Put it on the calendar. Set your out of office message if you need to.

[00:05:53] Don’t start something else first and tell someone you’re going to do it. Trust that you will still have time to get your other [00:06:00] tasks done. So your action item is to try it out. Choose one or more of the strategies that I recommend. Do a thing that you’ve been meaning to do. See how you feel. See if you have enough time the rest of the week for the rest of your tasks.

[00:06:14] Then report back to me. Send me a voice message at yfdp.show/share. The link will also be in the show notes. Good luck. I can’t wait to hear how it goes.

[00:06:24] Hey, thanks for listening. I’d love to continue the conversation in your inbox. Email SUBSCRIBE to hey at yfdp.show or sign up in the show notes to get bimonthly emails about how you can create, launch, and market your first digital product. Can’t wait to see you there.