I don’t know many people who love Mondays. But I do know a lot of working moms - and dads - who like something about their Mondays. In fact, last week Kate asked a question in the Q&A about Mondays and what fellow working moms liked about them. Here are a few of the responses:

Lee — “I look forward to a weekly meeting with sharp, interesting, nice people, and LUNCH OUT afterwards! I allow myself this one lunch per week and it’s my favorite.”

KatieK — “I look forward to Mondays because weekends are quite hectic, what with taking my daughter to train with our horse and then going to the gym, a seven hour cycle, and then all that…talking…Monday comes like a tall glass of cold water.”

KathyHowe — “A new, fresh start to a work week has always been exciting to me! I think what I love most about Monday’s (or any work day for that matter) is working with interesting, intelligent and fun people and doing work that challenges me.”

Florinda — “New week - new start–that’s what I like about Mondays, the POTENTIAL!”

Reading these and other responses inspired me to create a list of 5 tips (yes, we’ve established that I like lists) for better Mondays. Here’s what I’ve come up with:

• Treat yourself to a special meal. Make it the day you go out for lunch. Splurge on the overpriced Starbucks latte. Make this the night your family orders in instead of cooking. There’s nothing wrong with being motivated by food!

• Make a very short to-do list. Whether you work outside the home or in your kitchen, Mondays involve a lot of catching up on things as well as with colleagues and clients. I personally tend to get less concrete tasks done on Mondays than on other days because of this and to reduce frustration, I’m trying to be reasonable about my Monday to-do list.

• Start off the day by doing something you enjoy. Jen posted a question on the Q&A recently about needing a certain amount of “flaking out and blog walking” in the morning before she got productive and many members shared that they do the same. I think of this as work warm-up–procrastination that prepares you for diving into work. One tip–set a time limit for yourself if you do this.

• Get at least one big item done from your weekly to-do list. Personally I hate when it’s the middle of the week and my big to-dos are still sitting there, waiting for me to get enough guts/energy/time/focus to do them. If I get one done on a Monday–say, writing up a design spec for a certain part of the site (a long, tedious, and very unglamorous part of my job)–I feel less burdened and more productive the rest of the week.

• Limit the number of meetings. Meetings can be great, but many are too long and unproductive. Pack your Monday full of these and you have a lot less time to get things done. Of course, you can’t always control when meetings happen, but if you have a choice, don’t do more than two on a Monday.

Do you have any tips for better Mondays at work? Please share them in the comments!