For a woman who has made her life revolve around Mondays (or more specifically, the fact we only get 4,000-ish so let’s not squander the crap out of them), I am the first to admit that Mondays are the worst.

Fridays will always win The Best of the Week award, Saturdays will always come in second, and third place is a weekly toss-up between Sunday and Thursday. Mondays will always come in seventh place.

But we can make them so much less miserable! Maybe even manageable?

Here are 5 quick tips to change your attitude about Mondays:

1. Activate Anticipation: The anticipatory principle means we like our lives more when we conjure up positive imagined futures … when we have something to look forward to. Instead of moaning and groaning about how “Mondays are the worst,” what about planning a better day? Having something to look forward to is among the lowest-hanging fruit of happiness. What can you plan to enjoy on a Monday? A sushi lunch? Happy hour out with friends? A hot date? An amazing dessert after dinner? A restorative yoga class to end the day? The movie that finally came out? A shot of tequila? We can rig our happiness on the toughest day of the week. What can you actively plan to look forward to next Monday?
2. Get Grateful: Deliberately adopting an attitude of gratitude is one of the most scientifically based ways to boost our well-being and life satisfaction. Appreciating that we have a job to go to (if applicable) where we can use our strengths/ contribute meaningful work while we’re there … It’s easier than we think to be grateful about all that Mondays have to offer. The concept known as downward social comparison can be helpful here, too: “I might not be energized to get to the office, but at least I’m not like Cindy who works for that heinous boss.” What are you grateful for in your job/ week?
3. Reframe Mondays: Many see Mondays as the death of the weekend, instead of the birth of an interesting, productive new week. Oh! The fun we had on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday—and then we fall right into the “The Work Week is Where Fun Goes to Die” trap. Change that: keep your work weeks engaging, challenging, meaningful, and full of novelty and spontaneity. Monday loses its bite when we realize it’s the start of something (possibly) energizing. What can you build into your work weeks, to rival the fun and excitement of your weekends?
4. Leverage the “Fresh Start Effect“: Despite our disdain for the day, more than half of adults view Monday as the day to “get their shit act together.” People are more likely to start workout programs, quit smoking, start healthy diets, or schedule doctor’s appointments on Mondays than any other day of the week … it’s a fabulous reset button if you choose to see it that way. What fresh start might you benefit from starting today, or next Monday?
5. Count your Mondays: You know this one is my favorite. Mondays take on a whole new meaning when we realize they’re diminishing in number. Guess what? They. Are. Diminishing. We value our time, and our lives, in direct proportion to our awareness of its finitude. We get 4,000 weeks. Do you know how many Mondays you have left? That’s not a rhetorical question. (If math on Mondays is like icing on the cake of crap, use this calculator here.) What do you want to do with the Mondays you have left?

Will all five tips work for you? Maybe, maybe not. All you need is one to shift you from being a start-of-the-week curmudgeon to someone others don’t hate being around. Life’s too short to dread 14.3% of the week—which is how the numbers work out if you hate one day out of seven. We can do better. I’m off to plan the Best Day Ever for next Monday, involving a scoop of orange sorbetto and a scoop of vanilla ice cream in the same bowl. Hello, Orange Julius flashback! Now that’s something to look forward to. And for you?