The Ryan Leak Podcast - Thank God It’s Monday

Episode Date: August 17, 2026

We’ve built an entire culture around surviving the week just to get to the weekend. TGIF. We countdown the days. We post the memes. But if you dread five out of seven days of your life, that’s not just a bad job. That’s a bad life. You’re spending 71% of your week wishing it was over. That’s not a schedule. That’s a sentence. Ryan challenges everything we’ve normalized about hating Mondays.In this episode, Ryan asks a question worth sitting with: does your team dread Monday because of the work, or because of the environment? Everybody can look forward to a Friday. That’s easy. But what if you could create a culture people actually looked forward to showing up to on a Monday? That’s not just management. That’s leadership. And if you’re not in leadership, you still set the tone for your own week. Anyone can thank God it’s Friday. The people who learn to thank God it’s Monday have figured out something the rest of the world is still chasing.

What's going on, my friends? Welcome back to the Ryan League podcast. We love to keep things short and sweet for you each and every week. We drop an episode every single Monday. And it just so happens that today's episode is entitled, Thank God, it's Monday. Now, of course, we know the phrase that everybody loves. TGIF, thank God it's Friday. In fact, we've built an entire culture around really surviving the week just to get to the weekend.

We're counting down the day. days or posting the memes. We treat Monday through Thursday like something to endure, and Friday night through Sunday night like something to enjoy. But what would you do if I told you that there is a better way to live? What if, instead of thinking God it's Friday, you could thank God it's Monday? Which, again, you're like, okay, Ryan, motivational speaker, here we go. of course you would say that.

But hear me out. Like, I'm not saying that work should be easy. I'm not saying that every day should feel like a vacation. What I'm saying is that if you're going to dread four to five out of the seven days of your life, then I would simply say something needs to change. Because I should be honest, it's not a bad job. That's a bad life. You're spending like 70% of your week wishing it was over.

That's not a schedule. That's a sentence. It feels like a prison sentence. So what would it take for you to actually look forward to a Monday? I think it starts with the perspective. Everybody can look forward to the weekend. And guess what? That's easy.

Because the weekend is fun by default. But what if you could create an environment that people actually look forward to showing up to on a Monday morning? That's leadership. That's culture. That's intentionality. That's a person who has taken control of their life because they took control of their perspective. You might be a stay-at-home mom or a basketball coach. or a teacher, and it's just like,

I'm really not looking forward to Monday. Well, I get it. And you've got a lot of reasons not to look forward to Monday. But you also got a lot of reasons to look forward to Monday if your perspective is different. Because in my experience, most people don't hate their job. They hate how their job makes them feel. They hate meetings that waste their time.

They hate the emails that could have been a conversation. They hate the lack of clarity, the micromanagement, the feeling of being a number instead of a name. They hate perhaps how a person, a specific person, they may not name the person. Some people might put them in a reply all, but they got a lot of reasons why they go, well, you know, I don't really like this place, but I just have to wonder, what if Monday was different? What if your team walked in knowing they were valued? What if the first meeting of the week

started with gratitude instead of grievances? What if the culture that you built made people say I actually like being here and you're going, yeah, but I'm not the one in charge. I know. But guess what? This still applies to you because you set the tone of your own Monday. You get to decide what you focus on.

You get to decide your attitude before your inbox ever decides it for you. if you're a parent like our kids could totally derail our Monday because we've not made a decision ahead of time as to like what kind of day we're going to have like some people are just like yeah well we'll see what happens well what's Monday going to look like well I don't know it depends on depends on how I feel when I wake up I'm just trying to give you a power back to go you know I I could actually look forward to Monday I could set some things in motion I could make some plans I I could change my perspective on this and make Monday like a really great day.

Like I made a decision in my own life. I'm not living for the weekend. I'm going to live for the whole week. I live for every day. I could find purpose in a Monday meeting as much as I could a soccer game on a Saturday. I could find joy in the Tuesday commute. I could find gratitude in the Wednesday grind. I can find joy in an airport delay on a Thursday.

But if I only am going, well, Saturday and Sunday, those are my days. Well, then I'm missing out on the majority of my life. And here's the thing. Some of the best moments of my career haven't happened on a stage on a Saturday. They've happened in random rooms on a Tuesday. A phone call on a Wednesday that was incredibly intentional. A conversation that I had with my wife or my team or mentor. On what would seem like a mundane Thursday.

But they were special because the people in the room were special. The people in the room were intentional. Those moments weren't weekend moments. They were weekday moments. And they were meaningful because I showed up, present instead of just counting down to Friday. So this week, I just want you to try something different. Instead of dreading Monday, I want you to prepare for it. And I want you just to decide. I want you to decide this week. Like, hey, you know what? I realize I don't have A players in my life

all around. Like, I don't know if the people in your life are just scoring 10 out of 10s. You've just got all these amazing people, right? Everybody in your family is just amazing. Your in-laws are just incredible. Your neighbors are just remarkably helpful. You just got this all-star team that just can read your mind. They know what you want without even telling them. Like, they just go above and beyond. They come early. They stay late. Everybody's got a great attitude. You know, I know we all had this like utopia kind of version of other people like in our minds. Like we wish that they would be this. Maybe you have that. I just doubt it. And one of the things that can happen.

There can be this mindset that if they would get their act together, I would have a great day. If my boss was better, I would have a great job. If they paid me more, my job would be better. If my kids would just put their iPads down and pay attention at dinner. If they would clean more, if we had more sex in our marriage. If, like, there's just all of these things. We've got this running list of, like, my life would be better if, I would be happy if.

And all of the onus is on somebody else. Today, I just want to give you a power back to go, hey, you just do, if you want to walk into your job and everybody there isn't amazing, be amazing. Like, man, everybody's toxic. Everybody talks about each other behind their back. No, you know what you can do right now? I want you to write four gratitude.

Letters. Yeah, four gratitude letters. Why four? I don't know. I just made up that number. Four gratitude letters. You can pass them out to four people. First thing. Yeah. Yeah, first thing. First thing. First thing, Tuesday morning. If you're listening to this on a Monday, I want you to do this tomorrow. I want you walk in. I just want you to encourage four people. Yeah, courage four people. And put it on the desk. Hey, I just want, I just want to let you know, I could have sent this as an email. I could have sent a tax. I could have just, you know, set it to your face, whatever. But I just, I wanted you to have it. I just, I just want you to let you know, I see you. You been working hard. I don't know how much credits you get, how much gratitude you get. I just want to say I see you. And thanks for what you do.

And you stuck up for me in this meeting. And six months ago, you gave us an idea and it's going really well. I'm just not sure that anybody has paused long enough to thank you for that idea. And I just want to let you know, like, you're valued here. That person might have had a story that nobody values them. And oftentimes they want the CEO to value them. They want their leader to value them. But like, you're sitting next to them.

so why don't you just value them? You know what you just did in that moment? You did two things. One, you just made your job a better place to work for somebody else. Number two, you're taking ownership of your life. You're taking ownership of your day. You're taking ownership of your environment. My friend, I'm just encouraging you.

Like, you can be the kind of person that looks forward to waking up in the morning, not because other people are going to do something amazing for you. you, but because each and every one of us has the opportunity to make somebody else feel like a million bucks to feel like they matter, to feel like they're really seen. So yeah, I mean, yeah, call me a motivational speaker, call me a pastor, call me whatever you want. But you know I'm telling the truth. You know, you can take ownership. Do not allow other people to determine what kind of day, what kind of week, what kind of life, what kind of career you're going to have.

Now, I'll make a decision today that you're going to be different. Be the kind of person that doesn't just look forward to the weekend, but be the kind of person that looks forward to waking up each and every day because each and every day we have the opportunity to make a difference in somebody's life. Thank God. It's Monday. Friends, thank you so much for listening to the Ryan League podcast. If today's episode inspires you, don't keep it to yourself. And I would encourage you to actually share it with a friend.

In fact, it would mean the world to me if you take a moment to rate, review, and subscribe. Your support helps us reach even more people with these short and sweet nuggets of inspiration. Thanks so much for being a part of the journey, and we will catch you next time.