Mondays get the worst rep. People dread them, there are memes and GIFs devoted to the horror of Mondays and even songs and movies reference the deluge that Mondays bring. The first day of the work week, it’s easy to see why people look at Mondays as a symbol of five full days of work and toil ahead of them.
For decades, we’ve viewed Monday as the Worst Day Ever. Why? Well, the reasons seem obvious—it’s the first day after the weekend, and we all know that weekends go way too quickly. Monday arrives and you have to get up early, go to work, and slave away after having two days of complete freedom.
However, there are other days that are much worse. I propose something controversial: Monday is not the worst day of the week. Instead, Tuesday—and even Thursday—take this not so coveted accolade.
But, on which day are we most productive? The answer might surprise you.
It’s not difficult to understand why Monday is a despised day for many people. You get used to the weekend and to sleeping in, and after two days of doing whatever you want, you’re back in the world of work.
I bet you’ve never thought about how terrible Tuesday can be, but for me—and according to research—it is objectively worse than Monday. Actually, it’s the worst day of the week according to a stress survey and a happiness study conducted with the assistance of iPhone app Mappiness. From the results, Tuesday feels like the longest day of the week, it’s the most stressful (right around lunch time), and it’s the most miserable.
Let’s compare it to when you were a kid, and it was time to go back to school. It wasn’t the first day of school that killed you—that one was fun because you got to see your classmates. It was the second day that sucked. Remember feeling like you’d been back to school for weeks? By Tuesday, the tiredness catches up with you and there are FOUR more days to endure before the weekend.
