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Monday Motivation Hack: Avoid Negativity

Mondays induce negativity like no other day. After all, weekends are straight-up awesome. If we’re lucky, we get to sleep in, enjoy a breakfast that’s not rushed, and maybe savor a cup of coffee while laughing at YouTube videos of dogs failing at being dogs. Sometimes, we have exciting activities planned. Sometimes we get to enjoy leisure time. And sure, sometimes we work. But let’s not talk about that here, deal?

After a couple of days away from your responsibilities, Monday can come crashing in like a wrecking ball. Cue Miley Cyrus. Or this hedgehog.

via GIPHY

Yeah. Let’s go with the hedgehog.

When negativity threatens to wreck your Monday and make you less productive, try a few subtle things to help you make a major change in your attitude.

3 Quick Ways to Avoid Negativity at Work

1 Practice gratitude.

When we take time out to recognize all the good things happening in our day-to-day lives, we can’t help but become more positive, which makes us happier overall. It’s impossible to be both grateful and negative at the same time. And being grateful has surprising physical and mental health benefits.

Try keeping a gratitude journal. Take some time out of each week to reflect on the things you’re grateful for, and consider what your life might be like without them. If you’re struggling to get started, take a look at these tips from Robert Emmons, a leading expert and author of several studies on the science of gratitude.

2 Distract or combat.

The science of cognitive behavioral therapy brings us some cool ways to turn negativity around. When a negative thought enters your head, your first line of defense is to distract yourself from it. Listen to a song that makes you happy, hug a friend or family member, anything that will give your mood a boost.

If your negative emotion is still trying to get the best of you, put up a fight. Talk back to it and don’t be afraid to give it some serious attitude. Let’s say you trip getting off the elevator and drop your coffee, spilling it everywhere. Your mind may be inclined to think, I’m such an idiot! Why am I always so clumsy? Now, pretend your brain is a bully that just said the same thing about your friend (who happens to be exactly like you.) Hey, people trip sometimes. That doesn’t make them clumsy, let alone always clumsy.

3 Try a little mindfulness.

Have you ever noticed something about negative thinking? It always seems to involve either ruminating about things in the past (I really messed up by forgetting about that important meeting last week.) or catastrophizing about the future (Now everyone’s going to think I’m a total slacker.) Draw your mind away from all that by practicing a little mindfulness.

Start by noticing what’s happening around you. Notice the in and out of your breathing. Feel the air moving around you. Take in the smells. If you’re walking, pay attention to your gait and how your feet strike the pavement. If you’re typing, feel your fingers on the keyboard and listen to the sounds you make pressing the keys. It may seem simple, but mindfulness is powerful. It gets our heads out of the past and future and into the present moment.

It’s not as difficult as it may seem to start the week on a positive note. Just a small shift in your behaviors and habits will make a world of difference.

How do you beat the midweek slump?

The Essentials of Conditionals

You only have to observe a dog rooting around in the trash can to realize that dogs don’t understand what could happen if they eat spoiled food. Humans, on the other hand, have the power of reason. Rotten meat is dangerous. They can imagine various possible consequences—a tummyache, a trip to the hospital, expensive prescriptions, and so on. Conditional sentences reflect humans’ capacity to hypothesize. What are conditional sentences? How can you use them? How are they useful? Let’s explore the answers to these three questions.

Conditional sentences, sometimes called if-clauses, refer to hypothetical situations and their projected consequences. The if-clause presents a particular condition that must be in place for an action in the main clause to occur.

The Zero Conditional

Zero conditionals refer to general truths or real, possible situations in the present tense.

If water reaches a temperature of 212℉, it boils. Water always boils at 212℉, so this statement is a general truth. In fact, you can replace if with when: When water is heated to 212℉, it boils.

You can also use the zero conditional to give commands that are contingent on a certain circumstance:

If the dog goes outside, make sure he doesn’t get into the trash. If it rains, bring an umbrella.

Conditional Type 1

Zero conditional sentences discuss what happens in general. You will need the Type 1 conditionals to discuss what will happen in the future. Since the future is not entirely predictable, these sentences are not absolute truths but instead likely possibilities.

If I fall asleep, I will miss my favorite show. I will arrive late if my car doesn’t start soon.

Conditional Type 2

You can use the second conditional to talk about things that are unlikely to happen but theoretically possible.

If I won the lottery, I would buy a house in Manarola. She would pass the class if she had a tutor. If the company mailed the check on time, he should get it on Monday.

Conditional Type 3

The third conditional talks about things that are impossible.

I would have gone to the party if I had known about it. (The party is already over, so it is too late to attend.) If humans could fly, they would crash into each other in midair. (Humans don’t have wings, so this condition is impossible to fulfill.)

Mixed Conditionals

English speakers often mix these four basic types of conditionals to talk about the present hypothetical results of past events that may or may not have happened.

If mom had let my buy a goat, I wouldn’t be mowing the lawn right now. If she were going to pass the class, she would have attended the final exam.

If you can identify this sentence as a conditional, you are doing well. Beyond the classroom, you may never need to know whether it is a Type 1 or Type 2. However, you do need to know how to use conditionals in order to put your reasoning power to best use. Conditionals enable you to talk about all the possibilities, such as what will happen if your dog eats garbage or how you would spend a million dollars. You can also talk about impossibilities, such as what humans would do if they had wings or what you should have done that you didn’t. Nothing limits you but your own imagination.

Is It Favorite or Favourite?

It is sometimes said that the United States and the United Kingdom are two countries separated by a common language. Despite the fact that English is the most widely used language in both countries, a distinction is often made between the English used in the United States—American English—and the English used in the United Kingdom—British English. The differences between the two varieties of English are usually subtle, but they exist nonetheless, particularly around spelling.

Favorite and favourite are both correct spellings, depending on whether you use American or British spelling standards. Favorite is preferred in American English, while favourite is preferred in British English. Sometimes, favorite or favourite can be used and the correct form depends on which style guide you follow.

Learn more details about these spelling differences below.

The Correct Way to Spell Favorite

The answer to that question might depend on where you are. If you’re in the United States, you would hear that “favorite” is the correct spelling. If you were pretty much anywhere else in the world where English is spoken, you would hear that “favourite” is the spelling you should use. “Favourite” and “favorite” mean the same thing, are pronounced the same way (FAY-vuh-rit or FAY-vrit), and are both correct spellings.

Definition of Favorite

“Favorite” (or “favourite,” if that’s the spelling you favour) is a word that can be used both as a noun and as an adjective.

When used as a noun, “favorite” can have two meanings. When we like someone or something more than other people or things, we can use the word favorite to let the world know:

I had many toys when I was a child, but the fire truck was my favorite.

Favorite is also a word that pops up frequently in relation to competitions. We call the person most likely to win the competition “the favorite”

Although he’d entered the tournament as the favorite, he still had a couple of tough matches in front of him.

We mentioned that favorite can also be used as an adjective. When we use it like that, favorite has only one meaning—“most liked” or “preferred”:

Blue is Peter’s favorite color. He likes red, too, but not as much as blue.

The Origins of the Two Spellings of Favorite

“Favorite” and “favourite” share a common backstory with other words in the English language. The word “color,” for example, is spelled with an “-or” ending in American English, while in British English it’s spelled “colour.” There are plenty of other examples: “flavor” and “flavour,” “honor” and “honour,” “rumor” and “rumour.” The list could go on and on.

For a long time, there was no consensus on how words ending with -or or -our should be spelled in Britain. We know that Samuel Johnson, the famous British lexicographer, had a strong preference for the -our versions of words, as is evident from his 1755 dictionary. On the other side of the pond, an equally famous American lexicographer, Noah Webster, wanted to make the English language used in America truly American. So, his 1828 dictionary recommended the -or spellings of the disputed words. To this day, Webster gets a lot of credit for influencing the way Americans write English.

Favorite vs. Favourite: Examples

The easiest way to notice the difference in spelling and its national character is by looking through different national publications or international editions of media outlets.

For the first time in four years, TJ’s did not earn the title of favorite supermarket in America, despite its cult following.”

The Huffington Post, US edition

To help kick off the delicious cake feast, top chefs and cooks have shared their favourite (and easy to make) recipes.

The Huffington Post, Australian edition

To celebrate HuffPost Canada’s fifth anniversary, we’ve compiled some of our favourite splashes.

The Huffington Post, Canadian edition

Current odds are making Russia’s superstar Sergey Lazarev the hot favourite, with the UK’s Joe and Jake coming in at a respectable seventh place in the bookies’ list of favourites.

The Huffington Post, UK edition

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Grammar Basics: What Are Commonly Confused Phrases in English?

Are there certain phrases in English that you can never quite remember? Chances are, others have the same difficulty. Here are some of the most commonly confused expressions in English.

I couldn’t care less So you do care! That’s what you’ll be saying if you say what many others mistakenly do: I could care less.

By accident If you say this wrong, you might have learned it from a native speaker. Plenty of them say “on accident.”

First come, first served The ones who come first don’t serve, they are served.

Should have, would have, could have Of is a preposition with many meanings, none of which make sense with should, could, or would. The confusion might stem from how people hear the pronunciation of contractions like should’ve (should have). Admittedly, they do sound like “should of, could of, would of.”

You have (got) another think coming Almost no one gets this one right. The expression started as a clever rebuttal. If a friend says, “I think so-and-so would make a great president,” you could reply that she has another think coming. You’ve got another thing coming sounds ominous. It implies that something once came and another thing is on its way. But what thing is that?

For all intents and purposes Though some purposes intensify, this expression is not “for all intensive purposes.” It means for every practical reason.

If you are confused about an expression that is not on the list, visit Grammarly Answers. Hundreds of people are asking questions about phrases that puzzle them. As a matter of fact, you might find questions about an expression you learned about in this article. Share your newfound understanding or ask a question of your own.