Monday morning means it’s time to become your work self again. You know the one. The professional version of you who says «Good morning!» even when there’s nothing good about being awake this early. 

It’s time to summon the professional you who writes «Sounds good, thanks!» instead of whatever you’re actually thinking. The one who knows how to turn a coworker’s «I have no idea what’s happening» into «Let me look into that and get back to you.» 

It’s hard to do that switch after spending the weekend communicating through memes and short sentences. Monday requires complete thoughts and the ability to participate in conversations about deadlines with appropriate reactions. You have to remember how to write an email, turn your camera on, look like a decent human being and not a terrified creature, and react to urgent tasks calmly with a problem-solving approach. 

It’s like acting, but you’re getting paid for it. Your professional vocabulary comes back very quickly: «Just following up», «circling back», «happy to help!» You’re fluent in corporate language. You know your transformation is complete when you say «let’s touch base later» during lunchtime. 

The polite employee kindly says «of course!» to everything while your internal self is screaming. But that’s what work memes are for. They say all the things that shouldn’t make it to the company. So let’s meme about our work responsibilities and imagine we can say all those things out loud for a while. That’s what our meeting is here for. 

So welcome back to our weekly Monday morning meeting! Nobody is going to ask you to be professional here. Cameras are optional. The idea is to help you let it all out with a good laugh and slowly reactivate your professional personality. Now scroll down, laugh and relate to the memes, and then open that laptop. Practice your most convincing «Happy Monday!» before you log in. Now you’re ready. Your work self has clocked in.