CHAPTER ONE

The OGIM (Oh God, It’s Monday) Syndrome

Look at the bright side. At least Mondays only happen once a week.

GARFIELD THE CAT

There is an epidemic emerging throughout Corporate America and business worldwide. It targets high achieving, results-driven, mid-career women by stalling their advancement and threatening their success. The symptoms are many, and can strike at any time. Typically, sufferers don’t see it coming. The disease can incubate for months, even years, before exposing itself in devastating and debilitating fashion. It’s called “Oh God, It’s Monday Syndrome.”

Most commonly referred to as OGIM, the disease begins as a conscious effort to follow the advice and path of other successful individuals. What creates a problem, however, is the path leads to a bleak destination that’s molded by outside influences instead of internal motivation. OGIM affects not only career performance and advancement, but also other significant areas of life: personal relationships, health, wellness, finances, and social life. At its worst, OGIM can hijack a person’s entire life, stealing joy and happiness right out from underneath them.

The symptoms are common and easy to recognize:

Lost the drive to get up and go to the office. Every morning becomes a battle between you and the snooze button. Before losing your drive, you leaped out of bed eager to attack the day ahead. Now you struggle to get the motivation to brush your teeth after your morning coffee.

Working harder and longer hours but don’t seem to be getting ahead. Forget the forty-hour workweek. You are lucky if you only clock sixty hours. Your work load keeps increasing while your pay stagnates. Shifts in business downsize your department, and you are saddled with more and more responsibilities with fewer and fewer people to help. A promotion or a raise? Yeah, right.

Discouraged on whether change is possible. They say the grass is greener on the other side, but you are highly skeptical. All business is the same. Your peers at other companies face the same struggles you do, so why would you think it should be different anywhere else? Even if you had the opportunity to change, you doubt if it’s reasonable to expect a higher position, more money, passion, and career satisfaction.

Frustrated at