I rarely work on Mondays. It's the single most effective stress busting decision I've ever made.

For the past 5 years, I've woken up, walked the kids to school, got home and thought to myself - "What should I do today?".

OK - sometimes I use up my Mondays for meetings with prospective customers or to dabble with something work related but generally, it is guitar, shopping or reading territory.

The stress busting bit is that whatever I do is my decision - I don't "have to" do something specific if I don't want to.

I realise that this is an unusual situation and that not everybody is able to create it - but if you're going to make a change to just one day of your week, Monday is by far the best one to tackle. If you can change your state of mind on a Monday, the rest of the week just falls in to place.

And there are some fantastic ways to change your state of mind - one of the simplest happens to most of us by accident nearly every day. We listen to a sad song and without knowing it, we start to feel a down.

Why do you think the Blues are called the Blues?

Even Elton John guessed that.

On the other hand, we sometimes hear an upbeat song and we feel a little happier. Occasionally, you "can't get the tune out of your head" - it kinds of embeds itself and keeps your happy state of mind afloat. Kind of like you're walking on sunshine.

The process of attaching states of mind to things that you can see, hear and feel around you is known as Anchoring. You either consciously or unconsciously attach a certain state of mind with something tangible. Sometimes it happens by accident - you see something that upsets you. For example: a spider phobia is just an anchor - you see a spider and it creates a state of fear.

But sometimes anchors happen by design - you go looking for something that makes you feel happy - like a comfort blanket. Or chocolate. Or a friend to talk to.

This morning, I had a chat with somebody who was having a bad start to the week - we had a brief conversation about it and discussed the need for a Monday Morning iPod playlist. Here's how it works:

Pick 5 songs that make you feel alive, happy, energised, unstoppable - or however you need to be on a Monday morning. Essentially, design a Monday morning feelgood playlist that gets you in the perfect state of mind for the week ahead - the antidote to whatever Mondays can throw at you. It is much better that you design it than some radio DJ do it for you.

Then, on your way to work, listen to it. If you can, listen to it all morning so you can't get the songs and their feelgood effect out of your head. Your playlist becomes your positive anchor for how you want to feel.

After not going to work at all, the Monday Morning Feelgood Playlist is the second most effective way to combat Monday morning Blues that I can think of.

Out of interest, here's my Monday Morning Playlist:

1. You're so cool - Hans Zimmer (to wake me up)
2. Hey There Delilah - The Plain White T's
3. Ooh La - The Kooks
4. Moving to New York - The Wombats
5. Just Like Heaven - The Cure

I'd be interested in hearing yours.