It's a scary fact (to employers) that most of us do far less on a Friday than we do on a Monday. Friday is the winding-down-the-week stuff, and some of us (the lucky ones) even go home early at the end of the week. The "I'll finish that next week" syndrome just before the weekend will usually cause problems in the long run. You start lagging behind with your work, and then it's almost tempting to take some work home or - shock, horror - come in during the weekend for "just an hour" to clean up the various things you abandoned.

Working after hours because you weren't managing your time during work hours is a bad sign. It's the same bad sign that leaves us dreading Mondays. If you promised to do something for a colleague, your boss or a customer on Friday and then you didn't - imagine how upset they are going to be on Monday. Soon, you're doing Monday's work on a Wednesday, and everything gets further and further behind.

Time to stop the Monday blues. There's no need for this, if you employ some crafty time management (and it's easy with one one of our time management email training London courses) and yes, you're better off doing it on Friday. Think of Friday as a preparation for a much better week ahead. Always look forwards, not back. Take time out on Friday (perhaps instead of leaving early!) to look at what you're going to be taking with you into next week. Anything you can do quickly that will take the pressure off? That pressing phone call to the client, answering an email you were going to leave until a new day? Do it now - usually it's the small, quick tasks we always procrastinate about.

Set a to-do list in order of priority for next week. This may reveal even more things that can be crossed off before you leave the office on Friday. An extra 15 minutes to close an issue or delegate a piece of work can do wonders for your weekend. Remember that you can also learn from the past week - what went right? What went wrong? Where did you steer off track in your time management? Write this down, too - and set yourself a goal not to make next week a repeat of the current one.

Some of us do have to come in during the weekend - if asked. However, it should be your time - and time for enjoyment. Try to draw a line under Friday by not even giving yourself the option of "oh, I'm just passing the office on Saturday, I'll drop in." It will become a habit - and a destructive one. It's better to work later (if you really have to) at the end of the week, since you'll still go home with a definite ending point, instead of leaving issues hanging temptingly on your desk to pick up in your own time.

Many of us spend the weekend worrying about the next time back at work. Examine why this is, and the steps you can take to correct it. Monday is going to roll around whether you want it to or not, so gradually, as you ease the pressure on yourself, you can start to look forward to it, or at least have a benign attitude to the most dreaded day of the week, rather than it filling you with dread, Take control of your Fridays, and go home with a clean slate and a sound time-managing mind.