Today is "Blue Monday", for many the most depressing day of the year.

The third Monday of January in the northern hemisphere has been dubbed the most “depressing day of the year”.

Blue Monday they call it. It’s back to work for most, the weather is terrible and people are feeling keenly the withdrawal from the freedom (and indulgence) of the holidays.

In Australia, we don’t have the awful weather on the above list, but we have the rest and it’s pretty bloody glum looking outside at a glorious day and knowing you can’t go there. Sit in an air-conditioned box and sip on some cheap office tea instead. Sit next to someone who cuts their nails at their desk meaning you have to push nail clippings off your desk with a ruler. Have a brain explosion over the empty paper tray in the photocopier and then have a bigger brain explosion for having a brain explosion over photocopying paper. Watch the bus home drive by your stop because it’s too full.

The weather today! ???? #britishweather #londonweather #london

A photo posted by Adriana Calmeiro (@adrianacccalmeiro) on Jan 14, 2016 at 8:18am PST

Week One. First commute. First day trying to fit 12 hours work into 10 while being paid for eight. Only 49 more weeks until the summer holidays. Yippee.

Caroline Webb, a former partner at the management consultancy McKinsey, has written a book about making everyday a good one. Yes, maybe that is going a bit far. And maybe taking advice from an ex McKinsey-ite may get your nose out of joint, but even turning more of those days when you need to cry in a toilet cubicle or have to stop yourself from leaping over the boardroom table and throttling a manager who can’t pronounce basic correctly, into good ones would be great.

It would be better than great. It will change your year.

How to Have a Good Day: Think Bigger, Feel better and Transform Your Working Life uses a combination of behavioural science, neuro-science and first-person stories to give you good-day work-day shortcuts. Webb shows how to be more efficient with time, how to improve work interactions, be resilient to setbacks and enjoy your day.

“So many people are having days of dissatisfaction”, Webb, told the UK’s Telegraph. “It’s sort of accepted. We talk about having a bad day at work as if it is something we have to put up with. But I found that with small tweaks I could make a big difference to how people felt.”

Tweak these for a good day:

Change your mind and beat the commute

There is only so much you can control on your way to and from work. Late, stinky, crowded transport? There’s nothing you can do. But you can change your mindset Webb says. Be positive. “If someone is walking slowly in front of you or they bump you with an elbow on the tube, it’s helpful to think they are a good person in bad circumstances. In other words, let’s assume they are a good person having a bad day,” she told the Telegraph. “Carrying this mentality can make for a less stressful commute and de-escalates situations.”

Get the music into you

Dreading a meeting? Don’t want to ask Carol in accounts the company password again? Stuck on what to write in a briefing? Sing one of your favourite songs to yourself. “Our brains are very associative and we only have to experience one good thing to trigger thoughts related to that,” Webb told the Telegraph. Good memories could be triggered and that in turn could put you in a more confident, better mood.

Don’t binge on emails

They are time sappers and mind wanderers. Webb suggests checking them twice a day and turning your email off when working on important tasks.

Make sure you break it

In order for your brain to recharge during the day it needs to take some breaks. Walking around the block or grabbing a cup of tea can give your brain the space to make sense of the task you are undertaking. Webb says even though you are not “working” on your set task your brain is still quietly processing what needs to be done and how to do it.

Write a To-Do list and make it grand

A To-Do list will make your “brain happy” according to Webb. Make sure whatever form it is in – online or off, there is some ability to make a big deal of ticking off tasks when they are completed. Your brain will thank you for it.

Will you be trying these things? Let us know in the comments.