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Cheers to Monday: The Surprisingly Simple Method to Lead and Live with Less Stress and More Joy
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
A Simple 3-Step Method to Lead – and Live – with Less Stress and More Joy
What if the secret to less stress is just three simple steps?
If you’ve ever woken up on a Monday already exhausted – or spent Sunday night bracing yourself for the week ahead – the problem isn’t you. The problem is stress. And there’s a surprisingly simple way to break free.
Stress is embedded in today’s workplaces – disguised as drive, rewarded as resilience, and even praised as passion. But chronic stress isn’t a strength; it drains leaders, divides teams, and damages entire organizations.
Cheers to Monday is the joyful rebellion against stress and burnout you’ve been waiting for. In this transformative book, Amy Leneker – a former C-suite executive and now a trusted leadership advisor to Fortune 100 companies and public sector organizations – reveals a liberating truth: stress isn’t the price of success – it’s the thief that steals it. And she proves it with sharp wit, refreshing honesty, and laugh-out-loud stories. You’ll get the same coaching and science-backed strategies Amy shares in boardrooms, workshops, and conferences around the world.
Learn how to:
-See stress differently – and finally break the cycle of exhaustion, overwhelm, and self-doubt
-Sort stress into five clear categories – so you know exactly what to do with each one
-Solve stress with a simple framework to reclaim your time, energy, and focus – at work and beyond
-Celebrate the shift – because reducing stress isn’t just a wellness strategy, it’s a joy strategy…and much more.
Cheers to Monday isn’t just a book – it’s a movement to transform how you lead, live, and work. It’s for every leader quietly falling apart, every team crushing goals while getting crushed in the process, and every human who’s tired of pretending they’re “fine.” Whether you’re just starting your career, climbing the corporate ladder, or reflecting on the legacy you’ll leave behind, this book gives you three simple steps to finally break free from stress – and reclaim the life you were meant to live.
A Simple 3-Step Method to Lead – and Live – with Less Stress and More Joy
What if the secret to less stress is just three simple steps?
If you’ve ever woken up on a Monday already exhausted – or spent Sunday night bracing yourself for the week ahead – the problem isn’t you. The problem is stress. And there’s a surprisingly simple way to break free.
Stress is embedded in today’s workplaces – disguised as drive, rewarded as resilience, and even praised as passion. But chronic stress isn’t a strength; it drains leaders, divides teams, and damages entire organizations.
Cheers to Monday is the joyful rebellion against stress and burnout you’ve been waiting for. In this transformative book, Amy Leneker – a former C-suite executive and now a trusted leadership advisor to Fortune 100 companies and public sector organizations – reveals a liberating truth: stress isn’t the price of success – it’s the thief that steals it. And she proves it with sharp wit, refreshing honesty, and laugh-out-loud stories. You’ll get the same coaching and science-backed strategies Amy shares in boardrooms, workshops, and conferences around the world.
Learn how to:
-See stress differently – and finally break the cycle of exhaustion, overwhelm, and self-doubt
-Sort stress into five clear categories – so you know exactly what to do with each one
-Solve stress with a simple framework to reclaim your time, energy, and focus – at work and beyond
-Celebrate the shift – because reducing stress isn’t just a wellness strategy, it’s a joy strategy…and much more.
Cheers to Monday isn’t just a book – it’s a movement to transform how you lead, live, and work. It’s for every leader quietly falling apart, every team crushing goals while getting crushed in the process, and every human who’s tired of pretending they’re “fine.” Whether you’re just starting your career, climbing the corporate ladder, or reflecting on the legacy you’ll leave behind, this book gives you three simple steps to finally break free from stress – and reclaim the life you were meant to live.
288 pages, Hardcover
Published March 24, 2026
About the author
Amy Leneker
2 books21 followersYou deserve to lead—and live—with less stress and more joy. Amy Leneker will show you how.
Amy is an optimistic, joy-seeking, recovering workaholic. She’s also a leadership expert, keynote speaker, and author of Cheers to Monday, the Surprisingly Simple Method to Lead & Live with Less Stress & More Joy (Wiley, 2026).
After two decades in leadership (including ten years in the C-suite), Amy stepped off the hamster wheel of hustle and onto a more meaningful path. Known for her warmth, wit, and wildly relatable stories, Amy has trained over 100,000 people around the globe to lead (and live!) with less stress and more joy.
She and her family make their home in the Pacific Northwest.
Amy is an optimistic, joy-seeking, recovering workaholic. She’s also a leadership expert, keynote speaker, and author of Cheers to Monday, the Surprisingly Simple Method to Lead & Live with Less Stress & More Joy (Wiley, 2026).
After two decades in leadership (including ten years in the C-suite), Amy stepped off the hamster wheel of hustle and onto a more meaningful path. Known for her warmth, wit, and wildly relatable stories, Amy has trained over 100,000 people around the globe to lead (and live!) with less stress and more joy.
She and her family make their home in the Pacific Northwest.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 27, 2026
I had an ARC of this relatable and relevant book. M through common sense and insightful stories, Amy Leneker makes you think. If you aren’t looking forward and eager for Monday morning, you’re not in the right place. This book will make you look in the mirror and give you hope. Five star recommend for positivity, encouragement, and finding joy. Cheers to Monday!
June 15, 2026
ah yes a very predictable sarah book
note to self good stressed is called eustress lol
Eustress is the positive kind – it sharpens focus, builds motivation, and gives performance a genuine lift. Distress is depleting and overwhelming, the kind people usually mean when they say they’re stressed. Acute stress is short-term: it arrives in response to a specific event and fades once that event has passed.
Research puts 94 percent of workplace challenges down to systemic factors – which means that when things go wrong, pointing at individuals usually misdiagnoses the problem.
while nearly 85 percent of employers in the US offer their employees wellness perks, they only treat symptoms rather than causes
Chronic stress compounds this – it keeps your brain in vigilance mode, where joy becomes genuinely harder to reach. And that’s exactly why reducing stress is worth taking seriously. It creates the conditions for joy to become accessible again.
100%: There’s a myth so embedded in workplace culture most people have stopped questioning it: Stress is the price of success. Work hard enough, push through long enough, and the results will justify everything. This myth does its damage quietly. It treats overwork as virtue, dresses burnout as drive, and when people finally break, the blame lands on the individual – rather than the system that demanded too much.
The big myth that stress is simply the price of a successful career, or that pushing through is always the right response, can drive behavior for years before anyone stops to question it
notes:
- Amy Leneker hit a wall at 40 – panic attacks, medical leave, and a life that had become unrecognizable. The turning point came during a medical appointment, when a form asked what she did for fun and what her hobbies were. She had no answer. Chronic stress had stripped away her sense of self so gradually that she hadn't even noticed – until that question made it impossible to ignore.
- three-step framework called The Un-Stressing Method. The steps are See, Sort, and Solve
- Knowing which type you’re dealing with is where any response begins. The next move is to get your stressors out of your head and down on paper. If you’re not sure where to start, try these prompts: What’s making it hard to sleep? What have you been choosing not to look at? Getting everything down in front of you matters because until your stressors are visible, you don’t have anything concrete to sort or solve.
- You’ll also want to regularly measure your stress. A great tool for this is the Stress Ruler – a zero-to-ten rating of how challenging your stress has been feeling. There’s no fixed definition of what counts as challenging, because stress is personal, and there’s no set timeframe, because stress doesn’t arrive on a schedule. It depends on you. If you’re using the Stress Ruler for yourself, it only requires a moment of honest self-reflection. If you’re working with a team, people can hold up fingers or write their number on a sticky note and reveal them all at once.
- Since early 2020, employees have been attending roughly three times as many weekly meetings – a 192% increase – and research confirms that back-to-back meetings accumulate stress.
- This balance is known as the Stockdale Paradox, named after Admiral James Stockdale, who survived over seven years of captivity in the Vietnam War, by confronting the full harshness of his situation while holding onto the belief that he’d come through it. The balance held up where both blind optimism and catastrophising would have collapsed. Another strategy that can backfire with sudden stress is being the go-to person in a crisis.
- Start by drawing a simple grid of four boxes. Stressors that feel important to you in your current role go in the top row – the less important ones go in the bottom. On the left side sit the things outside your control; on the right, the things within it.
- A practical way to get clear on what joy and calm actually look like in your own life is to picture yourself at 90 years old, looking back on your life. The question is whether the life you built felt worth living – whether you were present for it, whether you let yourself enjoy it. Through this exercise you make clear what actually matters, and what’s simply been consuming energy without giving anything back.
note to self good stressed is called eustress lol
Eustress is the positive kind – it sharpens focus, builds motivation, and gives performance a genuine lift. Distress is depleting and overwhelming, the kind people usually mean when they say they’re stressed. Acute stress is short-term: it arrives in response to a specific event and fades once that event has passed.
Research puts 94 percent of workplace challenges down to systemic factors – which means that when things go wrong, pointing at individuals usually misdiagnoses the problem.
while nearly 85 percent of employers in the US offer their employees wellness perks, they only treat symptoms rather than causes
Chronic stress compounds this – it keeps your brain in vigilance mode, where joy becomes genuinely harder to reach. And that’s exactly why reducing stress is worth taking seriously. It creates the conditions for joy to become accessible again.
100%: There’s a myth so embedded in workplace culture most people have stopped questioning it: Stress is the price of success. Work hard enough, push through long enough, and the results will justify everything. This myth does its damage quietly. It treats overwork as virtue, dresses burnout as drive, and when people finally break, the blame lands on the individual – rather than the system that demanded too much.
The big myth that stress is simply the price of a successful career, or that pushing through is always the right response, can drive behavior for years before anyone stops to question it
notes:
- Amy Leneker hit a wall at 40 – panic attacks, medical leave, and a life that had become unrecognizable. The turning point came during a medical appointment, when a form asked what she did for fun and what her hobbies were. She had no answer. Chronic stress had stripped away her sense of self so gradually that she hadn't even noticed – until that question made it impossible to ignore.
- three-step framework called The Un-Stressing Method. The steps are See, Sort, and Solve
- Knowing which type you’re dealing with is where any response begins. The next move is to get your stressors out of your head and down on paper. If you’re not sure where to start, try these prompts: What’s making it hard to sleep? What have you been choosing not to look at? Getting everything down in front of you matters because until your stressors are visible, you don’t have anything concrete to sort or solve.
- You’ll also want to regularly measure your stress. A great tool for this is the Stress Ruler – a zero-to-ten rating of how challenging your stress has been feeling. There’s no fixed definition of what counts as challenging, because stress is personal, and there’s no set timeframe, because stress doesn’t arrive on a schedule. It depends on you. If you’re using the Stress Ruler for yourself, it only requires a moment of honest self-reflection. If you’re working with a team, people can hold up fingers or write their number on a sticky note and reveal them all at once.
- Since early 2020, employees have been attending roughly three times as many weekly meetings – a 192% increase – and research confirms that back-to-back meetings accumulate stress.
- This balance is known as the Stockdale Paradox, named after Admiral James Stockdale, who survived over seven years of captivity in the Vietnam War, by confronting the full harshness of his situation while holding onto the belief that he’d come through it. The balance held up where both blind optimism and catastrophising would have collapsed. Another strategy that can backfire with sudden stress is being the go-to person in a crisis.
- Start by drawing a simple grid of four boxes. Stressors that feel important to you in your current role go in the top row – the less important ones go in the bottom. On the left side sit the things outside your control; on the right, the things within it.
- A practical way to get clear on what joy and calm actually look like in your own life is to picture yourself at 90 years old, looking back on your life. The question is whether the life you built felt worth living – whether you were present for it, whether you let yourself enjoy it. Through this exercise you make clear what actually matters, and what’s simply been consuming energy without giving anything back.
March 24, 2026
This feels less like a typical self help book and more like a conversation with someone who gets how exhausting life can be, especially when you are juggling way too much. Instead of pretending Mondays that Mondays are magical, this book helps you gently shift the perspective. The writing is easy, real, and not preachy. It’s a book you can pick up even when you’re already worn out.
What makes this book work for me is that it doesn’t ask you to change your life. It’s about small mindful shifts, tiny ways to take back control and find a bit of breathing room in your week. If you are tired, stretched thin, or just over the daily grind, this is the kind of read that feels doable. Just a simple reminder that even Mondays can hold a little bit of hope.
What makes this book work for me is that it doesn’t ask you to change your life. It’s about small mindful shifts, tiny ways to take back control and find a bit of breathing room in your week. If you are tired, stretched thin, or just over the daily grind, this is the kind of read that feels doable. Just a simple reminder that even Mondays can hold a little bit of hope.
March 24, 2026
In Cheers to Monday, Amy Leneker does something rather magical and completely necessary for so many of us in today’s modern world of unreasonable demands and toxic fear: She tells us AND shows us how to shift from a stress-dominated life to one characterized by wellbeing, balance, choice, and joy.
She does this with delightful humor, with “I’ve been there” candor, and with hard-won wisdom. Gratefully, she leaves out the forced positivity, academic burden, and obtuse directives.
Instead, Leneker offers simple, elegant frameworks and evidence-backed actions anyone can use today to interrupt their stress-creating patterns to actually live and work differently.
With useful applications at the end of every chapter for leaders, for teams, and for organizations, she also makes clear that this book’s insights can be applied by anyone in any role or by anyone personally.
Many people who’ve changed their lives for the better want to share their solutions with the world. But not many of those books are enjoyable to read because they are too much about the author and not enough about the reader and the solution. It is difficult to write with enough transparency to connect without going down the rabbit hole of self-absorption.
But in Cheers to Monday, Amy Leneker finds the sweet spot. With self-deprecating humor, she lets us know where she’s been and how she found her way out, using her story to help us learn without using the reader to help her heal. She’s already done that. Now she invites us to do that too.
I highly recommend this book.
She does this with delightful humor, with “I’ve been there” candor, and with hard-won wisdom. Gratefully, she leaves out the forced positivity, academic burden, and obtuse directives.
Instead, Leneker offers simple, elegant frameworks and evidence-backed actions anyone can use today to interrupt their stress-creating patterns to actually live and work differently.
With useful applications at the end of every chapter for leaders, for teams, and for organizations, she also makes clear that this book’s insights can be applied by anyone in any role or by anyone personally.
Many people who’ve changed their lives for the better want to share their solutions with the world. But not many of those books are enjoyable to read because they are too much about the author and not enough about the reader and the solution. It is difficult to write with enough transparency to connect without going down the rabbit hole of self-absorption.
But in Cheers to Monday, Amy Leneker finds the sweet spot. With self-deprecating humor, she lets us know where she’s been and how she found her way out, using her story to help us learn without using the reader to help her heal. She’s already done that. Now she invites us to do that too.
I highly recommend this book.
Review of advance copy
Reading through Amy Leneker's Cheers to Monday opened up my perspective on stress. [Love Amy's workaholic to joy specialist reframing :)]
Life isn’t an either or scenario -- about having stress or having joy, it’s about the resilient dance between them. I love how Amy encourages us to NOT delay joy until later, but rather based on the research invites us to bring interludes of joy into our lives and watch our stress go down.
Read this book to learn what "10 words changed her life."
Read this book to learn about the 5 types of stress and the Un-Stressing Method to interrupt our mental loops that keep stress echoing throughout our days.
Read this book to re-learn your ABCs -- of Joy (Awareness, Breathe, Connection).
Read this book to appreciate healthy ambition vs. harmful stress.
Read the book to help you rethink what resilience is.
Read this book if you want to bring more joy into your life and not feel selfish about it.
Thank you Amy for your insights!
Beth
Life isn’t an either or scenario -- about having stress or having joy, it’s about the resilient dance between them. I love how Amy encourages us to NOT delay joy until later, but rather based on the research invites us to bring interludes of joy into our lives and watch our stress go down.
Read this book to learn what "10 words changed her life."
Read this book to learn about the 5 types of stress and the Un-Stressing Method to interrupt our mental loops that keep stress echoing throughout our days.
Read this book to re-learn your ABCs -- of Joy (Awareness, Breathe, Connection).
Read this book to appreciate healthy ambition vs. harmful stress.
Read the book to help you rethink what resilience is.
Read this book if you want to bring more joy into your life and not feel selfish about it.
Thank you Amy for your insights!
Beth
May 4, 2026
An upfront disclosure; I have been friends with Amy Leneker for a number of years now. This book was absolutely brilliant. It laid out how much stress can take a toll on your body and gave real examples from the author authors, work on stress and anxiety.. not only did Amy give examples of stress, but she gave clear solutions on how to conquer stress and anxiety in your life. This will be a book I will come back to repeatedly.
March 24, 2026
Cheers to Monday by Amy Leneker flips the script on burnout, proving that chronic stress isn't a badge of honor—it’s a thief. (Which we all knew, but...she nails it!)
It's simple—Amy’s 3-step method is easy to remember. She is refreshing—she’s funny, honest, and shares stories that make you feel seen. It’s not just "positive thinking"; it’s grounded in strategies.
It's a must-read for joy!
It's simple—Amy’s 3-step method is easy to remember. She is refreshing—she’s funny, honest, and shares stories that make you feel seen. It’s not just "positive thinking"; it’s grounded in strategies.
It's a must-read for joy!
April 19, 2026
This book is good. But it’s talks a lot about stress and leadership. I have taken a lot of classes on this subject and the best way I have ever heard of was taking a 30 second vacation, whichever helps me more, then any book or person could give me. I have always been organized at home and on the job. But Thanks for the reminder!
August 4, 2026
Thank you for the ARC! Amy writes like she talks - personable, vulnerable, authentic, and hopeful. It's so helpful to know that someone has experienced what they are writing about - especially when it comes to topics like workplace stress and overwhelm.
I also appreciate that this is the first book I've seen with an AI disclaimer!
I also appreciate that this is the first book I've seen with an AI disclaimer!
August 19, 2026
This book is just what workplaces and employees need right now. Urgency increased during COVID and never went away, even though many workplaces have less employees and budget constraints. This book explores how to prevent and get burned out workers to live a more enjoyable life. It’s conversational tone make it feel like your having a conversation with a friend.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews