Someone inadvertently placed a phone with a magnet(apparently) on top of my monitor. Not much of the screen is messed up, only a little bit of the upper left corner, but i am wondering if there is any way to fix the discoloration. It’s a little annoying.
See if you can borrow a degaussing coil from a local TV repair shop. To use it, hold it right up to the affected monitor’s screen and plug it in, then slowly move it away (a couple of feet or so is plenty). Unplug the coil and test the monitor.
If your monitor is not too old, it may have a degaussing option.
Yes, but if the monitor fails to degauss after the power is turned off and back on, the degaussing control switch is shot.
how old is too old? and where would I find a “degaussing option”?
Do it yourself degaussing is not recommended. (Using it wrong can screw up your shadow mask, depending on monitor type.) The automatic degaussing circuit doesn’t run on every power up, only when the monitor is “cold”. So just switching it off and then back on won’t work.
Leave it off overnight, power it on the next morning. Lather rinse repeat. Might take a few days.
Some other tips are available at:
Mine (hp Pavilion mx70) has a menu and one of the options is degauss.
The degauss button is the one that makes your monitor make a funny noise, and the picture goes all weird for a second, in case you not sure which button it is. Sorry if that was a bit too technical! 
just slap the monitor a few times.
What ftg said.
What is the brand and model #?