If there’s one thing nonprofit marketers could use more of, it is likely time and resources. Working with multiple social impact organizations, I constantly search for ways to optimize both and increase overall nonprofit productivity. During my journey, I have discovered the benefits of systematizing processes.

Words like these are not naturally attractive to us right-brained thinkers. Policies, protocols, standard operating procedures (SOPs), guidelines, documentation, and workflows all give an initial feeling of boring rigidity. The idea of sitting around and mapping out every step of a process or workflow for someone else to follow, isn’t my idea of creative progress. But over time, I’ve learned the many benefits that result from these concepts.

Why Nonprofit Productivity Matters

An intentional focus on nonprofit productivity is helpful if you’re looking to maximize mission output. Efficient use of time and resources ensures that more efforts go towards achieving your mission. We cover this concept a lot at the Nonprofit Marketing Guide including how to do this while remaining Calm, Not Busy. By implementing things like SOPs and other productivity tools, nonprofit organizations can streamline processes, reduce errors, and enhance overall productivity.

How many times have you found yourself onboarding a new staff member or walking a colleague through a necessary process? Or perhaps covering for a teammate who’s suddenly gone out, trying to pick up the pieces where they left off? Frequently, these involve recurring processes or campaigns that would benefit from being cataloged for easy future reference. There’s typically a set way of going about these processes or campaigns that has to be shared time and time again.

The Role of SOPs and Other Tools 

This is where the “boring rigidity” of documentation, standard operating procedures, and guidelines come in. They help save us time and frustration by eliminating the need to redo, re-teach, or remember how to perform a necessary task or process accurately. The idea is to take the time to catalog it once so that anyone who might need to can reference and follow the process moving forward in the right way.

Being able to move our ideas, teams, and organizations forward relies on our ability to organize and communicate clearly and seamlessly. It also means doing so in the most efficient ways possible. SOPs, project management tools, and automation software help with consistency and quality control. They ensure the same level of service or outcome each time.

Furthermore, we have a duty to our teams, donors, and those we serve to keep the mission moving forward. Implementing productivity concepts like SOPs and automation tools helps ensure business continuity. They allow an organization to continue its essential functions despite significant changes. This is something we should all be invested in.

Key Concepts and Tools

Here’s a quick breakdown of some of these time-saving and business continuity concepts.

• Workflows are visual representations of the sequence of steps in a process.
• Processes are a series of actions or steps taken to achieve a particular end.
• Policies are principles or rules to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes.
• Procedures are specific methods or steps for performing tasks or activities.
• Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are written instructions with loads of detail that achieve uniformity in performing a specific function.
• Automation Tools are software that performs tasks automatically to reduce manual effort, such as email marketing automation.
• Systematization is arranging something according to a system or plan.

Get Started

I like to start by cataloging the most critical processes and tasks. Focus on those that impact our primary functions the most, such as managing brand reputation, donor and donation management, and other stakeholder engagement and communication. Here is a sampling of specific areas or processes you can start with:

• Create a SOP in detail for how log, process, and acknowledge donations.
• Develop guidelines for creating, scheduling, and monitoring posts on various platforms.
• Document each step involved in planning and executing events, including timelines and key responsibilities.
• Outline the process for recruiting, training, and integrating new volunteers into your organization.
•  Specify the steps for researching, writing, and submitting grant applications, including necessary approvals and follow-up.

Implementing SOPs and Tools for Enhanced Productivity

There are several platforms and companies that can support the development of workflow mapping and SOP documentation. However, you can also start simply with screenshots and step-by-step instructions documented in Microsoft Word or your favorite word processing application. If you want to get more visual, you can also screencast and record your processes via Loom, PowerPoint, or other platforms. Whatever you use, just be sure that you are cataloging the most critical steps and doing so in an easy-to-follow way. Before you finalize it, it is always helpful to have someone else test, follow, or read through your procedure, workflow, or policy for clarity.

Systematization for the Win

Training and operations manuals, handbooks, and training videos may not be things we look forward to creating or following, but they are all useful in our desire to keep our work moving forward efficiently and effectively. By investing time in systematizing our processes and leveraging nonprofit productivity tools, we ensure our missions stay on track and our organizations thrive.

If you are looking for more ways to maximize output and work smarter not harder, check out 8 Productivity Hacks you Might Want to Try

And if you need a pulse check on if you are already doing to much, definitely review our bit on Toxic Productivity!

Finally if you want to chat about this topic and more with your fellow nonprofit communicators, join our FREE private community.

It’s a top goal for people who sign up for the Communications Director Mentoring Program and probably for most nonprofit communicators: How do I make time to be more strategic? How do I make time to plan? What they are really asking is, how do I make time to think? 

Thinking, problem-solving, and strategizing are called deep work. They go hand in hand with finding more peace at work.

Here’s my suggested approach to making time to think: Consider how you’ll do that annually, quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily. What you do at each of these intervals will be different, but they will all get you closer to feeling like you do, in fact, have time to think, plan, and problem-solve regularly.

This is not unlike our suggested agendas for weekly, monthly, and quarterly editorial meetings.

Annual Time to Think

Most organizations reserve time once a year for annual work planning. Unfortunately, it’s often a challenge for the communications team to develop their work plans until they know what the programmatic staff are doing. So, it may be that your annual time to think needs to come after everyone else’s on the calendar.

But regardless of when it happens, this is a great time to think deeply about the strategic role of communications within your organization. Where is marketing support required for mission success? Where is it simply nice to have? What are the big communications objectives you are trying to reach? What’s the why of your work for the coming year?

Try to set aside several days for annual thinking.

Quarterly Time to Think

Once a quarter, give yourself time to consider the big picture. What have you accomplished in the previous 90 days, and what are the top priorities for the next 90 days? What trends are you seeing at work? Should these trends be supported or prevented from continuing? This is really about recentering yourself on your work and making sure your energy is going into the right places.

Try to set aside a full morning or afternoon for your quarterly thinking time. If you need to include others in these conversations, you might need a whole day.

Monthly Time to Think

Once a month, look at your editorial calendar and your to-do list for the next 4-6 weeks. Can you put your priorities in order, one, two, three, etc.? This is a great time to think about what you need to be successful. Do you need to meet with certain people? Do you need to set or reaffirm deadlines with others? Clarify any processes for how the work will get done?

Do you need to block off bigger chunks of time for deep work on specific projects, especially those requiring more creativity? Blocking those out now is also a good idea.

Give yourself an hour or two per month to do this work.

Weekly Time to Think

Some people like to do this at the end of the week (Friday), and others prefer the beginning of the week (Monday). But give yourself 15-30 minutes each week to set your course for the next several days. This is where you can adjust your monthly priorities based on what’s actually happening in your organization.

Daily Time to Think

Finally, give yourself at least five minutes at the start of your day to set your intentions. You might also check in with yourself mid-day to see if you need a course correction. At the end of the day, simply review where you are.

Reserving Time to Think

Calendar or time blocking is one way to approach this. You literally block the times on your calendar at each of these intervals and do your best to keep that time sacred on your calendar. You do not let yourself or others schedule over that thinking time.

Calendar blocking is a great start, especially for blocks longer than an hour or two. But it has limitations.

Stuff comes up. People need you. The time you need doesn’t magically match up with the time you blocked. You may find yourself too tired or distracted during the time you reserved actually to accomplish any deep work.

Instead of blocking minutes or hours, some people work better by half-day or day-long blocking, where each larger chunk of time has a theme. That theme could be thinking time. You don’t have to spend the whole afternoon or day on it, but you could, if you got on a roll.

Another approach is to treat “time to think” as a high-priority activity on your to-list. It’s less about reserving a specific time block and more about saying to yourself, I must do this, and it must be done this week. Don’t treat it like an afterthought that you will get to when you can. Force it to the top of the to-do list.

Also consider the tools you use for your thinking time. I personally find that this work is best done with a paper notebook and pen. All of the rest of my work, including writing this blog post, is done online with my hands on a keyboard. I use paper to reinforce that I am not just doing the same old tasks but actually setting a different kind of time aside for thinking.

Similarly, you may decide the place is important. Maybe you do your best thinking alone while walking. Instead of thinking of it as time-blocking, you need to consider physically placing yourself in the right spot at the right times.

No matter how you go about it, you have to create habits that give you the space and time to think. Being consistent is more important than how long you block on your calendar.

You rushed out the door this morning and left your raincoat or umbrella, and it, of course, rains.

You didn’t get gas yesterday because you just wanted to get home after a long day and now you have to unexpectedly drive across town to take your child to the doctor.

You didn’t prepare a blog post for today because you were stressed because you’ve been working on a big project and now you are scrambling to post something. (OK, that one was me today!)

For all of us out there who end up piling on more stress trying to avoid stress, here are 10 tips from Gretchen Rubin’s 20 Very Easy Tips for Lowering Your Daily Stress Level.

“A little effort now means a lot less stress, later.”

Gretchen Rubin

1. Get up thirty minutes earlier than usual. I started with 15 minutes cause I am SO NOT a morning person and even that has helped.
2. Before you go to sleep, prepare for the morning. If I am working out in the morning, I pick out what I am going to wear and have the dogs poop bags ready to go (weird I know, but they always give me trouble opening them on mornings when I am rushing).
3. Bring a hat and an umbrella. This isn’t quite as important since I work from home, but I do keep an umbrella in my car.
4. Make a list. Pfft this one is easy for a list-making fool like me and it does in fact relieve stress instantly.
5. Listen to a favorite song. “I’m gonna keep on dancing at the Pink Pony Club” puts me in a better mood instantly.
6. Keep an extra set of keys. This has saved the day on more than one occasion.
7. Exercise. As cranky as I am in the morning getting up to either walk the dogs or go work out, I am instantly in a better mood after (unless Hazel saw a cat, then I am probably still cranky and possibly in pain).
8. Throw something away. OK, bye bye sticky note that’s been sitting on my desk for three months with “$566” written on it that I have no idea what it’s for anymore, but didn’t want to throw away “just in case”.
9. Don’t say mean things about other people. As much as I want to say talking crap about someone who deserves it is cathartic, in the end I usually only get more wound up.
10. Put a Bandaid in your wallet. There is one in my crossbody #momlife

For the full list, visit the Positively Positive blog.

You aren’t imaging things.  It’s hard to get motivated to work during the summer. It’s so hot. Your friends are on vacation. The kids are home.

But you still have emails to send, social media to update, newsletters to publish and the 101 other things you’re asked to do as a nonprofit communicator.

Assuming you can’t just skip work all summer, how can you make it through the next few months?

Here are seven ideas to help you stay motivated at work during summer:

Look at Your Work in a Different Way

Instead of thinking of your lead newsletter article as a burden, think of how it will educate, motivate, or challenge your supporters. Or you can think of it as an important part of your professional development. You are enhancing your writing and marketing skills.

Prioritize Your To-Do List

If your to-do list is overwhelming, narrow it down to the three tasks you HAVE to do today. Then go back and add your other tasks as you go.

Break Your Work Into Smaller Steps

Anything you are working on starts with one smaller step. Don’t worry about the end result and just start with step one.

Just Get Started Already

Sometimes you are just not going to want to do something no matter how much you try to motivate yourself. This is when you Just. Have. To. Start. Working. As I mentioned above, breaking the work into smaller steps should help. It maybe time to take a deep breath and dive in.

Get Hyped

Got a song that gets you pumped? Or maybe a motivational speaker or article can help spark that work? Find it and use it! I am currently on a Chappelle Roan kick.

Reward Yourself

Create some motivation by giving yourself a treat when you complete a task. Chocolate, time on TikTok, a walk – whatever you think of as a treat can work.

Celebrate Your Wins

Keep a daily “Small Wins Diary,” regularly talk about small wins with others (Pass Holders, have a space in our Community devoted to this), and refocus your thoughts away from frustrating “how” questions to the more fulfilling “why” questions related to why you do your work.

I recently talked about multi-tasking and why it’s one of the forces working against your productivity) and tips on how to stay focused on a single task instead of bouncing around from one thing to another.

One way to stay on task is day theming.

It isn’t a new concept, but it’s pretty simple – each day is dedicated to a specific theme with specific tasks that fall under that theme.

This helps you stay focused on that task or set of tasks without being pulled in a million different directions.

To get started:

1. Decide on the broader categories of your work (see the ideas below)
2. Assign those categories to a day of the week
3. Write tasks for each theme (this breaks down the theme into smaller chunks making it more manageable)
4. Add the themes and tasks to your calendar

Day Theme Ideas for Nonprofit Communicators

• Content Creation Day
• Meeting Day
• Measurement/Metrics Day
• Email List Management Day
• Brainstorming Day
• Specific Project Day
• Working with Development Staff Day
• Plan/Strategy Day
• Big Picture Thinking Day
• Editorial Calendar/Scheduling Day
• Internal Affairs Day
• Technology Day
• Administrative Day
• Research/Reading Day
• Professional Development Day

While this is a great idea for a lot of people, you may need to adapt if you find it’s not working. You may need some of these themes every week while others only need to be looked at every month. You may need to save a couple of hours for miscellaneous things, etc.

But even if you can’t allot an entire day to one thing, you should still try to block out large chunks of time where you focus on one category and tasks related to that category.

The goal is to change our mindset around multi-tasking to prevent the burnout, inefficiency and all the other bad things that come with it. Day theming can help with that.

More resources:

• Day Theming Could Be The Productivity Power Tool You’ve Been Missing
• Theming Your Days
• How To Use Day Theming For Productivity
• Day Theming: What It Is, How It Works

There are lots of tools and best practices on productivity out there. I’ve written a few myself.

And there are also lots of people confusing productivity with being a workaholic. If you have been around Nonprofit Marketing Guide long enough, you know we preach a CALM not BUSY approach to nonprofit work. That includes peaceful time management and productivity.

Let’s just start with a simple fact you need to understand: You will never get it all done, and it’s time to be OK with that.

But it’s not you. It’s the workload, nonprofit culture, and how we’re trained to think about time management.

Instead of looking for the next best tool, today we are going to talk about how so much of today’s culture is designed to work against your productivity.

You need to be aware of the battle going on for your attention, focus, and energy before you can tackle any time management issues you may have.

Here are four of the biggest forces working against you:

1. The Myth of Multitasking

Our brains are not designed for multi-tasking. And yet, we proudly declare we are multi-taskers in job interviews or in meetings.

But we aren’t really multi-tasking, we are just jumping from one task to another back and forth over and over again until we maybe complete a few of the things we started.

Unfortunately, studies have shown when we multi-task, we are more likely to make mistakes and we are less efficient. Stress hormones are also released when we multi-task.

You can learn more about the dangers of multi-tasking in my post 9 Tips to Help You Celebrate Single-Tasking Day This Year.

2. Capitalism and Toxic Productivity

The culture of the United States is very results oriented. The best qualities in a business are growth and speed.

If you don’t achieve your goals, you’re told it’s because you weren’t working “hard” enough.

The truth is there will always be more work to do. You will never finish it all. You have to find out what your “enough” is.

Find out more in these posts:

• Toxic Productivity: Is There Such a Thing as Being Too Productive? 
• Are You Enough? When the Need for Self-Improvement Becomes a Bad Thing 
• Burned Out from Talking About Burnout 
• We Need to Talk about Our Toxic Obsession with Productivity

3. Software and Social Media Mind Games

Project management apps and social media especially are pushing you to spend more time on their apps or software. Whether it’s constant notifications or infinite scrolling, they want you to stay on their app.

Time spent on these platforms is a widely tracked metric used for ad buys and investor reports. This means the more time you spend on them, the more money they make (but the less time you spend actually working).

4. Nonprofit Martyr Culture

You are expected to make less, but do more because you work for a nonprofit. Your passion for the mission is what is supposed to sustain you. If you push back, you are told you don’t care enough about the children, environment, sick people, your community, etc.

For more on this, see Kivi’s post Cutting the Workaholic Martyr Crap Starts with You.

As you can see, the odds are stacked against you to be productive. Stop judging yourself when you can’t manage your to-do list. Focus on your capacity and not your productivity.

My car and porch are covered in pollen so spring has officially sprung. Time to clean out those cabinets, pantries, closets, and workspaces!

Yes, whether you are still working from home or not, it’s important you include your work area in your spring cleaning plans.

According to 7 Office Spring Cleaning Tips to Boost Productivity Happiness at Work, an organized work space can lead to:

• More Productivity
• A Happier Mood
• A Better Overall Impression

Here are some spring cleaning tips for work from Simple Steps to Spring Clean Your Office and 10 Tricks To Spring Clean Your Office:

1. Divide Your Workspace Into Zones

Organization expert Peter Walsh suggests you set up zones based on the different types of work you do daily – a work area with your computer, another area for research, and another place to store your supplies. Of course if you only have a desk in a cubicle you will need to have pretty small zones, but this theory will help you stay more organized regardless.

2. Declutter Files and Papers on Your Desk

Throw out sticky notes you never read and reports you don’t need. Use folders or binders to keep papers you do need organized. Use a bookcase or wall file to keep them off your desk.

3. Keep Only What You Need At Arm’s Length

Cluttered desk, cluttered mind, right? Time to take some inventory on what you keep on your desk. Keep extra supplies you don’t use often or paperwork you don’t need in their established zones off of your desk.

4. Create A Daily Paper System

Speaking of paperwork, separate it based on what you need to read, what needs action, and what needs to be filed. File baskets or even color coded folders can help you streamline this process. They suggest you then pick days of the weeks to tackle each type or paperwork so you don’t get overwhelmed.

5. Establish Limits

This is especially helpful if you are short on space. For example, give yourself one bookshelf. When it’s full, you have to get rid of a book. (I can hear some of you gasping, but chances are you do not have a bookshelf full of books you look at for work every day.)

6. Organize Your Desk Inside and Underneath

Throw out pens that don’t work anymore and put away those random loose paper clips. Wipe down those dusty cables under your desk and try a cord organizer if they are really messy.

7. Don’t Use E-Mail As A To-Do List

Time to take a look at your digital clutter too. Use filters or follow ups to keep your inbox manageable.

8. Streamline Your Desktop Icons

If your entire monitor is covered in icons, you may need to reassess. Create a digital filing system and keep the icons to those things you use daily.

9. Keep A Basket Or Drawer For Short-Term Storage

I appreciated this tip as it does allow you a bit of a catch-all for those things you still need, but don’t make the cut for the previous tips. This can be for things like magazines, your gym bag, tennis shoes for walking, etc.

10. Disinfect Regularly

For this post, I did some research on how dirty laptops can be aaaaand I really wish I hadn’t. [Leaves to go grab disinfectant] As I was saying, clean your laptops, phones, light switches, etc regularly. This will most likely lead to you also taking care of anything else that doesn’t belong on you desk.

I’m writing this post three days into Spring in North America. I love the equinoxes and solstices because they mark the passage of time in very clear and natural ways. These natural cycles or rhythms are essential to all life.

Yet when we look at the nonprofit organizations we work for, we often treat them and ourselves as employees like machines, rather than living organisms.

I’m not trying to be philosophical. This is actually really important to the creativity and effectiveness of your communications team and to preventing burnout.

The Seasons of Nonprofit Work

One of our three suggestions for more peaceful time management at work is to seek out and then embrace the cycles or seasons of your nonprofit’s work and rest time. This is part of our larger CALM not BUSY framework for nonprofit communications pros.

Healthy growth demands rest. When does the work ebb and flow in your nonprofit? Where are the dormancy or recovery periods? If there are none at all, that’s a problem!

I’m not talking about times when your organization shuts down entirely, although those vacation days are great, too!

But what I mean is when does your organization stop to take stock of what’s been going on? When do you reflect? When does everyone get a chance to catch up with nothing new thrown at them?

Or do you only focus on the busy seasons, like end-of-year fundraising season, or whatever programmatic crunch times everyone dreads?

You also need to discuss how seasons for one part of the organization often precede or follow seasons for other parts. That’s especially true for nonprofit communicators who are busiest before everyone else as they do all of the marketing and communications for the programmatic work, events, etc., to come. 

Using our Big Picture Communications Timeline is a great way for organizations to start identifying the seasonality of their work, especially through a communications lens.

Know Your Own Rhythms, Too

What about you personally? How can you better pace your work at different times of day, days of the week, weeks of the month, and months of the year?

Look at the hours and days on your calendar. Are you giving yourself time throughout the week to process, think, and reflect?

If you’d like some help thinking through this from an organizational perspective, here are a few articles you might enjoy:

Movements and leaders have seasons – it’s important to know which one you are in

Seasonal nonprofit burnout disorder: You may be entitled to compensation

Tips for seasonal nonprofits to maximize the off-season  (Even if you aren’t a seasonal organization technically, it might help to pretend you are!)

I come across a lot of unusual “holidays” when creating the Monthly Nonprofit Writing Prompts email newsletter. While some of them are silly, they can still make good writing prompts like Optimist Day (February 3rd) or Pretend to Be a Time Traveler Day (December 8th)

And then there are things like Wave All Your Fingers At Your Neighbors Day (February 7th) or International Cherry Pit Spitting Day (July 1st) which I can’t really do anything with.

As someone who usually has at least two browser windows with multiple tabs open in each at any given time, Single-Tasking Day (February 22nd) got my attention.

I want to share the principals behind it since we are constantly told multitasking is the ultimate display of productivity. (Keep reading to learn why that isn’t true)

The idea behind Single-Tasking Day is to focus on one thing at a time. Take a task, break it down, and be intentional about finishing it. While you can take a break, the goal is to minimize distractions and interruptions until the task is complete.

You can complete more than one task on this day, but you should only be focusing on one and finishing it before moving on.

Why is this important? Well because despite employers looking for people who can “multitask”, multiple studies show that multitasking is less productive and leaves us more exhausted:

• Why Multitasking Doesn’t Work from the Cleveland Clinic
• The Myth of Multitasking by Christine Rosen
• Multitasking makes us a little dumber by Jim Sollisch
• Multicosts of Multitasking by Kevin P. Madore, Ph.D. and Anthony D. Wagner, Ph.D.

(You’ll notice all of these articles are years old at this point and yet we still can’t get over our multitasking ways!)

In the article The Real Cost Of Context Switching [And How To Solve It], Dominic Kent says that every time we try to focus on two different things at the same time (content switching), we activate our “working memory.” Multitasking uses up the limited capacity of our working memory. This causes not only our brain to become fatigued, but our entire body to become fatigued.

“Think of losing focus every time you context switch like an injury.” ~ Dominic Kent

These constant switches in focus have an adverse impact on your brain. You aren’t being productive, you’re just confusing your brain!

So this Thursday, February 22nd, let’s celebrate Single-Tasking Day!

Here are some tips to transition from multitasking to single-tasking:

1. Tell others what you are doing so they can leave you alone.
2. Only have one browser tab open. (Or if you are doing research, etc only have those with relevant content open)
3. Shut down email.
4. Turn off your phone (or at least silence it).
5. Turn off all other notifications.
6. Do a Brain Dump.
7. Group and prioritize your tasks.
8. Or pick that “ONE” thing you just can’t seem to stay focused on, but needs to get done.
9. Use the ol’ Pomodoro Technique. (Focus on a single task for 25 minutes, then take a 5 minute break.)
10. Take breaks away from your computer. (Do not use this time to check email, etc or your will get distracted).

For a lot of us, this is completely foreign way of doing things and will take some practice. Your brain is incredibly good at learning patterns meaning it will interrupt your train of thought because it thinks you need to check your email or look at your phone.

You may need to retrain your brain. Time how long it takes for your brain to interrupt you single tasking for a few days. Then start setting a timer for a few minutes longer that that for each task. The theory is your brain will eventually go longer and longer between distracting you with thoughts of Instagram and text messages.

Eventually single-tasking can become something we do all the time and not just on February 22nd!

A little background on me: I am NOT a morning person. I never have been and as I approach 50, I don’t see it changing any time soon (although I am not as big of a night owl as I used to be). And when I am not sure what I want to blog about, I often look at various blog aggregates or social media and look for inspiration from other writers and bloggers. As I search for something, I invariably find an article telling me that to be successful, I need to maximize my mornings.

For example, Morning Routine for Entrepreneurs: How to Kick Off Your Day Feeling Driven. Author Nancy Solari says:

The key to having a purposeful day is starting your morning off with a strong routine, and having a good morning routine for entrepreneurs will increase your chances of success in the long run.

So let’s go through her tips and see if I have what it takes to be successful.

1. Stimulate the Mind

She suggests journaling and self-reflection when you wake up. I normally wake up to either my Great Pyrenees mix barking or lab mix pawing at me followed by my beagle sitting on my chest until I scratch his back. Or sometimes it’s my alarm then the dog trampling. Either way, the only self-reflection I am doing is figuring out how long all of us can hold our pee before I have to get up.

She also recommends reading or solving a crossword puzzle as “even the smallest act of reading and exercising the mind can jumpstart your brain and rejuvenate you.” I assume social media doesn’t count so it’s not looking good for me.

Then she says if you are someone who would prefer to use your mornings to relax and veg out, then watch the news. WATCH THE NEWS?!? I don’t know what news she is watching, but the last thing I do is turn to the news to relax.

2. Participate in Physical Action

OK, between walking my 3 dogs, then going to either workout or play Pickleball, I do start most of my days with physical action. That’s really for my mental health, but we’ll count it.

3. Communicate and Use Your Voice

According to the article “When you aren’t communicating and using your voice, you are actually living at a lower vibration.” I don’t really know what that means, but I assume it’s bad. I work from home by myself unless it’s summer and my kids and teacher husband are home so I don’t really have anyone to talk to.

But I don’t let that stop me. I talk to my dogs (and myself) ALL DAY LONG as well as sing randomly (think Jess from New Girl) so I think I can check this one off too! I would hate to live life at a lower vibration after all. Maybe I do have what it takes…

4. Clear the Clutter and Make a Schedule

You should start your day by cleaning your desk, office, and doing daily responsibilities first thing. Clear your inbox and reply to emails so you have the rest of your day to focus. Then make a schedule and categorize your duties.

Y’all know I am big on lists so that I can do. But I do not start my day cleaning. I don’t end my day cleaning for that matter.

After I take my dogs out, I make some tea and sometimes some breakfast. Then I sit in my big comfy chair under a blanket even it’s 90 degrees outside and scroll though Instagram Reels or watch Disney Parks videos on YouTube. Then I force myself up and start my day very begrudgingly.

If “the way I start my day determines how the rest of my hours will flow” then I am screwed.

Don’t get me wrong, this is good advice and if you are one of those people who bound out of bed in the morning, you do you!

But I am over this whole “you HAVE to get up at 5am” to be successful.

In fact, according to If You Aren’t a Morning Person, Neuroscience Says Please Stop Trying to Be, whether you’re an early riser or a night owl is predominately biological.

Successful people who are early risers aren’t necessarily successful as a result of waking up early; they’re successful because they’ve matched their body clocks to their schedules.

When you start working doesn’t matter. What matters is what you get done in the hours between when you stop and start working.

Success is all about what you accomplish.

Not the time of day you accomplish it.

And if you aren’t a morning person OR a night owl? That’s fine too. It’s estimated that some 50% of the population isn’t really morning or evening-oriented, but somewhere in the middle.

What about you? Where do you fall in the early bird – night owl scale?

For my non-morning people, here are more resources on how you don’t have to be a morning person to be a success:

Is waking up at 4am really the secret to being a successful person?

You don’t have to get up at 4 a.m. to be successful: 5 CEOs who wake up after 10 a.m.

17 people who prove you don’t have to be a morning person to be successful

If you’re just not a morning person, science says you may never be

Larks and owls and health, wealth, and wisdom