2023 is going to be the best year yet! No excuses! You're going to achieve everything you want for your organization, your life and your family, I just know it. Thank you for letting me walk alongside you on your journey.

What you'll learn:

→ why January is all about resting and recharging.
→ my new morning routine for 2023
→ finding space in my day for me!

Want to skip ahead? Here are key takeaways:

[0:40] January is for resting and recharging. You've just come out of the busy holiday and year end giving season. Yes there is still more work to be done, but it's also a great reminder that you need to take a break, rest and avoid burnout.
[2:39] Revisit your morning routine and how you jumpstart your day. It should be whatever keeps you going and lights you up for the day at hand. 
[6:37] Make time in your day for breaks. Working through. theday and not moving your body or giving your brain a pause actually reduces productivity. Make a commitment to create space in your day that allows you to step away.

Full Transcript

[INTRO] You're listening to the digital marketing therapy podcast. I'm your host, Sami Bedell-Mulhern. And each week, I bring you tips from myself and other experts, as well as hot seats with small business owners and entrepreneurs to demystify digital marketing and get you on your way to generating more leads and growing your business. 

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern] Hello, hello, and welcome to January feels kind of crazy to think that we're in January 2022, flew by so fast. And I wanted to come today to just give you some permission, not that you need my permission. But sometimes we need to hear things over and over again. And this is going to be a super short episode because it's all about resting and recharging. And I want that for you. And so that isn't listening to me drone on all for like 30 minutes about how to rest and recharge. Instead, I want you to take a minute and breathe, and just be coming in the nonprofit world out of December in the year end craziness. It's overwhelming. It's a lot, there's a lot going on, there's a lot of year end goals that we're trying to wrap up, you're in donations, all of those things. And so for me, January is kind of like a time to take a breath, and make sure I'm set in what I want my year to be my intentions, and then moving into it. So I'm not a big one for you know, resolutions and making big change because there's already so many things that are going on. Instead, I want to take some time to reflect and be and celebrate what we did in 2022. And really thoughtfully finalize how I'm going to move forward. I've done a lot of this work in December. But January is really kind of putting those things in action and really making sure that me and my team are like solid and what it is that we're doing. A lot of times we feel like if we don't start off on the first of the year with this bang and plan we're behind. But let's not start the year feeling like we're behind. Let's start the you're feeling confident and good. And what it is that we have that we're going to accomplish the impact that we're going to make the people's lives, animals lives, the environment, whatever it might be, the impact we're going to make in 2023 is going to be incredible. And I'm so grateful and thankful to be alongside you as you work through that. So here are some ways that I am going to be moving through January to rest and recharge and hopefully you do some of this with your team or yourself as well. So the first thing that I'm going to be doing is really just getting back to my morning routine. I have had several iterations of my morning routine throughout the course of my business and my personal life. And now I'm just taking this as a fresh start to get back to it. So whatever that looks like for you, when ever that looks like for you, right, you don't need to be getting up at 530 in the morning to start your morning routine. For me, every time we've lived in a different house, my routine has had to change a little bit because I work from home, my husband works from home about 75% of the time. And so like we have our basic kind of rhythm. But in different houses with different bathroom setups, and bedroom setups and all the different office setups, I've had to kind of change my routine over the course of time. The one thing that I really want to get back to right now is not starting my day jumping quite right into work. So work related activities, but not necessarily jumping into my email, and especially not jumping into social media. So what that looks like it's spending a few time a few minutes in the morning to reflect. So I typically get up between 530 and six. And my office is right outside of my kitchen. And so I have about 45 minutes or so in the morning, before my husband's done making breakfast for the kids and the kids are down getting ready for school. So I'm getting back into the habit of starting to do a little bit of writing and journaling because I'm finding that there's just a lot of things that are getting stuck in my head. So what my morning routine is looking like right now is waking up making myself a hot cup of tea or a cup of coffee just depending on what I'm in the mood for that day. And sitting down to write a few things. Number one, I'm starting to just free write for about five minutes. And I'm not doing it for more than five minutes because I don't want that pressure of feeling like I have to get all these things out. Just a few minutes reflecting writing whatever comes to mind. And then I'm spending a couple minutes writing three to five things that I'm grateful for. I think that's a great way to start the day and kind of get my brain going in a positive direction. And then I'm writing out the 10 things. I learned this from Rachel Hollis. But the 10 things that are what success looks like for me and I used to do this And it's just a great reminder to keep things present. So these are things that I've talked about this a lot on this podcast, these are things that will kind of trigger that I've hit a point, I've hit a milestone in my business, because we always want more, we're always going for more, we're always growing, but I've hit a milestone in my business. Because my business is here, I want to support all the nonprofits, I can help you fulfill your mission build your goals make bigger impact. But I also am doing it for me and my family. And so those goals are related to things that I want the life that I'm trying to build. So some of them are professional, some of them are personal. So writing those 10 things down every morning as if they've happened to try to trick my brain into making them happen. I feel like last year, I kind of lost a little bit of that. I have great support. And it wasn't, it wasn't that I didn't have people supporting me in my business. But I kind of lost touch with the why of it all. And so I'm excited to bring that back. So all in all, that whole process should take me about 15 minutes. And then that gives me a little bit more time to just kind of then jump into some tasks that I need to get done in order to kind of, you know, clear my head and get going through the day. So that looks like email that looks like you know, going through a project management tool to figure out where we're at with things, make comments notes, and figure out what we need to get done for the day, then it's getting the kids off and ready to school, then I can jump into my bigger tasks. So that's one thing that I'm doing to kind of rest and recharge and get back into the kind of that calm state, routine, regular process, all of that good stuff. The other thing that I'm doing to kind of rest and recharge in January is really making sure that I'm building in time for breaks. And for me, so what does that look like? That looks like maybe it's January in Minnesota, so it's not a lot of outdoor activities. Although Minnesotans are really good at getting out in all temperatures. I don't mind the cold, but I'm not gonna go for a walk in it. So sometimes that means playing the piano for 15 minutes, when I'm just needing a little break. It might mean eating the lunch away from my desk, it might mean Mindlessly scrolling, tick tock or playing game on my phone or iPad for 10 minutes, whatever it is. But January for me is really listening and paying attention to what I need and figuring out how to take the best self care that I can. And like mirror that within the business space. Because at least I know on days, when I'm feeling a little bit more like out of focus out of whack or like I just can't get all the things done, the more I push through that, the worse it gets. Whereas if I can just take a step back, give myself that break, well, it feels a little bit uncomfortable, and it feels like I'm wasting time, I find that when I take that moment and really clear my head and recharge I'm much more effective and efficient moving forward. The other thing, and this is kind of silly, I am going to really start building in my routines of getting ready like getting dressed. You know, taking my showers and doing my skincare routine, doing my skincare routine at night, like really just taking care of me because those are all the things that during the holidays, get left behind, and then that leads to burnout in the workplace. So that's one thing, those are some of the things that I'm doing to kind of rest and recharge in January. Then on the kind of goal setting side of things, I'm really putting pen to paper, I'm doing some of the more tedious things but like finishing and finalizing budgets, making sure that everybody is on track with where we're going, making sure I'm rock solid in my q1 goals. So the recharging part of it is also the excitement of the new and excitement of the ideas that we have, the things that we're going to be doing, we have some big things in store that I'm very excited about. And so really getting energized and excited about where we're going and letting go of where we've come from. Because I do a lot of that reflection in December when I'm doing my goal setting. You know what worked, what didn't, what do we want to happen. So January is really just kind of about like shedding those layers of last year. Moving on, I've already reflected I know where I'm going. And then really just having fun and diving in and strategizing all of the to dues like the specific tasks that I want to have done in order to hit my goals. And that's really it. So I just want to challenge you to take some moments to remind yourself that you are important. The work you do is incredible, but you are just as important. And you need to take some time for yourself to really make sure that you have what you need to continue to fill that energy bucket to continue to do the great work you're doing. Your team needs that time. And while it's hard to do over the holidays, with urine giving In all of the madness, remember that in January, it's a great time to take some reflection, some rest, rebuild in those breaks, rebuild in the things that are exciting to you, and make time to make it happen. Put some time on your calendar every single week, that is you time that you can do with it what you want, and not things that you think you should be doing. You know, don't have that be your personal development time. Don't have that be your workout time. Although it could be if that's something that really helps you recharge. Don't let that be. Well, my me time is when I'm waiting in the school pickup line to pick up my kids you know, have it be something that you truly enjoy doing. So that is my message to you in this short little episode and my first episode to you in this new year. Thank you so much for listening, and we'll get back to the marketing stuff next week. I'll talk to you soon