The 5 steps of a Morning Shift
The Morning Shift Coalition bridges the gap between passion and action, helping volunteers become activists. These are our first steps, and we encourage all new members to take the following into consideration when joining our organization.
Step 1: Need a change
If you’re here reading this, you know what a need for change is about. You might not know exactly what change is needed, but you’re seeking it.
Our goal at the Morning Shift Coalition is to help you turn this need into concrete actions that address your concerns.
Step 2: Make the time
It sounds simple, but making time is the hardest step, and where most people fail, so proceed with determination.
Please schedule a regular time to work on changing the situation we’re in. Because of its importance, and its difficulty, scheduling a time for work is the only requirement for being a member in the Morning Shift Coalition.
When to work? We put our suggestion in our name: the morning. Making change happen is hard, and if it is to happen, it needs to be a priority in our lives. Setting aside time each morning to work on what is important helps us align our priorities with our schedule: That is, it helps us do our most important work first.
That said, if you’re productive in the afternoons or during the evenings, please continue to do what works for you (and please share your secrets). But if you’re struggling to gather your motivation after a long day at work, consider shifting your schedule to wake up earlier and start the day with a Morning Shift.
The important thing, though, is make “being in the coalition” a part of your schedule until it turns into a routine. We suggest setting aside an hour of time on specific days, seeing how that goes, and adjusting accordingly.
Step 3: Identify what is important
Now that we have some time to work with: What is a change that you personally want to see?
Is there a cause that you want to see succeed? We encourage you to feel your way through this one, and pick one of the first things that sticks in your mind. Spend 10 minutes at the most on this — the goal is to pick something you feel strongly about.
Share it with us, or keep it to yourself. The Morning Shift Coalition will help you connect with organizations that are working toward the same goals as you.
Identifying what is important not only helps us with our next steps, it also helps us avoid getting distracted and pulled in by someone’s agenda.
Step 4: Make an action plan
Can you do something about it today? This challenging step takes a bit of practice to get right, but it comes with time.
Consider what skills and resources you have: What action is a good fit for you? We all have skills and resources. And if we don’t, our action can be to develop some.
Step 5: Act
Do the thing. When you do act, please write a sentence to let us know. Your actions are important, and we want to hear about them.
Maybe tell people you did a thing, or invite others to join you in doing the thing. If that feels like too much, that is normal. In time, we’ll help you tell the story behind your actions, but as a new member just doing the thing is what’s important.
At the Morning Shift Coalition, our goal is to help people tell their stories of action: What we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and whether or not it’s working out.
Rest
After doing the 5 steps, please rest. You’re doing a lot, and there’s a lot more to do, so expect to take a break. We encourage people to take at least two days off each week from the Morning Shift. There are a lot of us, and we’ll be here when you return.
The Morning Shift Coalition bridges the gap between passion and action, helping volunteers become activists. These are our first steps.
To join us and share what you’re working on, please use our website, morningshift.org, from time to time. We’re encouraging people to stay in touch either once per week or once per month.
If you are on Facebook, we invite you to connect your account to us, and tag your posts with #MorningShift to share your work with a larger audience. If you have comments or questions, please reach out to open a dialog, or reply to this post. Thank you.
