Make the Most of Your Holiday Week
	Posted by Cheryl Black at Jul 03, 2012 06:30 AM CDT Categories: NPtech, Productivity

Office a little dead this week with the 4th of July holiday? Hearing crickets instead of coworkers (and no, I’m not talking about the Austin cricket infestation)?

Sometimes…OK most of the time, a slow week like this can be great for knocking through projects. But sometimes it can bring you to a standstill if everyone you need to work with is out enjoying an extended holiday. If you fall into that latter category, this blog’s for you! Here are 5 things you can do, sans coworkers, partners, donors, anyone at all, that will keep your mission on track.

1. Data Hygiene: Data nerds rejoice! This is the perfect opportunity to do a little merge/purge on your constituent records. If your merge/purge is complete (give yourself a high five), take a minute to add more detail like the preferred title (Ms, Mrs., Miss, etc).
2. Clean Your Desk: It’ll make each workday seem so much less hectic going forward. Promise.
3. Thank You Calls: Whether catching up on long-overdue thank yous or just reaching out to your board and committee members with an extra thanks, these will go a long way in building relationships.
4. Professional Development: All those on-demand webinars and how-to blog posts you have bookmarked, this is the week to actually learn from them. And if you don’t have any bookmarked, check out these guides on nonprofit best practices.
5. Me Time: If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. That’s right. If the whole office is on vacation, leaving you high and dry on projects, this might be your perfect opportunity to catch some R&R yourself. Go play some golf, get a pedicure, have a mojito by the pool. Do whatever it is that will rejuvenate you and leave you ready to hit the ground running next week.

Happy Fourth of July!