Welcome to Productive Flourishing
Nothing is harder to manage than your time and energy.
Our work and life are full of projects that consume these precious resources. Unfortunately, distractions abound and it’s easy to get sucked into focusing on the things that don’t matter.
You have a vision for how you want your life (your business, your home, your creative pursuits) to go. Things keep getting in the way and it’s downright frustrating. Your ideas deserve to be heard and you deserve to thrive.
Productive Flourishing has been helping creators, business owners, and leaders figure out how to finish their most important projects since 2007. We are the behind-the-scenes resource for some amazing teams.
Whatever stage of life you’re in, PF has resources to help you do your best work
Articles and the Resource Library: We’ve published over 2,000 articles on our blog. You can also check out our most popular blog posts on productivity, time management, and more. If you’d like to discover your productivity persona, check out our Momentum Quiz. For some in-depth free guides, check out the Resource Library.
A community: Want to connect with more people like you, who are seeking to finish their most important projects? Join our free community.
Books: Charlie Gilkey, our founder, is the bestselling author of Start Finishing and The Small Business Life Cycle, and the forthcoming Team Habits. You can also see Charlie's recommended reads from other authors, too.
Planners: Our Digital Momentum Planner have been downloaded more than a million times, and you can try them for free. Or try Momentum, our planning app, free for 30 days. Don’t like digital? We have paper planners, too.
Productive Flourishing Academy: We built the Productive Flourishing Academy to help business owners and leaders gain knowledge, take action, and become who they want to be. Through weekly events like Leaders Labs, Business Growth Accelerators, Coworking sessions, Office Hours, and more, you will find the support and resources you need to level up your business.
Coaching: If you are a business owner or team leader, you can get 1:1 or group coaching with Charlie and Team PF.
NEW! Better Team Habits Launches on Substack
We know the power of habits when it comes to personal effectiveness — we’re applying the same principles to team habits.
In anticipation of the release of my new book, Team Habits, I've started a brand new publication, Better Team Habits, on Substack.
If you’re an executive, manager, leader, or someone interested in leadership, teamwork, strategy execution, and organizational dynamics, Better Team Habits is the right place for those conversations and insights about improving your team’s habits — so you get better performance and belonging.
Our Values at Productive Flourishing
Reinvest in the Community
When one of us thrives we all thrive. Productive Flourishing reinvests a portion of all profits into BIPOC-owned businesses and nonprofit organizations. We make a proactive effort to hire women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ people to our team.
Anti-racism, Pro-feminism
We not only reject racism in our own lives and team, but actively work to dismantle structures and practices that disadvantage people based on their race, gender, sexual identity, or other inherent traits.
Hustle Culture Is Toxic
The form of capitalism that exploits workers and refuses to compensate them well for their time and energy is toxic to our society. We actively engage in a fulfilling, wealthy life that is balanced with family, friends, rest and joy, and strive to enable the folks we work with to do the same.
Leadership Should Be Inclusive
Our culture tends to define leadership exclusively. The word itself conjures up a certain series of traits: bold, decisive, action-oriented, white, and male. We strive to expand that default image to include great leaders from all kinds of backgrounds who might be quiet, humble, and lead from their heart while still holding people accountable.
Meet the Productive Flourishing Team
Productive Flourishing was founded by Charlie Gilkey and Angela Wheeler, and keeping this community going is a team effort. Scroll down to learn more about Team PF.
Charlie Gilkey
Founder, author, speaker, business strategist, podcaster, and more
Charlie hails from Arkansas, and currently lives in Portland, Oregon. Before starting Productive Flourishing, he was an Army Joint Force Logistics Officer while working on his Ph.D. in Philosophy. He gets excited by seeing people accomplish more than they thought was possible.
- Loves playing coop strategy games
- Is a self-taught singer-songwriter who plays acoustic guitar
- Was a cheerleader in high school (pictures on Facebook serve as a public record, sometimes to his chagrin)
If you'd like to learn more about Charlie, read more here.
Angela Wheeler, PhD
Co-Founder, coach, speaker, facilitator, and more
Angela is a coach, author, speaker, and facilitator who teaches people how to thrive and lead by becoming aware of their strengths, creating nourishing boundaries, and cultivating the courage to become their best selves. She's the co-founder of Productive Flourishing and co-host of the Productive Flourishing podcast.
- Attracts stray neighborhood animals who run from blocks away to love on her
- Can't remember movies after she watches them
- Is often the receiver of secrets that people tell her but never share with anyone else
If you'd like to know more about Angela, read more here.
Shannon McDonough
Client Services Manager and Executive Assistant
Shannon was born and raised in the shadow of Mt. Rainier and is a lifelong resident of Washington state. Admin work combines her love of helping people and her obsessive need to follow up on details. In her free time, she's a political and social justice junkie and loves football (go Seahawks!).
- Played the lead in her high school’s production of the musical “The Pajama Game”
- Is addicted to lip balm and uses it multiple times a day
- Is neurotic about recycling and will take things out of the trash if they can be recycled
Steve Arensberg
Chief Operations Officer
Steve is a long-time writer and editor (who hates to write about himself in the third person). He’s excited to bring his years of experience in corporate roles and in online business to Productive Flourishing. Steve originally hails from Michigan (Go Blue!), though he currently lives in San Antonio, Texas. When he’s not writing and editing and creating stuff (for PF and his own projects), Steve likes to play games (board, RPG, video), walk or hike, and chill with Hobbes the bulldog.
- Was also the lead in his high school musical
- Played piano and percussion through his school years (and wants his own conservatory room someday)
- Can't name a favorite book or author (so many books, so little time!)
Maghan Haggerty
Head of Education and Content
- Certified in Gallup’s CliftonStrengths and the Sparketypes (Nurturer/Maven) and will happily talk for hours about either
- Self-taught in the art of crochet and enjoys making stuffed animals for the littles in her life
- New cat mamma to rescue kitty Riverside
Mary Clare O'Donnell
Content Marketing Specialist
Mary Clare has been writing and publishing online for clients since 2018. Her passions include climate activism and learning languages; she’s lived in five different countries (the U.S., UK, Germany, France, and Italy) and gets a kick out of seeing how the attitudes toward productivity change between places.
- ENFP, Type 7 Enneagram aka "The Enthusiast", into adventures, pasta, and, indeed, being intensely enthusiastic
- Proud Mama to her 1.5-year-old munchkin, Margherita ("Margot" for short)
- Living and working remotely from Italy, when she's not in Philly