From the course: Nonprofit Fundraising: A Beginner’s Guide

Cultivating a time-positive attitude

From the course: Nonprofit Fundraising: A Beginner’s Guide

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Cultivating a time-positive attitude

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- To quote, author Michael Altshuler, "The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot." Time management at its core is about taking control of your schedule. In this lesson, you'll gain a greater understanding of how to improve your time management. Time management, or lack of time management, is the culmination of many habits. Habits are behaviors that our brain has learned to make without thinking. They are automatic, unconscious, and the result of behavioral patterns you have developed over many years. Most of your patterns have been developed early in life and haven't really changed. So if you're always late, it's probably because you've set the expectation for yourself and others, but there's good news. You're the pilot. You can choose every day whether you'll use your time wisely or waste some, or all of your time. With will and desire, you can cultivate a time positive attitude. First, you must recognize your bad habits and stop doing them. Next, set high quality results for yourself. Then, work on those goals by establishing high quality habits and patterns that break your old habits and your old ways of thinking. If you're struggling with time management, try this experiment. First, select three days this week to start working by 5:00 AM. I know it's early, but it will give you the chance to tackle tasks that don't require human interaction. On these early days, use the first three hours to take care of routine tasks, like email, writing reports and social media. By the start of the work day, you'll have the busy work completed so you can devote the rest of your day to contacting current and potential donors. And as a bonus, you'll discover that you have gained an entire day after just one week with this experiment, and realize how little time you actually spend fundraising. You may even notice that you're having more donor conversations in a week than you did in the last month. By cultivating a time positive attitude, you'll not only increase your effectiveness as a fundraiser, but you'll be putting better use to your time and your donors. Creating a time positive attitude is all about taking control and building quality habits. Remember, you're piloting the plane.

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