Category Archives: gratitude

A Few Words About Gratitude

Some of us may see Thanksgiving as the beginning of a long break from work.  Others may want to get a jump on holiday shopping by seeking out ‘Black Friday’ deals at stores or online.  Clearly this is a big ‘eating’ holiday, whether you spend it with family or with close friends.  But in my view, this is really not what the holiday is about.

If you work with a nonprofit, you’ve probably already started your year end fundraising campaign. Instead of focusing on the timing and wording of your solicitations, remember to thank your donors for their support, and tell them how their contributions have helped to benefit your constituents.  Also make the effort to appreciate your colleagues at your organization who work so hard year-round to support you and your nonprofit’s cause.

If you work for an organization that provides a product or service for nonprofits, thank your clients for having entrusted you to achieve their important work.  And take the time to fully understand how they serve their supporters so you can be an even better partner.

If you are in between jobs, don’t focus on how difficult it is to find your next position. Instead, be thankful that you have a roof over your head, you have people who care about you and you have enough to eat from day to day.  Many others are not so fortunate.

If you know someone who is alone or who is going through a difficult time, reach out to spend time with them during the upcoming holidays.

Take the time every day to be thankful for what you already have, not only on Thanksgiving.  It can make all the difference, no matter what your current situation is.

Thoughts at Thanksgiving On Gratitude

Shortly before Thanksgiving, I reached out to some friends and colleagues to ask about plans for the holiday and to wish them well.   A few conversations were especially memorable.  One friend who moved away from New York last year for a job opportunity and to be closer to family mentioned that he had a heavy work load and was struggling to keep up.  But he quickly added that his wife was enjoying her job and that his son, who has had some health issues in the past year, was doing very well.   (When we first met, he was also dealing with a difficult work situation, yet he was still upbeat and was very interested in hearing about my job and personal life.)  Another former co-worker told me that her husband’s job was now more secure after many months of uncertainty and that another family member had recently found a good position.

Many of us have been affected by the recession, either by losing a position that we thought was secure or by staying in a bad work situation for fear of not being able to find something else.  For most of us, work will be challenging at times as our organizations deal with limited resources and competing priorities.  Sometimes self-employment is a viable option, but that also can be stressful, especially during the early stages of building a business.  Thankfully, the recession seems to be easing, so the worst may be behind us.

As we pause for Thanksgiving, let’s follow the example of my friends who have chosen to focus on what’s good in their lives.  Appreciate being in good health;  be thankful for having people in your life who love you.  If you’re working, be grateful;  if you’re in transition, stay positive and look forward to your next opportunity, even if it’s not the ideal position you’ve hoped for (it may be a stepping stone to getting there).  It’s not what happens in your life, it’s your attitude that makes the difference.

While spending time with family and friends over the holiday weekend, don’t complain, criticize or gossip about others.  Instead, help make it a Complaint-Free World by focusing on what is good.

This post was created as part of a global groundswell of gratitude called TweetsGiving. The celebration, created by US nonprofit Epic Change, is an experiment in social innovation that seeks to change the world through the power of gratitude. I hope you’ll visit TweetsGiving to learn more, and to bring your grateful heart to the party by sharing your gratitude, and giving in honor of that for which you’re most thankful.

No Time for Complaints

With the recent doom and gloom in financial markets, reading the Wall Street Journal has  been depressing lately as the bad news accumulates. At a staff meeting at my nonprofit organization lately, our president tried to put a positive spin on our prospects even though we had to lay off staff earlier this year – as have many other large nonprofits across the US. I find myself working longer hours to keep my work current, as are most of my colleagues. With our savings seeming to decline each day, how can we avoid negativity?

In the same Wall Street Journal that has documented the financial crisis was an article this week From Attitude to Gratitude: This Is No Time for Complaints.   Despite the abundance of bad news, many of us who still have our jobs are “finding reasons to be appreciative.”  As has happened in my nonprofit, we’re being asked to take unpaid furloughs to avoid larger cutbacks.   We’re also feeling grateful that we still have our jobs (many others don’t) and are “finding reasons to be appreciative.”  I’ve already read Will Bowen’s wonderful book A Complaint Free World, and have ordered Jon Gordon’s  The No Complaining Rule, which specifically deals with reducing negativity at work.

What can we do to survive at our nonprofits during these turbulent times?

  1. Will Bowen advises us to pledge to stop complaining, criticizing and gossiping.  Minimize contact with colleagues who constantly talk about how hard things are.   Instead, be the person who points out what’s good.
  2. Use this time as an opportunity to roll out online strategies to reduce costs, such as replacing paper newsletters with enewsletters and making more use of web / phone conferences to minimize travel expenses
  3. Find ways to help others to deal with stress and increased work loads.  Understand that if someone seems a bit cranky with you, it may because they are struggling to get their projects done.
  4. Keep reaching out to constituents, even if they aren’t able to sustain the level of financial contributions they have in the past.  There may be other ways they can help.
  5. Find a way to vent your feelings, but go easy on your spouse.  My wife surprised me yesterday by pointing out that I have often frequently complained about problems at work, even when I thought I was staying positive.  Focus on what you have to be thankful for, not on what’s wrong.

The Wall Street Journal article ends by asking us to “write down three things we’re grateful for every day,” even if sometimes you can only come up with basics such as “oxygen, food and shelter.”  When an individual deals with depression, it feels like things will never be any different.  It’s important to keep in mind that although we’re not sure when conditions will improve, things will get better.  And as many self-help books I’ve read over the years have repeated, it’s not the situation that causes grief, it’s how you deal with it.

Let’s also be grateful that we work in the nonprofit sector, where we can see the benefits of what we do for our constituents on a daily basis.

Random Thoughts at Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year since it encourages us to stop and think about what is already wonderful about our life.  No matter what is happening (or not happening) in your life, feeling grateful is probably the best way to bring more good things to you.  I hope this weekend has given you an opportunity to focus on what is already good, not on what you don’t currently have.  Everyone is blessed in different ways, although sometimes we are too ‘busy’ to recognize it.

Answr.net is an interesting new resource which offers best practices in nonprofit technology.  The first ‘channel of focus is email outreach – read some questions submitted so far.

As a follow up to my previous post about going forward with online communication despite the financial meltdown, Robert Weiner offers links to several articles about how nonprofits can survive the economic downturn.  Guidestar also has released a recent survey which offers comparisons between 2007 and 2008 giving levels.

Nonprofit Times offers a look at microblogging, as well as an interesting look at how to plan to utilize social networking tools.

Finally, Nten has released a Donor Management Software Satisfaction Report, which is worthwhile reading for anyone who is considering a change in CRM platform.  Some of the top rating products may be some that you’re not familar with, such as GiftWorks (which I’ve used and can recommend) and Neon CRM.

Why It’s Important to Look for the Good

During a seminar last year, my wife and I received a recommendation for the film The Secret, available online and also as a book.  I’ve just started to read the book, but the basic idea is using the power of attraction – what you focus on is what increases in your life.  I write a little about each day, focusing on positive things that happened.  It’s so important to look for the good since how you view the world affects how you feel, it’s not the events.  This is why some people who’ve had a difficult life are still able to be optimistic yet others who seem to have everything are miserable.  Even things that seem to be negative can end up being positive in the long run.

I’ve haven’t always been successful in applying these principles, but I’m trying to do it as much as I can, especially by not being around people who always choose to see the worst.