15 Ways to Become an
Ultra Productive
Fundraiser!
Alex Blake
@alexblake_KEDA
www.kedaconsulting.co.uk
Why is productivity important?
We have seen many fundraisers working incredibly hard
but not getting the results they seek because they are not
working at a high level of productivity.
Being busy is not the same as being productive.
Fundraisers can suffer from stress and anxiety while their
charities can suffer through missed opportunities to
maximise income and staff sickness/turnover.
@KEDA_Consulting www.kedaconsulting.co.uk @alexblake_KEDA
Challenges
Common challenges include:
procrastination over difficult tasks
identifying and sticking to key priorities
distractions from e-mails and social media
meetings that lack purpose.
@KEDA_Consulting www.kedaconsulting.co.uk @alexblake_KEDA
15 ideas to increase productivity
Based on interviews with over 200 ultra-
productive people including:
7 billionaires
13 Olympians
20 straight-A students
200 successful entrepreneurs.
Kruse asks one simple, open-ended question,
“What is your number one secret to productivity?”
@KEDA_Consulting www.kedaconsulting.co.uk @alexblake_KEDA
1. Focus on minutes, not hours.
People default to hours and half-hour blocks on their calendar.
Highly successful people know there are 1,440 minutes in every day and there is nothing more valuable than time.
Legendary Olympic gymnast Shannon Miller says, “To this day, I keep a schedule that is almost minute by minute.”
Fundraiser’s tips:
Think about time required for tasks – if it takes 20 minutes, don’t schedule half an hour
Block together minor admin tasks and schedule time to focus on important/challenging tasks
But maintain flexibility – in some industries it is more acceptable to ‘close the door’ to interruptions. People in the charity sector value their colleagues being approachable.
@KEDA_Consulting www.kedaconsulting.co.uk @alexblake_KEDA
2. Focus only on one thing
Ultra productive people know their Most Important Task and work on it for one to two hours each morning, without interruptions.
Tom Ziglar, CEO of Ziglar Inc., shared, “Invest the first part of your day working on your number one priority that will help build your business.”
What task will have the biggest impact on reaching your goal?
Fundraiser’s tips:
Stop multi-tasking – studies show that we are not effective when juggling multiple tasks or when being distracted by e-mails, social media etc.
Identify your most important task and make sure it is prioritised, with uninterrupted time – work at home if this is necessary.
@KEDA_Consulting www.kedaconsulting.co.uk @alexblake_KEDA
3. Don’t use to-do lists.
Throw away your to-do list! It turns out only 41% of items on to-do lists are ever actually done. And all those undone items lead to stress and insomnia.
Highly productive people put everything on their calendar and then work and live from that calendar. “Use a calendar and schedule your entire day into 15-minute blocks. It sounds like a pain, but this will set you up in the 95th percentile...”, advises the co-founder of The Art of Charm, Jordan Harbinger.
Fundraiser’s tips:
Find what works for you (calendar, to-do list or other) as long as it does the following:
Gets it out of your head on to a calendar, document, notepad
Prioritises tasks by importance
Schedules time – when and for how long
If your to-do list has tasks that don’t help achieve your goals, cut them out.
@KEDA_Consulting www.kedaconsulting.co.uk @alexblake_KEDA
4. Beat procrastination with time travel.
Your future self can’t be trusted. That’s because we are “time inconsistent.”
We buy veggies today because we think we’ll eat healthy salads all week;
then we throw out green rotting mush in the future.
What can you do now to make sure your future self does the right thing?
Anticipate how you will self-sabotage in the future, and come up with a
solution to defeat your future self.
Fundraiser tips:
Set a specific goal
Make yourself accountable – by making it public or having a referee
Set a penalty so if you do self sabotage it will cost you something – use
stick.com if you need external support.
@KEDA_Consulting www.kedaconsulting.co.uk @alexblake_KEDA
5. Make it home for dinner.
Intel’s Andy Grove says “there is always more to be done, more that should
be done, always more than can be done.”
Highly successful people know what they value in life. Yes, work, but also
what else they value. There is no right answer, but for many, values include:
family time, exercise, giving back.
Fundraiser tips:
Be disciplined about when you will stop what you are doing and leave the
office.
Switch off when you are home – be present.
@KEDA_Consulting www.kedaconsulting.co.uk @alexblake_KEDA
6. Use a notebook.
Richard Branson has said on more than one occasion that he wouldn’t have
been able to build Virgin without a simple notebook, which he takes with him
wherever he goes.
In one interview, Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis said, “Always carry
a notebook. Write everything down... That is a million dollar lesson they
don’t teach you in business school!” Ultra-productive people free their mind
by writing everything down.
Fundraiser tips:
Ensure you reflect on your notes from time to time and add any actions that
arise from them to your planning tool(s) of choice
Use tech alternatives if you prefer.
@KEDA_Consulting www.kedaconsulting.co.uk @alexblake_KEDA
7. Process email only a few times a
day. Ultra-productive people don’t “check” email throughout the day. They don’t
respond to each vibration or ding to see who has intruded into their inbox.
Instead, like everything else, they schedule time to process their email
quickly and efficiently.
For some that’s only once a day, for others it’s morning, noon and night.
Fundraiser tips:
Turn off your e-mail, especially when working on your most important tasks.
If you only follow one idea, make it this one!
Distracting e-mails are a huge drain on time and focus. Turn … it … off!
@KEDA_Consulting www.kedaconsulting.co.uk @alexblake_KEDA
8. Avoid meetings at all costs.
When asked for his best productivity advice, Mark Cuban quickly responded, “Never take meetings unless someone is writing a check.”
Meetings are notorious time killers. They start late, have the wrong people in them, meander in their topics and run long.
You should get out of meetings whenever you can, hold fewer of them yourself, and if you do run a meeting, keep it short.
Fundraiser tips:
Ask what the purpose of the meeting is, what your role is, how long it will last, what the agenda (with timings) is etc. – if its not helping meet your goals, explain what you will not be doing to be there.
If you need to hold a meeting, structure it with clear time limits and chair it well. Use a visible timer if necessary.
@KEDA_Consulting www.kedaconsulting.co.uk @alexblake_KEDA
9. Say “no” to almost everything.
Billionaire Warren Buffet once said, “The difference between successful
people and very successful people is that very successful people say ‘no’ to
almost everything.”
James Altucher colorfully gave this tip, “If something is not a “hell, YEAH!
Then it’s a “no!” Remember, you only have 1440 minutes in every day. Don’t
give them away easily.
Fundraiser tip:
When asked to do something that does not contribute to your goal, say “I
could do that, but if I do, it means not doing x”
@KEDA_Consulting www.kedaconsulting.co.uk @alexblake_KEDA
10. Follow the 80/20 rule.
Known as the Pareto Principle, in most cases 80% of outcomes come from only
20% of activities.
Ultra-productive people know which activities drive the greatest results, and
focus on those and ditch/delegate the rest.
Fundraiser tips:
Think about what really helps you to achieve your goals – focus more time on
this and less on tasks that have less impact.
E.g. in trust fundraising, focus more time on major bids and less on small
scale applications
Perfection is not always something to strive for – if something is at 9/10 its
done.
@KEDA_Consulting www.kedaconsulting.co.uk @alexblake_KEDA
11. Delegate almost everything.
Ultra-productive people don’t ask, “How can I do this task?” Instead they ask,
“How can this task get done.” They take the “I” out of it as much as possible.
Ultra-productive people don’t have control issues and they are not micro-
managers.
Fundraiser tips:
Who you should delegate to – your line reports, volunteers, people in other
teams, external support (e.g. virtual PA).
What to delegate – what do you really need to do yourself?
Over a week, keep a list of tasks you do that could have been delegated
@KEDA_Consulting www.kedaconsulting.co.uk @alexblake_KEDA
12. Theme days of the week.
Highly successful people often theme days of the week to focus on major areas. E.g. Jack Dorsey (CEO of Twitter and Square):
“The way I found that works for me is I theme my days. On Monday, at both companies, I focus on management and running the company…Tuesday is focused on product. Wednesday is focused on marketing and communications and growth. Thursday is focused on developers and partnerships. Friday is focused on the company and the culture and recruiting. Saturday I take off, I hike. Sunday is reflection, feedback, strategy, and getting ready for the week.”
Themed days can create efficiencies by grouping similar tasks and establishes a clear rhythm – if your marketing team know you will be focussed on them on Tuesdays they won’t interrupt you on Mondays and they know you will be asking for an update in a week.
Fundraiser tips:
Set one day a week for all recurring internal meetings
No Meeting Wednesdays – dedicate one day to working on x without interruptions
Set one day to focus on your donors – call them, meet with them, get their feedback
If you have a lot of admin set a day for it (but ideally cut it out or delegate!)
@KEDA_Consulting www.kedaconsulting.co.uk @alexblake_KEDA
13. Touch things only once.
How many times have you opened a piece of regular mail — a bill perhaps —
and then put it down only to deal with it again later? How often do you read
an email, and then close it and leave it in your inbox to deal with later?
Highly successful people try to “touch it once.”
If it takes less than five or ten minutes — whatever it is — they’ll deal with it
right then and there. Reduces stress since it won’t be in the back of their
mind, and is more efficient since they won’t have to re-read or evaluate the
item again in the future.
Fundraiser tips:
This is a really great and easy to implement one.
Again, e-mail is a big one – decide what to do with it and reply, delete, file
etc.
@KEDA_Consulting www.kedaconsulting.co.uk @alexblake_KEDA
14. They practice a consistent morning
routine. Kruse’s single greatest surprise was how many of the interviewees wanted to
share their morning ritual with him.
Most people nurtured their body in the morning with water, a healthy breakfast and light exercise. They nurtured their mind with meditation or prayer, inspirational reading, and journaling.
Fundraiser tips:
If you don’t have time, get up earlier
Find what works for you so you start the day with energy and focus (even if you’re not a morning person!)
What works for you might be exercise or meditation but it could also be clearing your inbox, or it could be seeking fundraising inspiration from other charities, sectors, countries.
@KEDA_Consulting www.kedaconsulting.co.uk @alexblake_KEDA
15. Energy is everything.
You can’t make more minutes in the day, but you can increase your energy
which will increase your attention, focus, decision making, and overall
productivity.
Highly successful people don’t skip meals, sleep or breaks in the pursuit of
more, more, more. Instead, they view food as fuel, sleep as recovery, and
pulse and pause with “work sprints”.
Fundraiser tips:
Increased energy does not mean you can work for longer, it means you can
work better.
Know what effects your energy and be mindful of this – do you have more
energy if you go to sleep earlier, eat healthier, drink more water / less beer,
leave the house without shouting at the kids etc.
@KEDA_Consulting www.kedaconsulting.co.uk @alexblake_KEDA
Questions and Reflections
@KEDA_Consulting www.kedaconsulting.co.uk @alexblake_KEDA
@KEDA_Consulting www.kedaconsulting.co.uk @alexblake_KEDA
My Favourites
Focus on one thing – close e-mail and turn off social media
notifications
Process e-mail three times a day
Avoid crap meetings and/or hold great ones (and say no to
other stuff that gets in the way)
Make it home for dinner
Touch things only once
Be mindful of what boosts or drains your energy
Be proactive about being productive.
Stay in touch…
Contact me directly - [email protected] or 07707246862
Connect with me on LinkedIn and Twitter - @alexblake_KEDA
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