Do you have Fundraising GRIT?

What is fundraising GRIT?

Grit is a combination of passion and perseverance.

According to Bill Damon, a Stanford developmental psychologist, you need these 3 things to develop purpose.

1. A spark- something you’re interested in
2. Observing someone, alive or dead, who is purposeful
3. Discovering a problem they want to solve, and believing that it’s possible for them to start to solve it.

Growth mindset leads to Optimistic self talk which leads to Perseverance over adversity

Even Winston Churchill knew this. He said,

“Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence – is the key to unlocking our potential.”

Here are three tips to develop grit!

1. Update your beliefs about intelligence and talent. Fact: You can always substantially change how intelligent you are.
2. Practice optimistic self talk
3. Ask for a helping hand

Why will grit help you with your fundraising?

Because you have a lot of nos in fundraising, and it makes a lot of people feel like quitting.

Why do we quit when it gets hard?

You might do a cost benefit analysis before you try something hard-but unconsciously, according to Angela Duckworth, what’s really going on is you might be saying,

“Who am I? What is this situation? What’s someone like me do in a situation like this?”

That’s why it’s so important to be around people who enforce your perception of yourself as someone who doesn’t give up, who keeps going, because that’s what everyone else is doing.

This is how Olympic swimmers get up every morning at 4am. They do it with a lot of other people, so it becomes natural, because the whole group does it.

Here are 4 phrases that KIPP teachers use on their students, (attribution retraining) that you can use to help people in your office try harder in fundraising instead of quit:

1. “That didn’t work. Let’s talk about how you approached it and what might work better.”
2. “This is hard. Don’t feel bad that you can’t do it yet.”
3. “I have high standards. I’m holding you to them because i know we can reach them together.”
4. “Great job! What’s one thing that could have been even better?”

Today we will be giving away a copy of Grit! If you would like to be considered for a copy of this book, just leave a comment and convince me why you should get it!

Do you have grit in your fundraising career? Do you ever wonder, “How can I get a better paying fundraising job?” or “Why am I not getting the interviews in the places I want?” Do you just keep sending resumes out, and hoping that THIS time, it will work?

Why not develop fundraising career grit, and learn how to set yourself apart and succeed in your fundraising career, at the Fundraising Career Conference?

Join us for the 3rd annual Fundraising Career Conference April 17th, 19th and 21st 2017. Since 2015 over 900 people have attended this online conference, resulting in more successful job interviews, 42% salary increases, new jobs, better workplace environments, and more! This year we’re going deep, with sessions on how to build trust with your boss (and not get fired), how to be a better mentor and manager, creativity and play at work, and more! Learn more