You’ve likely heard the popular expression, if you’re not growing, you’re dying.
That being said, it has been a hard year. It can be tempting to veg out in front of the TV for hours on end. (I’ve done it myself.)
In fact, I’ve watched so much TV over the past year, I often feel there’s nothing left to watch.
I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you, it’s a much better use of your time (and life) to learn and to grow. Regardless of how old you are, there’s always time and space to learn new things.
The End of School Should Not be the End of Learning
Simply because you’ve finished your schooling does not mean you’re done learning.
Sometimes, I learn things for my career, business, and profession. Other times, I learn new skills which are hobbies or other things I might enjoy.
Continuing Education on a Professional Level
The biggest example of continuing education is my active involvement with the Association of Fundraising Professionals. If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ve heard me mention AFP before. Until Covid hit, I probably attended an AFP meeting every month for more than 20 years.
Although I could give many of the fundraising talks myself at the monthly AFP meetings, I always learn something new from each speaker… either about fundraising or about being a public speaker.
If I’m not actively learning about fundraising, I pride myself on studying public speaking. I’ve been speaking on fundraising for more than a decade. I’m fairly good now, but ten years ago, I was awful (about as awful as any beginner).
These days, people pay me to train and talk at conferences and meetings. It seems almost effortless. What my audience doesn’t know is that I’ve had three speaking coaches, read dozens of books on public speaking, and practiced my talks for hundreds of hours.
Continuing Education on a Personal Level
In the last year, I’ve taken several baking classes with my kids via Zoom. We learned to make macaroons, cinnamon rolls, and eclairs. And, it turns out, I’ve been making pancakes wrong for decades. Did you know the batter is supposed to be thick (not liquid) when it hits the griddle? (Who knew?) And, buttermilk does actually make pancakes taste better!
In March, I started taking ballroom dance lessons. I’ve always loved to dance, but until Covid gave me a lot of time to think about what was really important, I never stopped to do it.
As you can see, I’ve learned a lot this year — and every year since I finished school. It’s part of what makes a full and rich life.
If You’re not Growing, You’re Dying
Covid-19 gave all of us a chance to reflect on our lives. For me, it reinforced the importance of continuing education.
A New Opportunity to Grow
In that spirit, I’ve spent the past four months creating a free mini-course that every nonprofit professional should take. These six steps walk you through the ins and outs of creating and launching a successful fundraising program.
If you’ve already joined my list, you’ll begin receiving my new mini-course through a series of emails very soon. But if you’re not subscribed to my weekly newsletter, click the link below to unlock the mini-course:
Create and Launch a Super-Successful Fundraising Program in 6 Steps »
If you want to feel inspired and motivated, as well as learn new fundraising strategies, this could be just what you need to grow a little after a long dark year.
And yes, it’s 100% free, from start to finish (I promise).
What else are you doing to grow this year? Let me know in the comments.
Amy, great article . . . thanks!
Plan to retire in about 2.5 years. Thinking about consulting and definitely want to get back to playing the violin . . . my original,primary passion since I was 14 years old.
Thank you for sharing your energy and optimism. You message is very encouraging and motivating! Our world needs a lot of that these days as we all have to push toward recovery and work through the global metamorphosis this pandemic has created!
Amy
Enjoyed your post..you are right on point ..you have to keep moving and growing and I am afraid
some folks have let the time pass without moving forward …many NPO’s under this Covid-19 Cloud have slowed their efforts and in some cases have stopped their fundraising efforts with the excuse we cant raise funds during the pandemic.
Which was unfortunate…Keep positive and keep moving forward and amazing things can happen…..
Look forward to hearing more about your mini-course…
Amy
This cannot be said enough. With all the great resources available through AFP, popular donor platforms, and other groups, there is opportunity everyday to learn.
It also takes encouragement and support from leadership to encourage regular learning.
Your post prompted me to think about my own response to the slowdown COVID has brought. I discovered that I loved being home more rather than being out every night at a meeting, concert, or play. When I couldn’t go on a planned bike trip in France, my partner and I spent that week biking all over our city and discovered lots of places we have never seen before. We spent time outside in our garden, camping, walking, and cycling. We even started noticing the wildife more. I don’t have a TV so I didn’t watch a lot of that but I did bike indoors all winter and watched shows on the computer at the same time. I felt virtuous about exercise and motivated myself by doing something I enjoyed. As far as my profession as a Development Coordinator is concerned, I learned so many new things over the last year. I got bold about asking more. We had our best fundraising year ever in 2020, and it hasn’t stopped. Slowing down my personal life, hasn’t meant my work life took over. Rather, it’s given me time to think and plan and process in new ways. So many benefits (for a person of privilege). Now I need to make that list for myself of what I want to keep doing or do more of after this is over. Thanks.