I’ve been thinking a lot lately about perspective and particularly about how optimism is a truly powerful gift, and a positive attitude is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Not easy for a realist.
Bert Jacobs, who spoke at the AFP International Conference on Fundraising last month, taught me an important lesson about promoting the disposition to see opportunity. After years of peddling tee shirts on the streets of Boston, he and his business partner and brother John founded the Life is Good company, building it into a $100-million lifestyle brand based on the idea of giving back.
His philosophy is that in order to be able to turn the fun things you do in your life into your work and have a constructive impact on the world, you must remember two powerful words…GET TO.
We say things like, “I have to go to this meeting.” “I have to take the kids to practice.” “I have to finish this project.” “I have to go to go to the gym.” We act as if we don’t have a choice, but we do. We choose how we view our life and work. Often, it’s those facing the greatest adversities that understand and embrace this the most. It’s not about what we have to do. It’s about what we get to do.
As fundraisers, we get to go to work and work on something that we really care about – something that we can be proud of and that makes a difference. As members of AFP, we get to have access to top-notch education resources, we get to network with our colleagues at monthly membership luncheons, we get to make a contribution back to our profession through the Every Member Campaign and we get to celebrate generosity at National Philanthropy Day and through the Lloyd Horton Lifetime Achievement Award.
If you don’t love what you’re doing, flip the coin and find a way to infuse positivity into it. Oh, and a sense of humor never hurts.
Nora Gunn, CFRE
President, 2013 AFP Suncoast Chapter
Vice President, St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation & St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital Foundation
Phone: 813 872 0979