![]() In March, there was a frenzy of activity while we all stocked up for what felt like an Alaskan January. Then we enjoyed the novelty of working from home in our loungewear, Zooming into meetings, and sharing stories of adapting. It was a curious experiment. Now, it’s become a routine and a bore. This is the first time in my life that I remember going an entire summer without jumping into a lake for a swim, but my state park is limiting numbers, and I want the kids who are around to enjoy the water. I’m lonely without my workout buddies, as much as we Facebook each other. Finally, our clients see us only online at a time that they could really use a friendly face and helpful advice while they try to pivot in a hurricane.
Meanwhile, there are webinars every day on fundraising during the crisis, but, frankly, our eyes are getting tired. There is a wide range of companies telling us how to raise money now and helping us hold virtual events. The flurry of online offerings represents the concern that we vendors have for you and your organization. We are trying to help, and we’re probably also making your email box pretty noisy. Even with Covid fatigue, though, we can still do something to help ourselves and our organizations stay the course, and staying the course is the hardest part – just ask all those young kids milling around on the beach without masks. The most important themes for our summer and fall are that we have to remain dependable for our organizations and that we have to take care of our families and ourselves. This is going to be a long ride. Let’s look at some ideas. For Your Organization Like it or not, any pause in normal activity allows us to do those odious projects that we were able to put off during our busier periods. These include:
Remember that your top executives are stressed. They have to raise money, defend your job to their supervisors (or board), and perhaps figure out whom to lay off. Do not make suggestions that someone else has to implement. Just take care of business and be transparent. That will relieve your boss from worrying about what you’re up to. Also, if you ask for feedback, stick with project-based feedback. Chances are your upper management are overwhelmed with work and personal needs to give you a pat on the back, as much as you deserve it. For Your Family This is a fundraising blog, but -- like our farming ancestors -- our work, our family, and our social life are now at home. Here are some ways to cope, taken from our experience.
For Yourself In March and April, I did a lot of food buying and cooking since it was all I was allowed to do, given how much New York was trying to contain the virus (and we did!). However, I, like a lot of my friends, picked up extra pounds within a few weeks. And then, by June, even food shopping lost its luster since it was my only excuse to leave the house. Now, what? Here are some things that we’ve done at Staupell to take care of ourselves.
I’ll admit, during this lockdown I made faster progress on our upcoming course on analytics and I am about to make my first batch of homemade soap in 15 years. My workday still starts at 7:30 am and ends at 6:00pm, but it’s much more quiet than I like and I see very few people in person. This is hard. But we’re all in it together and we still have workarounds. Write to me at marianne@staupell.com to share how you’re coping and working. [1] See this article on the mind/body connection here.
6 Comments
Heather Marzynski
9/3/2020 05:58:08 pm
Great advice, esp the part about nixing tv and news watching! Thanks for the reminders
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Elizabeth Crabtree
9/8/2020 10:25:46 am
Thanks, Marianne. Really great insights and tips - both professionally and personally. I am going to share this with my teams!
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9/19/2022 04:11:29 am
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