Keep Your Options Open?

No way. Close them down, aggressively, if you can. You'll be surprised what happens next.

Uh, where are the Swedish Fish?

In life (and in fundraising), it's seductive to believe that having more options means having more opportunities.

More prospective donors. More career opportunities. More event ideas. More More More! Ooo, don’t you love having options!! It’s like going into one of those enormous, comically overstocked candy stores (you know, the ones that smell like Skittles and Red 40) with reels of licorice ropes, 12” diameter lollipops, squirrel nut zippers, poprocks, those brown swirly things, plus gummy animals in all sizes, shapes and species.

But be honest: Have you ever bought anything from one of those stores? Or do you just walk around, get mildly overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices, buy a bag of Swedish Fish and leave?

(I hear that happens sometimes because, let’s face it, it’s really hard to beat Swedish fish)

But what if I told you that the key to true productivity, success, and yes - happiness - in fundraising (and in life) is aggressively closing off or reducing your options? How would you feel if I told you that you would find better, more satisfying candy from stores that are not packed floor to ceiling with candy?

OK so here is where the candy analogy falls apart because, well, its candy.

Anyhow, we’ve all heard the term "multitasking" thrown around as a badge of honor. Juggling multiple projects, tasks, work, and life responsibilities might seem like the ultimate display of competence, but in reality, it’s the opposite. Human brains are wired to focus on doing one thing at a time, and when we spread ourselves too thin, we dilute our efforts and diminish our results. We chase shiny objects, get mired in the urgent but not important, and fail to distinguish the great opportunity from the merely good (or worse, the merely OK!).

Oh the poor, poor multitasking skateboard guy.

This is the paradox of choice, popularized by psychologist Barry Schwartz, who suggests that while having some choice is better than none, too many options leads to decision paralysis and life dissatisfaction. And when faced with an overwhelming number of choices, our noodles expend huge amounts of mental energy weighing the pros and cons, second-guessing ourselves, and we end up less satisfied with our final decision (or, in some instances, we make no decision at all).

OK so this blog is not usually about book recommendations, but two come to mind: Cal Newport’s "Deep Work," and my personal favorite, Greg McKeown’s “Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less but Better”. Both argue that by closing off unnecessary options and eliminating distractions, we can produce higher-quality results in less time. This requires us to be deliberate about what we say yes to and, more importantly, when we simply say “No”. But the signs aren’t always that clear.

Signs like this are great. Turns out we need these in our professional lives, too.

So what do we do? How do fundraisers create their own “wrong way” signs, or at the very least, close off the options that send us in the wrong direction?

I’ve thought a lot about this, and taking from McKeown and Newport’s outstanding books, and drawing on my own experience, here are some fundraising “Pro Tips” to try when you’re feeling overwhelmed by the choices facing you in the office:

• Ruthless Prioritization: Identify your core goals and then isolate the tasks that directly contribute to achieving them. Then focus only on these high-impact activities….and let go of the rest. Seriously. McKeown refers to this as a “reverse pilot”. Stop doing the things that take you away from your core mission. Just stop. That newsletter that nobody opens? Stop. That event that breaks even every year? Stop that too. If you eliminate something that boomerangs around to hit you in the head, just add it back. The point is that not all tasks are created equal. In fact, some are just plain worthless. Be ruthless when setting your priorities. If nothing else, just stop doing useless stuff.

• Set Clear Boundaries. This means establishing specific times for checking emails, saying no to (or better yet, cancelling) unnecessary meetings, or delegating tasks that don't require your expertise. Want to have a weekend without your phone? Don’t answer emails on the weekend.

• Streamline your processes. I know I know, tech is sometimes annoying. But use your CRM. Find a project management system that keeps you organized and minimizes the need for constant decision-making about what to work on next. Try AI tools like Bard, Claude, ChatGPT or Grammarly to help with first drafts. Don’t send an email when a call will suffice.

• And stop scheduling phone calls. Want to check in with a colleague about a specific activity? Call them. Worried about whether or not a prospect or donor enjoyed the event last night? Call them. Just. Bleeping. Call.

What are your tips for reducing your options?