Editor's Note: Results Don’t Happen Overnight

Happy New Year to you, my beautiful NonProfit PRO readers. It’s a brand new year—a new year of possibilities, opportunities and experiences. As each year comes and goes, it never ceases to amaze me how I continue to learn and grow professionally, as well as personally. And the same could be said about you and your communities.

We’ve heard and read it all before: “New Year, New Me.” But, honestly, I don’t exactly agree with that mantra. I’m more in tune with “New Year, Same Me” or, better yet, “New Year, Improved Me.” When January hits, all of a sudden, resolutions and goals begin oozing out from everyone like jelly from a doughnut (mmm… doughnuts). And then after two weeks—maybe a month—the motivation and inspiration for these goals start tapering off.

Here’s a good (and common) example: Those who set a goal of losing weight in the new year, so they feverishly hit the gym five, maybe seven, times a week and really “clean” up their diet. But then two weeks go by, and they’re not seeing the results as fast as they expected. So they revert to their old habits. But I’m here to tell you that progress and improvement takes consistency and patience.

We can apply this to our professional lives, too. A new year is great opportunity for nonprofits to set a goal for the year—whether it be raising more funds, reaching out to more donors, retaining more donors, pulling off more successful fundraising events, improving the organization’s communication efforts, etc.

Ideally, you want to set high expectations, because you want your organization to thrive and prosper! But like I said before, results don’t come overnight; it takes consistency and patience. So if in three months time, you’re not seeing the results you anticipated, don’t be discouraged.

Stay motivated, stay inspired, stay optimistic and take your efforts and move them forward. Because, more often than not, your hard work and dedication will pay off in the long run. And that’s how you persevere.

This community of leaders and social advocates is by far the most inspiring set of people I have the honor of interacting with on the daily basis. What are your goals for 2018? I want to know, so shoot me a line at nhute@napco.com. Until next issue, keep crushing life!

Nhu Te
Editor-in-Chief
NonProfit PRO

Editor's Note: This Editor's Note was published in the Jan/Feb issue of NonProfit PRO.