The Thanking Business by Alice Ferris

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Slide Notes

From June to September 2013, Jim Anderson and Alice Ferris of GoalBusters Consulting embarked on a mission to thank someone every day for 100 days. The 100 Days of Gratitude was supposed to be a way to get us to blog more, but instead, it was an inspiring, emotional, touching, frustrating, occasionally dramatic, and, in the end, transforming experience.

We didn't blog more. But we reconnected with many people who have been important to us and continue to affect our paths.

Even though Jim and Alice experienced this differently, this deck highlights some of the points that were revealed to us both.

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The Thanking Business

Published on Nov 18, 2015

Lessons learned from GoalBusters Consulting's 100 Days of Gratitude.

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PRESENTATION OUTLINE

The Thanking Business

Lessons from 100 Days of Gratitude

Be personal

Email doesn't work. Handwritten notes and calls do.

When was the last time you got a handwritten note? Or a call to just say thank you? Or better yet, someone taking you to coffee, or a meal just for appreciation? Early on, we decided that email was "cheating." It had to be a handwritten note, a phone call, or an in-person visit. People who received our thanks were very touched to receive personal attention. (Alice)

Be specific

Specify an action or attitude that affected you.

Often, the people we were thanking didn't know why they were being thanked. By being specific, we could highlight that something that perhaps seemed very minor to them had a huge impact.

Jim has a story about one of his Professors that changed the path of his career, and ultimately, his life.... (Jim)

A Gift is Nice

Not required, but nice if you're inspired to do so.

A gift is not required, but nice if you're inspired to give one. And it doesn't have to be elaborate... sometimes the simplest gifts are the ones that are the most moving.

(Jim has a story about the Hopi Education Endowment Fund; in fact, many of the most memorable gifts we have received have been from the Hopi.)

Thank Every Day

Just one thank you a day adds up

Like any habit, it takes a while to stick. There were days when we just thanked one person, and days when we thanked many. But we reached out to someone every day.

This requires thinking about the people you want to thank.... (Alice)

Listen to your Heart

It will drive you to thank people you least expect.

This led to thanking people we didn't want to thank, or people that we didn't know needed thanking. Even the tough ones were rewarding.

Alice has an unsent thank you letter that will continue to be unsent, but it was important to write anyway.... (Alice)

Laugh

Don't get too sentimental

It's easy to get sucked into sentimentality with gratitude. Some days, our thanks were silly, bordering on absurd. But they were thanks nonetheless, and a whole lot of fun.

Jim's favorite thank you was another professor, and thanking him for his treatment of Jim's daughter. (Jim)

Don't make a list

It'll just overwhelm. Thank whomever you think of that day.

(This from the list maker, Alice).

When we began, we both made lists. We soon discovered that we were spending more time making the list than actually thanking people. Plus, it started to feel like we were not being fully present in our thanking when it was something to be checked off.

So away went the list, and we thanked whomever we were inspired to thank that day.

Experience Thanks Fully

Prepare to be emotional

Emotions are involved in expressing gratitude. Prepare to be moved by them.

Recently, we were able to thank some special people to us at a dinner at the Turquoise Room in Winslow, Arizona. This involved a toast with water...but not just any water.

(Alice and Jim)

10.

100 Days is not enough

There are always more people to thank

There are many more people to thank, so we press on.

We may not be as disciplined, but we do thank on a regular basis. These efforts were about personal thank yous, but it does leak into our work life.

These concepts easily transfer to your work as a fundraiser, because isn't The Thanking Business essentially what we do?

11.

GoalBusters.net

Thanks to you. More to come.

Thanks to everyone who played along, and of course, to all the people we have been grateful for. We've learned much from this experience, and encourage anyone to take on this challenge. Let us know how it touches you!

Our blog: blog.goalbusters.com
Our website: goalbusters.net
Our Facebook: facebook.com/goalbusters
Our Twitter: @goalbusters
Our Google+: +GoalbustersNet