Ken Burnett blog - Live life like you mean every moment

As we get older, time and how we use it assumes increasing importance. As individuals we’re most of us profligate if accidental abusers of time. Collectively, in our enterprises, even the most cost-conscious of us tend to be serial squanderers of our most scarce and finite resource, our time.

Which of course makes no sense at all.

The voluntary sector has a curious attitude to cost. Whatever is expressed in pounds and pence will be minutely scrutinised and agonised over endlessly, snipped even when cutting will damage value. Yet when it comes to how we spend time, anything goes.

So when someone comes along and says, ‘Live life like you mean every moment,’ I’m all ears. Though with a caveat: anything that smacks of hippy nonsense has me running miles.

At my advanced age I like to think I’m not easily impressed. I hope though that I’m also not too jaded to recognise something good when I see it, and not too self-centred to keep quiet about it when I do.

These last few years I’ve been working with colleague Alan Clayton and others to try to identify what’s essential when creating the environment that leads to great fundraising. We’ve looked closely at organisational culture and what adds up to it, and we’ve concluded that time – at an individual level – is a crucial component of it. If you or your colleagues mismanage time or don’t respect, measure and value it, it’s unlikely your organisation will enjoy the kind of culture in which great fundraising, or great anything, can thrive.

You can attend as many courses as you like. If you and those around you aren’t on top of your time, most good intentions will fall flat.

When someone says, ‘Live life like you mean every moment,’ I’m all ears. Though with a caveat: anything
that smacks of hippy nonsense has me running miles. Come along why don’t you? I’ve worked with Alan for years and I’m sure he's onto something with all this.

Recently I asked a roomful of fundraisers, ‘How many of you complete a timesheet each day?’ Not a hand went up. Yet if any agency or supplier types had been in the room their hands would have shot up for sure. Advertising agencies, lawyers and accountants all survive on thin margins but prosper because they religiously record, monitor and manage their time, valuing it as the scarce resource they are selling. The time of voluntary sector workers is no less scarce or valuable. Why don’t we value it more? Perhaps it’s time for fundraisers to learn the difference between chargeable and un-chargeable time. Not to mention that hoary old nemesis, chargeable but un-billable time.

When I sold my business in 1999 I had a dream, to do what I wanted to do, not what I had to do. I felt I’d earned the privilege. It was an ambition that, while I never quite achieved it, nevertheless changed my life. That too was all about time, and making the most of it.

And though he may resist the description Alan’s new programme also is really about making the most of your time. It’s nuts and bolts practical though, not riddled with touchy-feely nonsense.

Time however is just one aspect of our lives that many people fail to make the most of. Really, there’s so much more. Alan Clayton has made a study of personal goals, opportunities and satisfactions and from him I’ve learned a lot. So I’m making a rare exception. With this blog I’m encouraging those who can to take advantage of a special opportunity. It’s for those in and around London, to come along one Sunday in November and share in all that he’s been learning as part of a pilot seminar to test new materials. It's not free, to ensure you value your time enough to give what it takes. But as it’s experimental, it’s hugely reduced.

If you really want to get a handle on this, check out the content of Alan’s day opposite and on the Revolutionise website here. I’ve worked with Alan for years and I’m sure he's onto something with all this. Come along why don’t you? It’s on Sunday, 10th November (and I’m sure you’ll find it easily a good enough use of your time to justify a day off in lieu).

Whatever, anyone can make a start on seeing where, how and how well they spend that most important scarce asset, their time.

Who knows? Soon you could be having the time of your life.