Spring Term

I feel like I’ve achieved lots and learned lots. In January, the fundraising team’s capacity increased as we welcomed Sam, and the workload increased as we amped up the fundraising work for the new quarter. It’s been an exciting and busy time and now, as we prepare for the new year, I’m reflecting on what went well, what didn’t go so well, and what I want to be doing differently next term.

My first weeknote was about the awkwardness of a bad phonecall, and having stuck to my goal of making five ‘approach’ phonecalls a month, I can safely assert that I don’t think an awkward call would bother me anymore — or at least not enough to write a weeknote about it. That feels like a lot of growth for one term and I am pretty proud. Here are some other things I’ve learned over the past ten weeks:

1. Time goes quickly: we came back after Winter break, I blinked once, and now we’re here at Spring Team Day. Or at least that’s how it feels. I learned the importance of being organised this term — it’s something I like to think I was already pretty good at, but I realised there is always room to hone more — especially when we are innovating on new platforms like Teams. I also learned that becoming skilled at organising will be an ongoing process, as I become acquainted with new technologies and new ways of working. I’m quite excited to see where it goes!
2. How to be realistic: in relation to point 1., time moved so quickly that I really had to get my ambitions in check this term. I love to exceed a target and had the best of intentions in January with getting ‘x’ funding asks out per week, or getting ‘x’ income secured per month. Luckily, (and thanks to the amazing addition to the team of Sam) all is going quite well with T&F targets, but there have still been a couple of points when I had to take a step back and realise that the ideal scenario is not always possible, and that some things will be out of my hands no matter how hard I try.
3. How to rest!! I started off the year consistently poorly and had to take a day off sick. I’m still un-learning what’s been ingrained in me by the constant grind of capitalism, and maybe even still dealing with the effects of the ‘100% attendance’ goal maintained throughout school. So I felt guilty for not being able to give my all to work for a little while. But I felt better for it, and had more energy in the long run to bring to work and everything else!!

Based on the above, in the summer term I’ll be: using my time wisely, setting realistic targets, and factoring in rest (so my body doesn’t decide to do it for me!!). I’m looking forward to having a bit of time to be creative and get things organised in preparation for the new year and I can’t wait to see what the summer term brings!