Category Archives: Derek Link

To Do Lists Keep This Grant Writer on Task…Sometimes

Making a list of things to do at the beginning of the day is usually a useful exercise for me, especially when I am extremely busy like now with web work, or when I am in the middle of grant writing.

If I don’t make myself a list, I find myself blundering about chasing windmills and perhaps not finishing something important or failing to finish something from the day before.

I like my lists and I draw a blue line through finished tasks with a highlighter as I complete each one. It makes me feel more competent to finish things and be able to cross them out throughout the day.

Of course there are days like today when things not on my list intrude and rudely insert themselves into my neatly ordered agenda for the day. I have fourteen things on the list today and I’ve only crossed off two of them. And besides my walk I have worked steadily. I’m not sure what all I did or why it was so important, but I got it done and it’s not on the list and now I am a little panicked that I haven’t made nearly as much progress on what I decided was important at the start of the day.

What to do, what to do? I could refocus and begin a new eight hour shift working into the night, but I’ve already eaten the last piece of fruit in my lunchbox and the rest of my provisions are far away in my kitchen.

So I’ll probably have to start with the same list (-3 now, this blog post is another item HA!) tomorrow that I am finishing with today. I don’t feel as competent as I do on days when there is only one leftover task.

But that’s life isn’t it? Sometimes things just go the way they’re expected, sometimes good planning is interrupted by new realities, and sometimes, work simply has to end in order to answer the call of the grumbling stomach and drive home for some chips and salsa.

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This post was contributed by Non-Profit Consultant and Expert Grant Writer, Derek Link.

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Free e-book —Using Social Media to Increase Your Business

Online Seminar!  Secrets of Successful Grant Writers

To Do Lists Keep This Grant Writer on Task…Sometimes

Making a list of things to do at the beginning of the day is usually a useful exercise for me, especially when I am extremely busy like now with web work, or when I am in the middle of grant writing.

If I don’t make myself a list, I find myself blundering about chasing windmills and perhaps not finishing something important or failing to finish something from the day before.

I like my lists and I draw a blue line through finished tasks with a highlighter as I complete each one. It makes me feel more competent to finish things and be able to cross them out throughout the day.

Of course there are days like today when things not on my list intrude and rudely insert themselves into my neatly ordered agenda for the day. I have fourteen things on the list today and I’ve only crossed off two of them. And besides my walk I have worked steadily. I’m not sure what all I did or why it was so important, but I got it done and it’s not on the list and now I am a little panicked that I haven’t made nearly as much progress on what I decided was important at the start of the day.

What to do, what to do? I could refocus and begin a new eight hour shift working into the night, but I’ve already eaten the last piece of fruit in my lunchbox and the rest of my provisions are far away in my kitchen.

So I’ll probably have to start with the same list (-3 now, this blog post is another item HA!) tomorrow that I am finishing with today. I don’t feel as competent as I do on days when there is only one leftover task.

But that’s life isn’t it? Sometimes things just go the way they’re expected, sometimes good planning is interrupted by new realities, and sometimes, work simply has to end in order to answer the call of the grumbling stomach and drive home for some chips and salsa.

———————
This post was contributed by Non-Profit Consultant and Expert Grant Writer, Derek Link.

———————

Free e-book —Using Social Media to Increase Your Business

Online Seminar!  Secrets of Successful Grant Writers

Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com

Help! Grant Writer Drowning in Paper!

This post was written by Non-Profit Consultant and Expert Grant Writer, Derek Link, but I must admit that his desk looks quite tidy compared to mine. The issue he struggles with is the same one I struggle with, except that the piles of paper on my desk are threatening to take over. This is how it always is at the end of the grant writing season.  Now I have the joy of cleaning it up. Enjoy Derek’s thoughts.  Can you relate?

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It’s hard not to get buried in an avalanche of paperwork as a grant writer. Sometimes my desk starts to look like a paper recycling operation. I collect so many pieces of information necessary to the work, grant samples, a grant outline, pieces of research, books, booklets, digital disks, notes, charts, graphs, tables – some of it hard to find, and some of it needed once for one sentence, and then never used again.

The trouble is that when I do some research and toil away to find some precious piece of information for a grant, I tend to place a value that piece of paper that it may not merit. After all, if I can find it once, I can find it again, so why am I in angst about throwing it away? The truth is that my filing skills are not going to make it any easier to find in a file cabinet anyway. I’d be much better off doing another Google search or creating a bookmark for the location.

I’m afraid that my computer desktop looks a lot like my physical desktop much of the time. I place things there that I am working on and then before I get them filed away neatly and logically where I can find them the next time I need them, I am on to the next task and these files sit there sullenly until I get annoyed at the clutter and throw them in the virtual trash can.

I know I should be more organized and diligent about keeping order in my papers and megabytes but I don’t often have the motivation to do those things. I used to have a secretary to hand things off to. I’d say to her, “File this please”, and she would, and when I needed it again, she would know where to find it. It was magical.

But alas, for many years now I have been my own secretary and on Secretary’s Day I am not tempted to treat myself for my excellent work. In fact, if I could find a stack of pink slips, I’d give my inner secretary one.

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Don’t make these 5 grant writing errors!

Download this free Budget Detail Worksheet to help you with your grant budget development.

New grant samples are now available on GrantSample.com. Take a look. Sometimes, seeing a sample of a successful grant can give you the ideas you need to succeed!

Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com

Help! Grant Writer Drowning in Paper!

This post was written by Non-Profit Consultant and Expert Grant Writer, Derek Link, but I must admit that his desk looks quite tidy compared to mine. The issue he struggles with is the same one I struggle with, except that the piles of paper on my desk are threatening to take over. This is how it always is at the end of the grant writing season.  Now I have the joy of cleaning it up. Enjoy Derek’s thoughts.  Can you relate?

——————

It’s hard not to get buried in an avalanche of paperwork as a grant writer. Sometimes my desk starts to look like a paper recycling operation. I collect so many pieces of information necessary to the work, grant samples, a grant outline, pieces of research, books, booklets, digital disks, notes, charts, graphs, tables – some of it hard to find, and some of it needed once for one sentence, and then never used again.

The trouble is that when I do some research and toil away to find some precious piece of information for a grant, I tend to place a value that piece of paper that it may not merit. After all, if I can find it once, I can find it again, so why am I in angst about throwing it away? The truth is that my filing skills are not going to make it any easier to find in a file cabinet anyway. I’d be much better off doing another Google search or creating a bookmark for the location.

I’m afraid that my computer desktop looks a lot like my physical desktop much of the time. I place things there that I am working on and then before I get them filed away neatly and logically where I can find them the next time I need them, I am on to the next task and these files sit there sullenly until I get annoyed at the clutter and throw them in the virtual trash can.

I know I should be more organized and diligent about keeping order in my papers and megabytes but I don’t often have the motivation to do those things. I used to have a secretary to hand things off to. I’d say to her, “File this please”, and she would, and when I needed it again, she would know where to find it. It was magical.

But alas, for many years now I have been my own secretary and on Secretary’s Day I am not tempted to treat myself for my excellent work. In fact, if I could find a stack of pink slips, I’d give my inner secretary one.

———————————-

Don’t make these 5 grant writing errors!

Download this free Budget Detail Worksheet to help you with your grant budget development.

New grant samples are now available on GrantSample.com. Take a look. Sometimes, seeing a sample of a successful grant can give you the ideas you need to succeed!

Be a Professional (Pro)

Some advice from Expert Grant Writer, Derek Link on being a professional:

I was given sage advice as a young man, “Whatever you do in life, be a Pro, because there are so few Pro’s”. Like much advice I’ve received in life, it was given without asking; but this once I was happy to receive it. I was on a balcony, outside a classroom where I was taking a class for my Master’s, taking a break. The instructor’s elderly husband had come along with her for some reason and was also enjoying the afternoon sunshine outside the room with me, and we were chatting.

He was a successful man; although, the details of his success I’ve long forgotten. He saw an opportunity in our conversation about the class I was engaged in to share a wisp of wisdom with me.

“Be a garbage man,” he said, “Be anything you want to be, but be a Pro at it”. Be a professional. I thought a lot about that conversation over the past 25 years or so that have gone by and I’ve tried hard to live my work life as a Pro. I haven’t always succeeded, I’ll admit. At times I get lazy, distracted, unmotivated, timid, or dissatisfied; and it is at those times that I merely plug along at my work. When I merely plug along, I am never doing my best work.

To be a Pro means the following to me:

  1. Be honest (with discretion)
  2. Show Up (always and on time)
  3. Work until the job is done right
  4. Be brave enough to take risks
  5. Constantly grow and seek opportunities to improve
  6. Attend to the details
  7. Be well-groomed and well spoken
  8. Keep petty personal events private without being cold
  9. Be supportive of the growth of others
  10. Contribute positively to the professional climate
  11. Be loyal
  12. Be helpful

There are likely components I am forgetting to mention in here but these are the first twelve that come to mind and which – when I live by them – have served me well in my career. Please feel free to comment and add other ideas to the list.

—————————————-
 
Click here to get a free copy of the e-book 12 Secrets of Successful Grant Writers.
 

Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com

Be a Professional (Pro)

Some advice from Expert Grant Writer, Derek Link on being a professional:

I was given sage advice as a young man, “Whatever you do in life, be a Pro, because there are so few Pro’s”. Like much advice I’ve received in life, it was given without asking; but this once I was happy to receive it. I was on a balcony, outside a classroom where I was taking a class for my Master’s, taking a break. The instructor’s elderly husband had come along with her for some reason and was also enjoying the afternoon sunshine outside the room with me, and we were chatting.

He was a successful man; although, the details of his success I’ve long forgotten. He saw an opportunity in our conversation about the class I was engaged in to share a wisp of wisdom with me.

“Be a garbage man,” he said, “Be anything you want to be, but be a Pro at it”. Be a professional. I thought a lot about that conversation over the past 25 years or so that have gone by and I’ve tried hard to live my work life as a Pro. I haven’t always succeeded, I’ll admit. At times I get lazy, distracted, unmotivated, timid, or dissatisfied; and it is at those times that I merely plug along at my work. When I merely plug along, I am never doing my best work.

To be a Pro means the following to me:

  1. Be honest (with discretion)
  2. Show Up (always and on time)
  3. Work until the job is done right
  4. Be brave enough to take risks
  5. Constantly grow and seek opportunities to improve
  6. Attend to the details
  7. Be well-groomed and well spoken
  8. Keep petty personal events private without being cold
  9. Be supportive of the growth of others
  10. Contribute positively to the professional climate
  11. Be loyal
  12. Be helpful

There are likely components I am forgetting to mention in here but these are the first twelve that come to mind and which – when I live by them – have served me well in my career. Please feel free to comment and add other ideas to the list.

—————————————-
 
Click here to get a free copy of the e-book 12 Secrets of Successful Grant Writers.
 

How Positive Writing Makes a Better Grant

Yesterday on my Twitter account (Grant_Writer if you want to follow me) I received a tweet from someone I won’t name and the gist of the tweet was that this person was watching a single Mom struggling on a teacher’s salary to put a child through college – “sigh”.

Well, I thought this warped perspective must have some relevance or I wouldn’t have been meant to see it. Before pondering the significance of this to grant writing, I replied to the person’s tweet something to the effect that the person is indeed fortunate to be “struggling” with a “salary” (of any kind in this economy) and a “child in college” (what a great burden). Life could be so much worse.

Grants must be written from a perspective of abundance and positive energy. While there may well be some difficult circumstances that caused the grant to be needed, like extremely low reading levels among 4th grade students, or hunger and homelessness, or whatever the need may be, the reader wants to hear about the hope the grant provides for overcoming those circumstances. The reader wants to believe that your grant will resolve those issues, and that you are confident and competent to accomplish the objectives.

Writing that presents a “woe-is-me” attitude simply makes me want to jump off a bridge. I may well sympathize with the needs presented, and usually this is the strongest section of even a bad grant because most everyone can point out what’s wrong. But pointing out what is right that will lead to a positive outcome is the key.

Take my twitter “followee” as an example. This person could have tweeted something like, “So proud of my friend putting her child through college on a teacher’s salary-hurrah!” – Or – “My friend’s struggle to put her child through college on a teacher’s salary will pay off! She’s my hero!”

It’s all in the perspective, so choose to write grant narratives in a positive tone, one that promotes your energy, that clearly illustrates your fresh ideas, and that forcefully expresses confidence in your competent ability to overcome the current reality and create a better tomorrow!

By Non-Profit Consultant and Expert Grant Writer Derek Link

—————————-

Check out some grant samples at http://grantsample.com/ .

Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com

How Positive Writing Makes a Better Grant

Yesterday on my Twitter account (Grant_Writer if you want to follow me) I received a tweet from someone I won’t name and the gist of the tweet was that this person was watching a single Mom struggling on a teacher’s salary to put a child through college – “sigh”.

Well, I thought this warped perspective must have some relevance or I wouldn’t have been meant to see it. Before pondering the significance of this to grant writing, I replied to the person’s tweet something to the effect that the person is indeed fortunate to be “struggling” with a “salary” (of any kind in this economy) and a “child in college” (what a great burden). Life could be so much worse.

Grants must be written from a perspective of abundance and positive energy. While there may well be some difficult circumstances that caused the grant to be needed, like extremely low reading levels among 4th grade students, or hunger and homelessness, or whatever the need may be, the reader wants to hear about the hope the grant provides for overcoming those circumstances. The reader wants to believe that your grant will resolve those issues, and that you are confident and competent to accomplish the objectives.

Writing that presents a “woe-is-me” attitude simply makes me want to jump off a bridge. I may well sympathize with the needs presented, and usually this is the strongest section of even a bad grant because most everyone can point out what’s wrong. But pointing out what is right that will lead to a positive outcome is the key.

Take my twitter “followee” as an example. This person could have tweeted something like, “So proud of my friend putting her child through college on a teacher’s salary-hurrah!” – Or – “My friend’s struggle to put her child through college on a teacher’s salary will pay off! She’s my hero!”

It’s all in the perspective, so choose to write grant narratives in a positive tone, one that promotes your energy, that clearly illustrates your fresh ideas, and that forcefully expresses confidence in your competent ability to overcome the current reality and create a better tomorrow!

By Non-Profit Consultant and Expert Grant Writer Derek Link

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Check out some grant samples at http://grantsample.com/ .

Happily Slogging On!

Here are some thoughts from Non-Profit Consultant and Expert Grant Writer, Derek Link, on focus and perseverance:

Doing something difficult is always a trial of wills. You must enforce your will over the task, and over all other competing tasks. You must make a commitment that the task at hand is the one that matters most, and devote your focus on it entirely through the inevitably arduous march toward completion.

I’ve experienced this happy slog over and over in my life. Fortunately I got good advice about the slog along the way, and actually before I even began my first one (the university). I had a wonderful teacher in high school named Norm Barker. He was an architecture teacher and a terrifically talented person. He could do anything with his hands. I admired him because of those skills, and he was actually in my neighborhood so I got to see some of his handiwork first hand. He rebuilt a 1961 Porsche from paint to engine to upholstery, he built his own stereo speakers, he took an old wood-burning pot-bellied stove that he’d found in a field and welded up all the bullet holes and recast the missing parts and it was a thing of beauty when he finished.

What Mr. Barker taught me, in addition to some drafting skills, was that dedication to an endeavor produced good results. I recall that he was inspiring me to become an architect at one point as a student and he showed me a list of the courses at Cal Poly I’d need to take to become an architect. I remarked to him that I wasn’t good at math (truth be told, in high school I didn’t do my homework which mostly accounted for my poor math scores). He told me a valuable thing that sustained me throughout my Bachelor’s and my Master’s degrees: Mr. Barker said, “Derek, there’s nothing you can’t get through for one semester”. BRILLIANT ADVICE, Mr. Barker.

So, this is a long bird-walk to get to my topic of the Happy Slog. When you are in the midst of writing a grant and you’re feeling like you’ll never slog through it, just keep Mr. Barker’s advice in mind (with a little twist) “There’s nothing you can’t get through in three (fill in your deadline) weeks.” The deadline will come and go, so keep your mind focused and ignore all the competing distractions that are bound to come your way.

Slog on grant writers, slog on!

———————————-

Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com

Happily Slogging On!

Here are some thoughts from Non-Profit Consultant and Expert Grant Writer, Derek Link, on focus and perseverance:

Doing something difficult is always a trial of wills. You must enforce your will over the task, and over all other competing tasks. You must make a commitment that the task at hand is the one that matters most, and devote your focus on it entirely through the inevitably arduous march toward completion.

I’ve experienced this happy slog over and over in my life. Fortunately I got good advice about the slog along the way, and actually before I even began my first one (the university). I had a wonderful teacher in high school named Norm Barker. He was an architecture teacher and a terrifically talented person. He could do anything with his hands. I admired him because of those skills, and he was actually in my neighborhood so I got to see some of his handiwork first hand. He rebuilt a 1961 Porsche from paint to engine to upholstery, he built his own stereo speakers, he took an old wood-burning pot-bellied stove that he’d found in a field and welded up all the bullet holes and recast the missing parts and it was a thing of beauty when he finished.

What Mr. Barker taught me, in addition to some drafting skills, was that dedication to an endeavor produced good results. I recall that he was inspiring me to become an architect at one point as a student and he showed me a list of the courses at Cal Poly I’d need to take to become an architect. I remarked to him that I wasn’t good at math (truth be told, in high school I didn’t do my homework which mostly accounted for my poor math scores). He told me a valuable thing that sustained me throughout my Bachelor’s and my Master’s degrees: Mr. Barker said, “Derek, there’s nothing you can’t get through for one semester”. BRILLIANT ADVICE, Mr. Barker.

So, this is a long bird-walk to get to my topic of the Happy Slog. When you are in the midst of writing a grant and you’re feeling like you’ll never slog through it, just keep Mr. Barker’s advice in mind (with a little twist) “There’s nothing you can’t get through in three (fill in your deadline) weeks.” The deadline will come and go, so keep your mind focused and ignore all the competing distractions that are bound to come your way.

Slog on grant writers, slog on!

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