Resources
The Sax Not-for-Profit Industry Services Group supports charitable organizations and their board members with complimentary event series, seminars and podcasts designed to help not-for-profits overcome the challenges and obstacles standing between them and their missions.
Listen in on the insightful conversations between Sax advisors and other not-for-profit industry experts:
Media
Three Reasons Why Mergers Fail
Todd Polyniak and Joshua Chananie
Keys to Creating an Effective Board
Todd Polyniak and Seth Perlman
Three Common Mistakes NFPs Commit when They Have Lost their Identity
Todd Polyniak
What is Sustainability?
Fist to Five Guest Speakers: Kendall Webb, Asif Talukdar, Allen Bromberger, Bruce Tindal
For more audio clips from our Fist to Five community, visit www.fisttofive.com.
Blog
The Incredible Power of Time
by Todd Polyniak, CPA
One of the more unfortunate mistakes that we as people and organizations make is to ignore how small choices consistently made over time can have astronomical impact on our lives. Jeff Olson the author of “The Slight Edge” talks about how only 5% of people actually achieve their goals in life. These people, he says, are not naturally born rock stars but those who practice simple “easy to do” disciplines consistently, which compounds over time. But what about the rest — the 95% — if it is so simple and easy to do, why don’t they succeed? Because as Olson puts it “what is easy to do is also easy not to do.” Also, simple errors in judgment over time add up and ultimately result in failure. Since the results are not seen right away, they don’t realize there is a compounding factor to choices made over time. The good news is that if you have been going in the wrong direction, it’s not too late to change your course. To quote a Chinese proverb: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” What simple, easy things have you found in your business or life have helped you to become successful? Please send me an email at tpolyniak@saxllp.com, I would love to learn from you.
Using a Bullet Journal to Lead
by Todd Polyniak, CPA
If you don’t know what a bullet journal is… don’t worry! It was only up until six months ago that I came to the phenomenon of the “BULLET JOURNAL”. I have found that it has become a very important tool in helping me lead my organization. Bullet journals (or BuJo for short) was developed by Ryder Carroll, a digital product designer living in Brooklyn NY (see www.bulletjournal.com). It is an analog system of “getting stuff done”. What amazes me is that, although, it was only introduced a few years ago it has sort of taken on a life of its on. To prove my point I challenge you search “bullet journals” in Pinterest and/or You Tube and you will find endless versions of the original.
For me using a “BuJo” helps me:
- to track the past
- organize the present
- prepare for the future
It has had a positive impact on my productivity. In particular I am able to evaluate whether I am focusing my time on the right things, and adjust my activities when I get off course. I would suggest you look into using a bullet journal. If you don’t know where to get started, here are some link you may find helpful:
If you are using a BuJo I would love to know how it’s working out for you. Email me at tpolyiak@saxllp.com to share your experience.
More blog postings from our Fist to Five team can be found at www.fisttofive.com/blog/.