Wow, has it really been almost a week since I posted reason #7? Whatever happened to that whole 'one reason per day' thing? Which brings us to $40G reason #8!
My whole life, I've had this habit of taking on or, to be most accurate, creating insanely huge tasks for myself. Occasionally they work out great (e.g. ditching the whole professoring thing and starting a career in student services), most times they don't even get started (e.g. composing a requiem mass), and in more cases than I like to admit, I get super excited about them, get rolling on them, and then give up (e.g. pick any of about a dozen in-progress home projects), or, my personal favorite, come up with yet another big idea and start the whole process over again so in no time at all, I find myself overextended and burnt out to a crisp. It's as if my personal mantra is something like: "Anything that can be done ought to be overdone." Or, maybe, "Are you kidding? Of course I wanna supersize that!"
Check it out: Here I am, smack dab in the middle of yet another impossible venture that I created for myself: raising $40G for HIV/AIDS. I've got about 5 ideas for fundraisers in my mind; a list of two dozen folks I want to invite personally to make a larger-than-typical donation (You know who you are, so how about saving me the trouble and doing me a solid by clicking here and just donating already?); a tandem that needs some serious TLC; and, oh yeah, a full-time job and a smokin' hot wife. And what do I do? I take on yet another fairly-not-really-possible activity: trying to blog a short piece about why I'm doing all this in the first place. Oh, wait, not just one piece, but FORTY of them! In forty days!
When I think about it, there's a lot that goes into getting stuck out here as often as I do. Some of the reasons that come up most often when I'm wondering how the hell I got here AGAIN in the first place:
1) Something about using big, long term projects that require thinking about the future as a distraction from the discomfort I feel in the present moment.
2) Wanting to be EXTRAordinary instead of just ordinary as a way of:
a) setting myself apart from others;
b) attracting positive, supportive attention and reinforcement;
c) mirroring my dad's behavior (yes, I realize he's been coming up a lot lately):, and/or
d) something else that might be totally obvious to you that I'm just not getting right now.
3) Intentionally, but subconsciously, setting myself up for failure.
4) Wanting to feel kind of out of control.
5) [Email me your reason!]
Back in May when I was thinking about actually taking on this $40G thing, I was certain that I'd get to that point of extreme discomfort where I was tempted to take on something else. And I wanted to be awake enough to see how I'd handle it. And one way I've handled it this time around is by taking on, not a wholly different task, but another, related impossible tasklet: 40 Reasons Why. Oh, Joaquin, we are so disappointed.
Through this year of doing or not-doing the impossible, I'm hoping that I'll gain a better understanding of why it's so important to me to create unrealistic goals for myself, and what would it be like to have 'just' realistic goals in the first place? But it's weird how that works, isn't it? If my goal were $18G, I'd be there already. However, I'm pretty sure that part of the reason I'm at $18G right now is that I'm trying to raise $40G. If my goal were 'just' $18G, I bet I wouldn't be there right now.
So, yeah, I'm trying to limit myself to just one impossible task this year - $40G - and sticking with it this whole year, not getting distracted, and not giving up, and being happy with whatever number I finish at.
Showing posts with label fundraising. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fundraising. Show all posts
Monday, November 15, 2010
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Making use of suffering
Funds raised as of Wed, 6/30: $1210 or 3.025%
Left to raise: $38790 or $862/wk
What a rollercoaster of a week! In the middle of Friday night I kept myself awake for an hour or so feeling like a total idiot for wanting to raise $40G and telling everyone about it and then yesterday my fundraising total literally doubled over lunchtime. And then I had an email waiting for me from the gang at Cedaron Medical Inc. saying they would match the first $1000 of donations in October AND an email from one of my friends volunteered to start investigating grants I could apply for.
Last summer when I was training for and racing in my A races for the season and dealing with being laid off (two weeks early, thanks very much!) from my job, I came across this quote from Swiss philosopher and poet Henri-Frederic Amiel: "You desire to know the art of living, my friend? It is contained in one phrase: Make use of suffering." [Disclaimer: Beyond what's written about him in the wikiverse, I don't know anything about this guy. So please forgive me if he happens to be an A1 nutcase who espoused all sorts of hateful junk, in addition to writing something that resonated with me at the time. I promise to go down to my public library to learn more about him in the next few days.] At the time it was very comforting to try to turn my frowns upside down and take advantage of the learning and growth opportunities I had in front of me because of all the new sorts of suffering I was going through. That, and knowing that, in the very grand scheme of things, the suffering I was feeling could have been a lot worse: Ann and I were a long way from the street even when I was without a job and, after all, I still had the time, health and $$$ to spend gobs of time racing on a couple thousand dollars of rubber, welded steel, and sex appeal.
So fast forward to June and getting started on this $40,000 fundraising adventure. If the past week is any indication of what the next 10 months will be like, I'm in store for a whole lot more opportunities to suffer even before I hop onto the new tandem (pictures coming soon, I promise!). From the sleep-depriving worry of whether or not it's even possible; the wondering for the millionth time, 'why don't they F-ing donate already? Can't they see I'm suffering here?!?!'; the stress of staying organized and on top of the entire campaign while also balancing the other important parts of my life like, oh yeah, my wife, my friends, and my job to the frabjous joy of friends coming through with unexpectedly big donations and offers of assistance, these intense mood swings are tough to handle for someone like me who's still working on identifying and expressing strong emotions. Even after just one cycle of this up-and-down-and-up I'm feeling like I might like to pull over and have a little barf. But I guess the good thing is that I'll go through lots more these emotional suffering cycles before I'm done with this project and with each one maybe I'll get a little better at handling it.
Left to raise: $38790 or $862/wk
What a rollercoaster of a week! In the middle of Friday night I kept myself awake for an hour or so feeling like a total idiot for wanting to raise $40G and telling everyone about it and then yesterday my fundraising total literally doubled over lunchtime. And then I had an email waiting for me from the gang at Cedaron Medical Inc. saying they would match the first $1000 of donations in October AND an email from one of my friends volunteered to start investigating grants I could apply for.
Last summer when I was training for and racing in my A races for the season and dealing with being laid off (two weeks early, thanks very much!) from my job, I came across this quote from Swiss philosopher and poet Henri-Frederic Amiel: "You desire to know the art of living, my friend? It is contained in one phrase: Make use of suffering." [Disclaimer: Beyond what's written about him in the wikiverse, I don't know anything about this guy. So please forgive me if he happens to be an A1 nutcase who espoused all sorts of hateful junk, in addition to writing something that resonated with me at the time. I promise to go down to my public library to learn more about him in the next few days.] At the time it was very comforting to try to turn my frowns upside down and take advantage of the learning and growth opportunities I had in front of me because of all the new sorts of suffering I was going through. That, and knowing that, in the very grand scheme of things, the suffering I was feeling could have been a lot worse: Ann and I were a long way from the street even when I was without a job and, after all, I still had the time, health and $$$ to spend gobs of time racing on a couple thousand dollars of rubber, welded steel, and sex appeal.
So fast forward to June and getting started on this $40,000 fundraising adventure. If the past week is any indication of what the next 10 months will be like, I'm in store for a whole lot more opportunities to suffer even before I hop onto the new tandem (pictures coming soon, I promise!). From the sleep-depriving worry of whether or not it's even possible; the wondering for the millionth time, 'why don't they F-ing donate already? Can't they see I'm suffering here?!?!'; the stress of staying organized and on top of the entire campaign while also balancing the other important parts of my life like, oh yeah, my wife, my friends, and my job to the frabjous joy of friends coming through with unexpectedly big donations and offers of assistance, these intense mood swings are tough to handle for someone like me who's still working on identifying and expressing strong emotions. Even after just one cycle of this up-and-down-and-up I'm feeling like I might like to pull over and have a little barf. But I guess the good thing is that I'll go through lots more these emotional suffering cycles before I'm done with this project and with each one maybe I'll get a little better at handling it.
Making use of suffering at the top of Cardiac Hill
or
What the end of an LT set looks like
Monday, June 21, 2010
$40G's a nice round number
Okay, I'm all registered for the 2011 NCACycle, the blog is finally up, the tandem is purchased, and there's already some $$$ in my fundraising account (Thanks, you two!) Let's see...I've raised $125 so far, leaving me $39875 dollars left to raise and...46 weeks to raise it in. That comes out to an average of $866.85/week between now and next May. Zoinks!
Joaquin's Big Fundraising Plan is also starting to come together. So far I've got four different strategies for raising hunks of that $40G - $10G in donations from individuals; $10G in donor matching from local businesses and philanthropists to match the $10G from individuals; $10G in a series of slammin' fundraising events in Winter and Spring 2011; and then the final $10G using some combination of luck, divine intervention, the teeth-and-dimples, and finding out that, yes, it is possible to find the end of a rainbow and, yes, there is a little leprechaun there who wants to share her pot of gold with me. Admittedly, the plan needs a little work, but that's what I've got so far.
I've got two businesses and an anonymous philanthropist all set for donor matching in the months of June/July, August, and September. Thanks Davis Wheelworks and CustomerLink! I'm hopeful that I can find folks to donor match for the other 7 months before the NCACycle. Also, Beth at B&L Bike Shop is donating a cruiser bike to raffle off to jumpstart the fundraising. I'm hoping to have a ton of other stuff available to motivate and reward donors along the way. So stay tuned and feel free to donate early, late, and often!
At this point, there are all sorts of popular sayings that come to mind about long journeys starting with a single step or eating elephants one bite at a time or birds in the hand versus them being in the bush, but right now what comes to my mind is: "WTF were you thinking when you said $40G?!?!?!" Reminds me of my favorite scene in Cool Hand Luke:
DRAGLINE: Why'd you have to say fifty [eggs]? Why not thirty five or thirty nine?
LUKE: Fifty's a nice round number.
I'm sure I'll have more to think and write about that over the next year or so as I start whittling away at my goal. I hope to explore that as well as what it is about bicycle riding, HIV/AIDS advocacy, taking on huge projects, tandem riding, etc. that are so attractive and compelling to me. And maybe inspire readers to get involved and/or donate by clicking on one of the links at the bottom of the blog. So stay tuned and thanks for reading!
Joaquin's Big Fundraising Plan is also starting to come together. So far I've got four different strategies for raising hunks of that $40G - $10G in donations from individuals; $10G in donor matching from local businesses and philanthropists to match the $10G from individuals; $10G in a series of slammin' fundraising events in Winter and Spring 2011; and then the final $10G using some combination of luck, divine intervention, the teeth-and-dimples, and finding out that, yes, it is possible to find the end of a rainbow and, yes, there is a little leprechaun there who wants to share her pot of gold with me. Admittedly, the plan needs a little work, but that's what I've got so far.
I've got two businesses and an anonymous philanthropist all set for donor matching in the months of June/July, August, and September. Thanks Davis Wheelworks and CustomerLink! I'm hopeful that I can find folks to donor match for the other 7 months before the NCACycle. Also, Beth at B&L Bike Shop is donating a cruiser bike to raffle off to jumpstart the fundraising. I'm hoping to have a ton of other stuff available to motivate and reward donors along the way. So stay tuned and feel free to donate early, late, and often!
At this point, there are all sorts of popular sayings that come to mind about long journeys starting with a single step or eating elephants one bite at a time or birds in the hand versus them being in the bush, but right now what comes to my mind is: "WTF were you thinking when you said $40G?!?!?!" Reminds me of my favorite scene in Cool Hand Luke:
DRAGLINE: Why'd you have to say fifty [eggs]? Why not thirty five or thirty nine?
LUKE: Fifty's a nice round number.
I'm sure I'll have more to think and write about that over the next year or so as I start whittling away at my goal. I hope to explore that as well as what it is about bicycle riding, HIV/AIDS advocacy, taking on huge projects, tandem riding, etc. that are so attractive and compelling to me. And maybe inspire readers to get involved and/or donate by clicking on one of the links at the bottom of the blog. So stay tuned and thanks for reading!
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