Weak 5

You’ve heard the adage necessity is the mother of invention, right? Dang, Plato really knew his stuff, didn't he? Well, use it to your advantage! You have a lot of needs that need inventive solutions, but where do you find the time?



Every single time I speak at a conference, someone asks me when I have time to come up with these ideas or execute them with everything else we do. And I have to say that the answer isn’t nearly as complicated as they might think. It doesn’t require a password, isn’t reserved for the gifted, and can’t really even be called the secret sauce—it’s Week 5.

Yep, Week 5. I know, pretty anti-climactic, isn’t it? But it’s true. We all know the job of a nonprofit rock star is hectic. You have your day-to-day job description. Then you have Boards and Committees demanding progress on whatever strategy you’re helping them activate. Then there’s donors at the door or calling on the phone.

You might be trying to hire someone or complete your National Standards. Maybe you’re preparing a speech for Rotary or for a state conference. You might have direct reports that need your attention or direct mail that needs to get out the door before a specific date.

With all those predictable things, the copier will break down…it will. Our copier guy said one client named their printer Bob Marley because ‘he be jammin.’ I know you understand. Then, occasionally, you or your co-worker get sick, your annual event sneaks up on you, or you’ve been blessed with a matching grant that has a strict deadline. All these things impact your schedule, and they all are time suckers.

See what I mean? Baptized in busy! So, when I’m teaching at a conference and demonstrating how to create a year-long nonprofit blueprint to organize your donor stewardship, explaining how to use your database to segment donors, or instructing you on how to customize donor communications without losing your mind, losing control, or losing your cool…you all wonder when on earth this might happen. And this I understand all too well.

First and foremost, you can only do one new thing at a time. You may like to do more and even want to do more, but that’s what leads to nonprofit burnout, and we can’t risk that. That’s why you may recall when my team goes to a conference, I ask them to jot down three things:

3 monumental things they learned that they don’t want to forget.
2 concepts they want to pass along to someone who isn’t there.
1 idea to execute immediately.

In fact, last week, two of my colleagues and I used a similar strategy as we were dissecting a job description that was about to change. We knew we had to break this down into something manageable:

1. The first thing we asked ourselves was if we could stop doing anything—just because we’ve always done it, doesn’t mean we have to keep doing it.
2. The second thing we asked was if we had to keep doing the task in the same way. Was there a more efficient or effective left brain method to get it done?
3. Then third we asked who the best person was to do the task. Just because it’s always been you, doesn’t mean it always has to be you!

At the end of our meeting, we had placed items from that job description into each of those three buckets and it felt good. But there were a few questions that arose at that meeting that needed to be added to our very lengthy ‘to-do’ list. Oh, great! Just want we needed. Alas, never fear, Week 5 is here!

Week 5’s are a gift that nearly everyone forgets about! Each year has at least four of them, so it’s really like multiple gifts! You see, when meetings are placed in your calendar, it’s typically for Weeks 1 – 4 of each month. You know your Committee Meeting is always on the first Tuesday or your Board Meeting is always on the fourth Thursday. Rarely does anyone have standing meetings during the 5^th week of any month. So, that means that the months that have a 5^th week also have more wiggle room in your calendar. It’s valuable time that often gets wasted if you’re not paying attention…and many aren’t.

Whenever we know that we’ll have to get the whole team together to solve a problem, fix a system, create a plan, do a massive fund audit, or concoct a vision, Week 5 is our friend. So, last week after our job description discussion, we placed a couple of action items in THIS WEEK’S calendar—it’s WEEK 5!

There was also an item that was placed in the Week 5 backlog for October—another month this year that has a wonderful Week 5 to take advantage of. It is something we need to do, but not uber urgent, so we saved it for the fall. And just so you know, there are 5 Week 5’s in 2025! Wooo-hooo!

As a practice, we never make plans for Week 5 at the beginning of our year. But we do count on Week 5 to help us solve the problems that arise or activate new ideas that we love. It’s found time that becomes fruitful time.

See, it’s not rocket science. But if you don’t leverage this fact, you may miss out on improving your current systems without adding to your ever-growing to-do list. I know I’ll be solving a few problems that need some extra time and attention this week. Maybe you will, too. But if it’s too late for you to take advantage of the fact that this week is a Week 5, scheduled some time now for the 5^th week in October, it’ll be here before you know it!

Now, I’ll be the first to admit, this trick is more common sense than creativity, but I’ve found that common sense isn’t all that common. I guess Voltaire and Plato could have been BFFs--smart dudes. But I’ve also found that once you know something you can’t unknow it. So, now you know the power that a Week 5 can have, use it as your superpower! Every Olympian out there leverages any advantage they can. Let your Week 5 strategy be an advantage—it’s Week 5 or Weak 5…am I right?

Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, Merrily,

Dawn
[email protected]
dawn brown creative, llc.