February 2008

Leadership Lessons from Trees | If You Thought You Could Make a Difference (conclusion) | Attend a NALS Conference for Free!

There's No Better Time Than Now... | If Not You, Then Who? If Not Now, Then When? | Creating a Marketing Plan for Your Chapter

There's No Better Time Than NOW...and the NALS Foundation is Always Ready to Help You Achieve Success
By Mary Jo Denman, PP, PLS

Are you one of those perpetual procrastinators like me who secretly believe that we have to wait until things calm down a bit before we start to get our acts together?  We’ll get right on it after the big closing, or after the holidays, or after we file this brief, or after the move, or after we get settled into our new offices.  And then there’s always tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow because as we all know “tomorrow’s a day away.”  Of course, that’s the big problem with tomorrow . . . it never comes! 

Let’s face it.  Life never calms down long enough for us to wait until tomorrow.  There is always movement, always change, always unforeseen circumstances, always one more phone call to make, the missing mail to track down, the sick child, the broken down car.  So let’s just acknowledge that life continues whether we take a few hours for ourselves or not, so we may as well get on with it.

What are we going to do about it?  We can stop waiting for life to become perfect and start working with what we’ve got to make it as satisfying as we can.  Accept, bless, give thanks, and get going TODAY.  Procrastination has robbed us of too many precious opportunities.  Call that member you haven’t seen in ages, pick up that book you’ve been wanting to read, sign up for or volunteer to teach a certification study group, drive down that new road just to see where it goes, meet an old friend for lunch, smile at people on the street, develop that great idea you had and start gathering your materials to apply for a NALS Foundation grant.
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NALS leaders at all levels have myriads of great ideas. The NALS Foundation wants to help you channel those ideas into a project that benefits your members and the legal community. That is the premise upon which the NALS Foundation Grant Program is founded. 

After you find that great idea for your association, the NALS Foundation will provide a grant to get you started.  The Foundation offers four grant periods each year and the deadlines for applying are March 1, June 1, September 1, and December 1.  The Foundation Trustees want the grant program to be as user-friendly as possible. Check us out on the NALS Website - http://www.nals.org/foundation/grants/index.html - TODAY!

If you have any questions, contact NALS Foundation Chair Mary Jo Denman, PP, PLS, or Jennifer Reed at reed@nals.org or call Jennifer at the NALS Resource Center (918-582-5188 ext. 23.)

[Inspiration for this article from “Simple Abundance: a daybook of comfort and joy” by Sarah Ban Breathnach.]