Let's Talk Fundraising
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Let's Talk Fundraising
Whose Voice Is In Your Head? Releasing Inherited Limiting Beliefs
Ever poured hours into a project only to watch it get worse, not better? That frustrating cycle of diminishing returns might be fueled by a deeply-held belief that's actually holding you back.
Growing up, I absorbed my father's working-class ethos that hard work—defined by time spent, effort exerted, and suffering endured—was the only path to success. This belief followed me through school and into my career, where I'd routinely second-guess myself, redo perfectly good work until it deteriorated, and eventually develop unhealthy procrastination habits. The breaking point came when I witnessed a colleague working 70-hour weeks with additional staff and still falling behind. That's when I realized I was trapped in the same pattern.
The transformation began when I started trusting my instincts, setting shorter timelines, and evaluating work at the halfway mark. Surprisingly, 95% of the time, my initial work needed no changes. This wasn't just about working smarter—it was about recognizing that our limiting beliefs often protect us in some way, even as they sabotage our success. My belief about hard work made me feel worthy and shielded me from the fear of not being enough.
This mindset shift extends beyond personal productivity to how we approach tools like artificial intelligence. Many fundraisers resist AI because they value human connection, but what if technology isn't the barrier between you and your donors? What if it's actually the solution that clears away administrative burdens so you can be more present in those relationships?
Ready to identify which beliefs are holding you back? Download our free "AI for Major Gift Fundraisers" cheat sheet with five simple prompts to help you reclaim your time and focus on what truly matters. Visit downloads.letstalkfundraising.com/AIprompts to get started today.
Need to write a contact report, prep for a donor meeting, or prioritize your week—but short on time? Grab my free guide: AI Prompts for Major Gift Fundraisers. Five powerful prompts to help you stay donor-centered and get unstuck fast. Download now → https://downloads.letstalkfundraising.com/aiprompts
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Hey, there, hi, and welcome back. I'm traveling this week, so I'm recording this episode from my hotel room. I hope that the audio is still okay, but I had a flurry of inspiration so I wanted to get this episode out to you without delay. And I want to ask you something have you ever worked twice as hard only to get half the results? Have you ever worked twice as hard only to get half the results? Ever poured hours into something, reworking it, refining it, obsessing over every little detail, just to feel like it got worse, not better? I used to think that the more time I spent on a task, the more valuable it was. That hard work, the grinding, the sweating, the stretching into the late hours, was the only work that mattered. But that belief, it, stole years of my life and it made me worse at my job, not better. Today I want to talk about the beliefs we carry that hold us back, the ones that sound noble, that feel responsible, that maybe even come from someone we love, but that, if we're honest, they're not helping anymore. And by the end of this episode, you're going to name one belief that's keeping you stuck, but you're going to understand where it came from and I'm going to give you a way to let it go and replace it with something that actually moves you forward. So take a breath, because this one's personal and it might just change how you work and how you live. All right, let's talk fundraising.
Keith Greer, CFRE:I want to start with a story Mine. When I was a kid, my dad used to say if you finished it that fast, it probably isn't very good, and he didn't mean it to hurt me. Finished it that fast, it probably isn't very good, and he didn't mean it to hurt me. He came from a working class family. His mom was a nurse in the burn unit and his dad was a police officer. In his family. Hard work was survival, effort was everything. So that belief got passed to me Subtly, steadily, and I absorbed it like gospel. Hard work is the most valuable kind of work, not smart work, not effective work, just hard.
Keith Greer, CFRE:So even when I did something well on the first try, got an A on a project, I was told I should have gone back and made it better, that if I'd worked harder it could have been an A+. And guess what? I started second-guessing my instincts. I'd redo A-quality work over and over and over again and my grades actually got worse and that made no sense to me. Eventually that turned into procrastination. I figured if I didn't have time to redo something I couldn't ruin it. So I'd wait until the last minute, sprint through a 10-page paper and turn it in Exhausted, stressed, jittery, but somehow still getting top marks.
Keith Greer, CFRE:But when I got into the workforce that strategy started falling apart. I had a boss who hated my last-minute tendencies, so I tried doing things earlier. But because I still believed hard work meant more time, more effort, more revisions, I started overworking the early drafts and again my quality dropped. And it was all so frustrating until I had a moment that changed everything. I watched a co-worker work herself into the ground. She was putting in 70 hour weeks, gave up nights and weekends and she still couldn't get ahead. They brought in an assistant, then an intern. Now they had three people doing over 130 combined hours a week and the output didn't change. And that kind of hit me hard.
Keith Greer, CFRE:Like I realized I'm doing the same thing, just wearing a different version of it. I was spending more time on work that didn't need it, and when I didn't have time I did my best work anyway. So I flipped it. Now I give myself shorter timelines. I trust my first instincts. I hold projects until the halfway mark on the calendar and then I ask myself is it good? If the answer is yes, I turn it in. If not, I've got time to twerk. I mean, I've got time to tweak. Oh my gosh, I'm keeping that in and I'm not editing it out. That was fun. So yeah, I've still got time to tweak it. And you want to know something wild? 95% of the time I don't need to change a thing, and my boss, they're happy with it too.
Keith Greer, CFRE:So let me ask you what's one belief you're holding that's making your life harder than it needs to be? And it might sound noble and it might feel familiar, but is it helping or is it holding you back? So now that you've named that belief, the one that might be keeping you stuck, let's get curious about where it came from. Because these beliefs, they don't just show up out of nowhere. You didn't just decide one day to make your life harder.
Keith Greer, CFRE:These ideas, they were taught to us, they're passed down, they're absorbed from the people around us, and it's usually with the best of intentions that we get them. Maybe it was a parent who praised you only when you got everything right. A teacher who told you fundraising would never pay the bills. A boss who praised you for sleeping on the floor of the copy room to get a mailing out the door burning you out. But they called it going above and beyond. Or maybe it was the culture around you. What you saw, celebrated, promoted or put on a pedestal and at some point you started to believe it. And this is how the world works. This is how I stay safe, this is how I prove I belong.
Keith Greer, CFRE:So let's slow it down for a second. I want you to bring that belief you identified a few minutes ago back into your mind. And I want you to bring that belief you identified a few minutes ago back into your mind and I want you to ask yourself, gently but honestly where did this idea come from? Who taught it to you? What moment planted that seed? And just sit with it for a moment. But once you can trace the root, you get to decide if you still want it to grow. But once you can trace the root, you get to decide if you still want it to grow.
Keith Greer, CFRE:Now here's where it gets a little tricky, because even when a belief is holding you back, you're holding onto it for a reason, and that reason it's probably protecting something. See, every belief, especially the limiting ones, serve us in some way. That's why we can't let go of them so easily. They give us a sense of control or safety or identity, even when they're making us miserable. For me, that belief about hard work it made me feel worthy. If I worked harder than everyone else, I was more valuable. If I earned my results through exhaustion, I could be proud of them. And if I failed, well, at least when no one could say I didn't give it everything I had, it was protecting me from judgment, from shame, from the fear that I wasn't enough unless I was always trying harder.
Keith Greer, CFRE:So now I want you to ask yourself how is this belief serving you? So now I want you to ask yourself how is this belief serving you? What does it give you? What are you protecting by holding on to it? And here's the magic part there's no shame in this answer. It's okay that you've been carrying this belief because it makes total sense. But now that you see it, you get to choose. You get to ask is this belief still helping me become who I want to be? And if the answer is no, well, that means you're ready for the next step.
Keith Greer, CFRE:So is it time? Only you can answer that. But let's be real. If this belief is keeping you in cycles of stress, burnout, self-doubt or procrastination, if it's making you resent your work or questioning your talent or feel like you're never enough, then maybe it's time to loosen your grip. And let me ask you who would you be without that belief? How would you show up? What kind of work would you do and what kind of life would you build? And you don't have to know the full answer. You don't need a five-year plan, but you do need a willingness to try something different.
Keith Greer, CFRE:And just for a minute, I want to walk you through a little exercise. If you're driving or in a place where it's not safe to close your eyes, skip this part and come back to it later. I promise it'll still be here, but if you can go ahead and close your eyes, take a breath and picture yourself free of that old belief. Now I want you to imagine what your life looks like without it, the one that's been weighing on you, the one that makes things harder than they need to be. Just picture yourself fully released from it. How do you move through your day? How do you show up to your work? What's different about the way you make decisions, the way you connect with people, the way you feel at the end of a long week? Do you have more time, more clarity? Do you feel lighter, more confident, more creative? Let yourself feel that version of you, the one who's no longer bound by a belief that doesn't serve you anymore. That version of you is not far away. It's already in you, waiting for the space to emerge. So take one more deep breath and, when you're ready, open your eyes. Welcome back Now.
Keith Greer, CFRE:Here's the best part you don't have to let the current version of you go all at once. You can loosen your grip little by little, try a new way and see what happens. Start by naming the belief that you've been holding on to. Say it out loud, write it down. Something like if I don't work myself to exhaustion, I'm not doing enough. Or maybe I always have to figure it out alone. Next, ask yourself what belief would actually support me now. What's a truth that you're ready to move into? Something like my best work happens when I trust myself and I take care of my energy. Or it's okay to ask for help and use the tools available to me, and you know what.
Keith Greer, CFRE:That last one is a big one for a lot of people I talk to, especially when it comes to using new tools like artificial intelligence, and I'll hear people say things like I don't want to use AI because I like working with my donors, and I get that deeply. But what if AI isn't about replacing the relationships, it's about making space for them. It's about making space for them. So, instead of drowning in the administrative part of the job, you're showing up fully present for the people who matter most. That shift, that mindset, is a belief upgrade too. So let that sink in, let it feel like it's possible, and let's stay with this idea for just a minute.
Keith Greer, CFRE:Letting go of old beliefs isn't just about the internal stuff. It shows up in how we approach the tools, the systems and even the technology that we use every day. And I want to say this gently but honestly one of the biggest belief blocks I see in our field right now is around AI. I talk to fundraisers all the time who say I love my work because of the people. I don't want some computer getting in the way of that. And I hear that and I felt it at first, but I want to offer you this reframe. What if AI isn't the thing standing between you and your donors? What if it's the thing that gets all the other stuff out of the way, so that you can actually be present with them? What if AI could write the first draft of that stewardship email, summarize a meeting you forgot to take notes in help you prepare for a donor call, so that you walk into it feeling confident and not scattered?
Keith Greer, CFRE:I actually put together something for you, because I know this shift is hard when you're trying to figure it out alone. It's a free cheat sheet called AI for Major Gift Fundraisers, and it gives you five simple prompts that you can use right away. No jargon, no techie overwhelm, just small ways to let AI handle the background noise, so you can lean fully into the parts of this work that only you can do. And you can grab it right now for free at downloadsletstalkfundraisingcom. Forward slash AI prompts and I know that's a long title, so I'll make sure to leave a link to it in the show notes.
Keith Greer, CFRE:But try it out, see what happens. You don't have to believe it in full right away, you just have to believe it enough to try something new, and that's what this whole episode has been about. Right, letting go, trying something different and choosing a belief that serves you better than the one that you're outgrowing. So, before we go, I want to ask you one more thing what's the belief that you're letting go of today and what's the new one you're choosing instead? Write it down, speak it out loud and start living into it, one small moment at a time, because you're not stuck, you're not behind. You're just growing and you're doing a beautiful job. All right, my friend, I'll see you in the next episode.
