What a fun question….how much coffee fuels your grant writing?

We talk about what motivates or inspires our grant writing frequently on our team. We’ve talked about how we build movement into our days in order to inspire writing. We’ve talked about and shared motivational quotes and mantras that can help inspire our work. For many of us, one of the other daily motivators, or at least energy sources is coffee. Or if not coffee, tea, or seltzer, or other favorite beverage you always have at hand while writing.

One of our common ice breaker questions with new grant teams or clients is to ask what everyone’s favorite caffeine or beverage of choice is that they have during the work day. One of my favorite dialogues that came from that conversation with one new grant team was the lively conversation as colleagues that had worked together extensively learned about a colleague who didn’t drink anything with caffeine…EVER. They had worked together for quite awhile, but hadn’t gotten to know each other in that way yet. That dialogue and team sharing helped to further unite and personalize their grant team when getting started on a big new application.

My friends and family are so used to my love of coffee that everyone forgets that it was only 10 short years ago that I was just starting to drink it. That I always used a flavored creamer. Now I love to drink my coffee black. I love a strong espresso. I’ve also had to learn that there is such a thing as too much coffee for me, even when under deadline unless I switch to half-caffeine and decaff. It was my eight-year old that had the brilliant idea this Christmas that I needed a Bullet. Boy, was she right (and no, I’m not an affiliate of Bullet)! There is nothing like a good cup of coffee and the chance to create the occasional unique beverage between conference calls as a way to keep me smiling day.

Why all this talk about coffee? One, I’m always up for a good chat about coffee. French-press. Organic beans. Local coffee shop culture. Two, knowing and recognizing what keeps you ticking during the day, especially when under deadline for a grant application is important for you to know, but also incredibly helpful for your colleagues and grant team to recognize so that they can help motivate you during a big application. If you haven’t had an ice-breaker or get to know you exercise with your grant team/application workgroup in a while, bring up coffee/caffeine as your opener and see where the conversation goes from there.

So what is that you love to sip on during the day while writing an application? What type of coffee? What flavor of tea? Seltzer? Fruit infused water? I’d love to hear! Share in the comments section of the website or with us via social media.