Welcome to the online home of Hillary Rettig's classic self-help guide for activists and progressives, The Lifelong Activist, as well as articles and coursework based on Hillary's work. 
If No One Falls Over, We’re Having a Great Class!
One of my recent newsletters discussed a misguided essay (and now, regrettably, book) by a prominent philosophy professor on his notion of “constructive…
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Welcome to The Lifelong Activist
- "I wrote this book because I believe that progressive activists are the world’s most precious resource. We tackle the most difficult and important problems—including hunger, war, disease, poverty, violence, cruelty and exploitation—and work to further humanity’s evolution in the direction of compassion and kindness. Conservatives may create more wealth, but we create more of the values, including justice, equality and freedom, that make life worth living.
Let’s Get Started
- Parts 1 & 2
Part 1: Managing Your Mission
- Who are you? That question should be at the heart of your quest to build a sustainable activist career—actually, it should be at the heart of your quest to build a happy and productive life. It is a question that every human being should give deep thought to throughout her or his life.
Managing Your Mission
Part 2: Managing Your Time
- Time management is important because it really is “life management.” The basic premise of time management is this: The things you spend time on, and devote quality attention to, are the things you will improve at or make progress on. In contrast, the things you don’t spend time on, or devote quality attention to, are the things you will not improve at or make progress on.
Managing Your Time
- Parts 3 & 4
Part 3: Managing Your Fears
- It would be wonderful if, once you got started with your time management, you continued to do it effortlessly; if it became second nature to you, and you just kept getting better and better at it, and better and better at your work... but that’s usually not what happens.
Managing Your Fears
- 1. How YOU May React to Your Time Management
- 2. What Procrastination Is
- 3. How Procrastination Feels
- 4. Who Procrastinates
- 5. The Problem You Think You’re Solving
- 6. The Problem You Should Be Solving
- 7. The Three Productivity Behaviors
- 8. Adopting the Three Productivity Behaviors: A Process for Creating Behavioral Change
- 9. Seven Success Tips
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- 10. Solving v. Dithering
- 11. Fear
- 12. One More Point About Fear
- 13. Fear Creates Obstacles to Success
- 14. The Most Important Thing You Need to Know About Your Obstacles
- 15. Perfectionism
- 16. Negativity
- 17. Negativity II: Why It’s Not All Your Fault
- 18. Hypersensitivity
- 19. PANIC!: The ObstacleAmplifier
- 20. A Process for Defeating Fear
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- 21. Defeating Your Fears: Requirements
- 22. Defeating Your Fears: The Process in Detail
- 23. Tools for Change #I: Journaling
- 24. Tools for Change #II: Therapy and SelfCare
- 25. Tools for Change #III: A Created Community
- 26. Finding and Cultivating Mentors
- 27. The Ultimate Solution to Managing Your Fears: Develop an “Empowered” Personality
- 28. What Empowered People Do
Part 4: Managing Your Relationship with Self
- As a human being and an activist, your most important goal should be to work on your own self-actualization, because in the process of becoming self-actualized you will gain the qualities you need to work on all of your other goals. Self-actualization creates strength and character and commitment: it is a political act, really, and the foundation for all of your future political acts.
Managing Your Relationship with Self
- Part 5 & More
Part 5: Managing Your Relationship with Others
- Activism is the act of influencing a person or group of people with the goal of eliciting a desired behavioral change. That change might be that the person votes for your candidate or ballot initiative; joins, donates to or participates more fully in your organization; or adopts a new habit such as energy conservation or vegetarianism.
Managing Your Relationship with Others
- 1. What Activism Is—or Should Be
- 2. Marketing and Sales Defined
- 3. The Most Important Point About Marketing and Sales
- 4. How Marketing Works: An Activist Case Study
- 5. More Lessons from the Case Study
- 6. Bitter Truth #1
- 7. At the Heart of Bitter Truth #1
- 8. Why People Buy (a.k.a. Bitter Truth #2)
- 9. Bitter Truth #2 and the Activist Sale
- 10. The Primary Requisite of Effective Activism
- 11. The Best Activists Do This (Part I)
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- 12. The Best Activists Do This (Part II)
- 13. More on Deep Needs
- 14. The Ethics of Marketing to Deep Needs
- 15. On Bullying
- 16. The Bitterest Truth: It’s Not About You
- 17. Why You’re Not Getting Through
- 18. The Activist’s Need Not to Be Rejected
- 19. Corollaries to the Bitter Truths
- 20. More Marketing Basics
- 21. The Marketing Process in Detail I
- 22. The Marketing Process in Detail II
- 23. The Marketing Process in Detail III
- 24. Sales 101 for Activists
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- 25. In Sales, Preparation + Practice = Success
- 26. Sales Process #1: Prospecting
- 27. Sales Process #2: Qualifying
- 28. About Your Family
- 29. Sales Process #3: Needs Assessment
- 30. Eight Tips for Conducting a Good Needs Assessment
- 31. Sales Process #4: Restate the Customer’s Problem
- 32. Sales Process #5: Ponder & Present Solution
- 33. Change is Hard
- 34. Sales Process #6: Ask for the Sale & Supervise the Action
- 35. How to Handle a “No”
- 36. A Day in the Life of a Successful Activist
Conclusion
Notes
Resources/Bibliography
Contact
- Training & Projects
What is Activist Training?
- I deliver trainings based on The Lifelong Activist and my other work that will help you become more effective and productive in your activism and other important endeavors. I am looking for activist groups to work with. Please email me.
- Translations
The Lifelong Activist is available for purchase: 
Hillary Rettig is a writer, coach and workshop leader who specializes in helping ambitious and creative people from all walks of life use their time better, create more rewarding careers, and overcome procrastination, perfectionism, fears, and blocks. She is also a 
