36. A Day in the Life of a Successful Activist

A day in the life of a successful activist could be a day in which she or he:

• Won a significant victory in a campaign.

• Didn’t win a victory, but participated in a series of productive activities related to the campaign.

• Experienced a “defeat” or “failure”—but handled it well.

• Spent the day doing paperwork. It wasn’t too exciting, but it wasn’t that stressful, either, and it had to get done.

• Procrastinated on work for four hours—but not five!

• Procrastinated for five hours—but not six!

• Finished one-tenth of what she had planned to do—which is still better than not doing any of it!

• Didn’t shame, blame or criticize herself for any of the above or other perceived “failures.”

• Didn’t do much, or any, activism, but performed well and in a low-stress way at her classes or day job.

• Spent the day working mainly on health and relationship goals, or reworking her Mission or Time Management.

• Didn’t work on any goals at all—just had fun!

• Didn’t do much of anything—was feeling stressed out, so stayed home and took a low-stress “mental health day.”

A successful activist will experience all of these types of days, and many more. Some days will seem more productive than others—although you should be careful about defining productivity too narrowly, since a day spent catching up on paperwork or taking a needed break definitely qualifies as productive. You should also avoid labeling days “good” or “bad,” since almost every day, no matter how much it may seem to tilt in one direction, will probably be a mix of both.

Of course, the secret that all empowered activists know is that every day you spend fighting the good fight—no matter how “much” or “little” you achieve—is a good day.

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