NOTE: I wrote this post before today’s groundbreaking indictment of the former President of the United States. It seems especially relevant now, when we’re in such uncharted territory – and when the plans we had might just go by the wayside. Hold onto your hats, friends. It’s gonna be a wild few months.
It’s that time of year for me: school planning time.
For the past few years I’ve homeschooled my son. We started homeschooling at the beginning of the pandemic, and found it worked especially well for our family. We enjoy the flexibility, and as a bonus my son learns more (which is, at least in theory, the whole point).
So during the last few weeks of summer I delve into the world of homeschooling curriculums and planners and calendars galore. I spend hours bookmarking projects, drafting lesson plans, and laying out our schedule for the quarter, semester, and year.
It’s all very good fun.
But I know that most – if not all – of those well-laid plans will go right out the window once the school year begins. Life happens. Some things will take more time, or less time, than I thought they would. Focuses and interests will change.
And that’s okay. Because the value of plans is in the preparation, not in the slavish adherence to them. Following any plan so rigidly doesn’t work. It also makes for a frustrating experience, and means that you might well be responding to the world as you want it to be … rather than the world that is in front of you.
But that’s where good preparation comes in: it enables you to be flexible when things go sideways. Thinking through goals, best tactics, necessary resources, and potential pitfalls is incredibly time consuming – but all of that laborious pre-work gives you the knowledge and confidence to change it up when you need to.
That flexibility is dead helpful – whether you need it to address the needs of an 11-year-old boy or to manage your role in a political campaign.
We’re not just entering into another school year. We’re entering another election cycle. That doesn’t just mean that there will be oodles more fundraising emails. (My god, please make them stop.) It means we’ll be recruiting candidates, training nominees, registering voters, engaging the disengaged, and motivating the unmotivated (including, sometimes, ourselves).
We’ll be doing all the things.
And friend, I hate to be the bearer of bad news. But nothing that we do will go according to plan. (Heck, the former president and current Republican frontrunner was indicted today for the third time. We’re in some uncharted territory here.) But good preparation will make us more flexible and able to adapt. That means thinking through short and long term goals, considering what needs to be shorn up, reinforced, or created… and taking the time to actually plan.
Not engaging in this evaluative planning is one of the biggest mistakes I see Democrats make. We may not be able to fix that on a party level (unless you’re Jaime Harrison, in which case you absolutely can – and we should talk!) but we can fix it on an individual, and often organizational, one.
We owe it to ourselves (and, frankly, the country) to prepare well enough to be ready to tackle whatever comes our way.
We also owe it to ourselves to prepare well enough to know that what we are taking on is meaningful in the broader context of our lives. It’s so easy to get swept up in the newest daily emergency. And there’s a lot of important work that needs doing. But it takes a lot of time, and plenty of soul-searching, to prioritize time and energy.
So over the next few weeks I’m going to take my own advice. I’m going to be thinking hard about my plans for the next few years – where I fit in, where I want to focus my energy, and where I can be of best use. And then I’ll consider goals for the next few months – a shorter timeframe with more urgency. I know that having that framework will help guide later decisions about where to spend my time when time is at a premium. I’ll have more to say about my process over the next few weeks.
So if you’ve been feeling disillusioned, or directionless, or like you’re just putting out one fire after another, or paying a giant game of Whack-A-Mole, I hope you’ll join me in this planning project.
I think it will help us be more engaged, more flexible, and more effective. So get our your planner!
And let’s get to work.
Actions for the Week of July 31, 2023
Fireflies!
If you’re anything like me, climate and conservation have been top of mind recently. So I’ve been keeping my eye out for actions relating to either or both. And I happened upon this wonderful National Geographic article about fireflies.
There’s a current citizen science project called Firefly Atlas that is helping track and conserve threatened or data-deprived fireflies in the US. All regions are represented! Check it out and sign up here: https://www.fireflyatlas.org/
Join Red Wine & Blue and Be a Troublemaker!
Thursday, August 3, 2023 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM ET (Virtual)
Ready to defeat right-wing extremism and bring commonsense back to our communities? Sharing information and inspiring people to action is how we bring change — want to widen your reach? Become a Social Media Queen — learn how to be an effective online influencer with your friends and beyond. You’ve got the power — let’s do it! Sign up online here.
Oh, Hi, Ohio!
We’ve got a week left before Ohio’s August 8 special election, the outcome of which will decide whether the threshold for Ohioans to amend their constitution with citizen-led ballot measures is a simple majority or a new 60% threshold.
Here’s something simple and incredibly effective: get out your phone, look at your contacts, and see who you know who lives in Ohio.
Text them. “Hey! Just checking in to see how you are – and also to make sure you’ve voted no (or are planning to vote no) on Issue One. August 8 is the last day to vote!”
I texted a friend who lives in Ohio, unsure if he had voted, and heard back that not only had he voted, but he is part of a phonebank this week. Excellent!
If you’re not sure which of your contacts is in Ohio, you can download the SwipeBlue app from the app store; the app will look at your contacts and determine who is in Ohio and whether they have voted.
To answer your privacy questions in advance, Swipe Blue does not store your contacts: they “only pass it through a secure connection to a one-time match query against the public voter file.” https://www.swipeblue.org/privacy
Learn more here: https://www.swipeblue.org/
WHEW! GO TEAM!
P.S.: Why don’t you make someone’s day and send this pep talk to a friend or two? I bet they need it.
If you’d like to sign up to get this pep talk and action list in your in-box each week, you can do that here. Welcome, friend!
P.P.S.: If you want to help support this work you can do so via Patreon at
https://www.patreon.com/smalldeedsdone or via paypal at https://www.paypal.me/smalldeeds
My deepest gratitude in advance.
Thank you for reading. Thank you for writing. I read and respond to every email! We’re in this together. Don’t you forget it.
Small Deeds Done 