A way to take action when you feel unproductive

The Daily Drip

It's hard to think or talk about productivity, habits, or even just work.

In the U.S. we're experiencing protests, conflicting world views, and an uncertain future.

So, there are two things to glean from this.

1. Acceptance of and conscious planning around sub-optimal performance.

If you're stressed or anxious or depressed, you're not going to be your best. Sure, we can take action to mitigate these, like meditation etc., but the root issue may be external to your control.

If you can accept that you might not be at peak performance, it'll be easier to keep going a high- or medium-performance.

Honestly, the more realistic you can be about your expectations of yourself, the more likely you will be to not catch yourself in a downward spiral of self-blame and doubt.

2. The U.S. was born from revolution and most revolutions have had youth at the front lines.

I'm not saying that it's youth alone who change history--and I've never died from being on a front line, so I'm not trying to minimize sacrifices.

I'm saying that a new future is coming and I think it will work out best if we can remember that we each have valuable insights and perspectives to share.

Young people have fantastic and hopeful ideologies. By themselves, they may not have the practicality to be implemented successfully.

The older generation has wisdom and experience. By themselves, they may not be able to see what's possible and continue with the status quo.

If both groups can collaborate, solutions will have a much better chance at achieving long-term impact.

How does that work?

Well, with empathy for starters.

But other than empathy and patience and tolerance (things we all know are the right answer but still somehow forget to execute), we can talk to our representatives and use our voices to change policy.

If you'd like to contribute in some way but you aren't sure how . . . try starting with this site called 8 Can't Wait.

This is a list of policies that have the greatest impact on reducing police violence.

You can check to see how your city is doing in each category and call/email your representative and ask them to take action.

There are many ways to help, this is just one.

I also use Countable to learn more about what bills are going through congress and what they mean for local, state, and federal policy. You can send your representative a message directly from the app.

It's never been easier to take action.

I hope this inspires you to look inside yourself, see your own talents, skills, and experiences, and use them to make a social impact.

If there are other tools or resources you use to make impact, please feel free to share and I will make sure I list them in my next post.