20 Things to Drive Action in 2020
2020 is upon us. A brand new decade. An election year. It’s time to get to work, people!
With that in mind, we put together a year-end list of 20 ideas to drive action, growth, and change in 2020. Let’s do this.
Follow people who do not look like you on social media. It’s great to follow people who inspire you and we all love a good meme account, but it’s time to do a social media check. How many people do you follow that don’t look at a lot like you? Our challenge for you is to seek out 3 social accounts that feature people who look different than you. Color, gender identity, size, ability, etc. Find them, follow them, and listen to their stories. It will change you.
Stop thinking and start doing. What’s the thing you keep saying you want to do someday? The one you can’t find time for or that seems like maybe it could possibly happen down the road. Stop thinking about it and just do the damn thing.
Get comfortable being uncomfortable. The surest way to shake things up and enact change is to get out of your comfort zone. We’re challenging ourselves this year to do something each month that makes our palms sweat.
Channel your outrage. Let’s be frank. There are a boatload of things to be outraged by right now. But outrage is a useless emotion if it’s followed by inaction. What pisses you off the most? Turn your anger into action and put that energy into supporting a cause that is near and dear to you.
Call out problematic behavior. When it comes to family and friends, we’ve heard excuses for not calling out problematic behavior: what’s the point, they’re not going to change, I don’t want to cause a rift. But if you hear racist, bigoted, or biased thinking, it’s critical to call it out. Is it more important to protect the feelings of someone practicing problematic behavior or to protect the people who are being discriminated against, abused, and killed? CALL. THEM. OUT.
Be kind. The ripple effects of kindness are infinite. That is all.
Learn a new skill. Put one new skill you want to learn on your 2020 goals list. Learn it, practice it, be better.
Give yourself grace. Aspiration is important. Ambition is admirable. Intention is imperative. But you can’t control everything and you don’t know what the year holds for you. Give yourself the grace to adjust your goals and forgive your missteps. Kindness to yourself is as important as kindness to others.
Embrace your body. We aren’t asking you to be 100% positive about your body 100% of the time. But we also know how much collective time and energy we waste on hating various body parts, obsessing about weight and size, and having anxiety over what we eat. For a lot of people, it’s a badge of honor to have mastered deprivation. F*ck that sh*t. Focus on your health, eating what you enjoy, and doing what feels good. FULL STOP.
Who needs what you uniquely offer? You have a unique skill set. We all do. Ask yourself who needs what you have to offer. Find them. Share your skills. It may be professionally, it may be personally, but the world needs your unique gifts. Share them.
Champion your local candidates. We’re all paying attention to what’s happening on the national stage, but don’t sleep on the elections and candidates that are happening in your state, city, and even school district. Change starts in your community and your local heroes need your support and resources.
Gender equity starts at home. We just read the most amazing book by Eve Rodsky called Fairplay. If you’ve ever felt like you’re carrying the weight of the household and family on your shoulders, this book is a must for creating equity at home.
Take a nap. No seriously. You cant get sh*t done if you’re not rested. Take a nap. Actually, take naps. Multiple naps. You need them.
Define self-care. There are a thousand memes equating self-care to shopping, day drinking, and massages, but what does self-care truly mean to you? How can you nurture yourself in a way that restores, recharges, and ignites growth? Is it setting boundaries? Changing dysfunctional behaviors? Or simply allowing yourself a damn nap once in a while.
Set boundaries. Ooooowwwweeee this is a tough one for many of us. If you find yourself struggling with an imbalanced personal or professional relationship, for the love of God, set some boundaries. It is the least selfish thing you can do for both parties. And really the only people that get upset when you set boundaries are the people who benefited from you having none.
Laugh. We know it sounds very #livelaughlove, but hear us out. The world is a better place when people are laughing. There’s a lot of funny stuff out there to make you laugh. Find it. Laugh. Repeat.
Done is better than perfect. Just remember that when you’re stressed as hell.
Be stingy with your sorries. We’d be willing to bet that sorry comes up so frequently in your vocabulary that you’ve probably apologized to a table that you ran into. Stop. Apologies are for when you’ve wronged someone, not simply for existing.
F*ck something up. It’s going to happen this year so you might as well put it on your list and act as if you planned it all along.
Vote like your life depends on it. It does.