391. The Power of Small Actions

Don’t feel overwhelmed by the upcoming election. Instead, just find one small thing you can do in your own community.

Sami Sage and Emily Amick are authors of the book Democracy In Retrograde: How to Make Changes Big and Small in Our Country and in Our Lives. They are our guest hosts for It’s Going To Be Okay this week.

Transcripts may not appear in their final version and are subject to change.

Sami Sage:  I’m Sami Sage, and it’s going to be okay. For our last episode of the week, we are going to talk about the power of small actions. In a world where grand protestations and sweeping reforms often dominate headlines, It’s easy to overlook the power of small, everyday actions. But democracy is very much a rising tide lifts all boats situation.

We don’t each need to feel the weight of single handedly solving climate change, but we all must play our own small role in making life a little bit better. One vote, two votes. One hour of volunteering and one conversation might seem insignificant, but they contribute to the collective voice that shapes policies and elects leaders who represent the community’s values and needs.

Take the classic example of community cleanup initiatives. A single person picking up litter may not transform a neighborhood overnight. But when neighbors join in, the collective effort can lead to a cleaner, safer, and more welcoming environment over time. Moreover, small actions are accessible and manageable, making it easier for more people to get involved.

So many of us are already overspent, taking care of children, getting food on the table, and working one, two, or maybe three jobs. The goal is to find civic actions that fit within your life and that are sustainable to you, because civic engagement should be a daily habit. Not a yearly freak out. Our suggestion is to start local.

Figure out one local issue or group that you care about. Start tracking it. When you’re dealing with a small universe of information, it is much easier to get engaged quickly and keep track of what’s going on. We know you’re busy and it is unlikely that you will suddenly have a spare four hours a week to get engaged in civic life.

One of the people we profiled in Democracy in Retrograde is a woman who became very active in her school board. She started off as a volunteer in her kid’s classroom. Then she took on more leadership over time because people looked to her for that leadership because she was so good at it. She then realized how much she could give to the community and how much the community could give to her.

She kept getting asked to run for bigger positions. She then realized that the influence that she could singularly have, and how necessary her voice and her viewpoint were. This is what we hear so frequently from people. They didn’t necessarily start with the intention of becoming a big deal or making huge changes.

They started with one thing that they saw needed to be done, and it grew from there. In an ideal world, if everyone is contributing small actions on a consistent basis, within the realm of issues that they care about most, the burden can be so much lighter on others. For example, on a sports team, no one is expected to play every position.

So too with our civic life. For us to create a better world, nobody has to do everything, but everybody has to do something. And we are all better off when we specialize in what we’re good at and what we care the most about. That’s why it’s so important, as we talked about earlier this week, to understand your values and find people in groups who value similar things, so that you can find your people with whom you’ll enjoy working to create a better world.

Happy Friday everyone. I hope you have a great and relaxing weekend, and don’t let the election stress you out too much. Find someone to talk to about it, and maybe make some calls if you’re feeling anxious. Remember, action is the antidote to despair. And thank you so much for having me and Emily as your hosts this week.

If you like these episodes, check out Democracy in Retrograde, how to make changes big and small in our country and our lives.