image courtesy of torres21

The to-do list to get us from where we are to the clean, just, beautifully designed future we want is extremely long. Lots and lots of things need to change—everything, in fact. Which is quite overwhelming.

It’s so overwhelming that a sensitive, concerned person could easily get lost in wondering where to start. Ask me how I know this! I can’t even begin to count the hours I’ve spent daydreaming about the best way to contribute. Should I install solar panels in poor communities, teach workshops to kids, create an urban homestead like the Dervaes family? What would be the most impactful? Where could I do the most good? What would I enjoy the most?

The result of all this? I’m sure you guessed it. Nada mas. And, oddly, contemplating all these options not only didn’t help anything—it also made me feel like crap. Every discarded idea actually made me more helpless. If I couldn’t even figure out what to do with myself, how could I help change the world?

Eventually I realized that it’s not really possible to sort all this out on paper. It requires action. For many reasons, any project is better than no project.

The decision-making process can eat up your entire life if you let it

Sifting through options can easily become its own project, and there’s no end to it. Of course you want to learn a bit about your ideas before you jump into them, but there comes a point where each new option that you uncover actually pushes your decision further away. I call this “50 kinds of spaghetti sauce syndrome” but it has an actual name—the Paradox of Choice—and books have been written about it. Before analysis paralysis sets in, pick something that sounds good and get into it. You’ll know soon enough if it’s right for you…

You need data from real-life experience (not just books and blogs)

The only way it’s possible to learn whether you resonate with a particular cause or organization is to get involved with it. You can’t understand a group’s dynamics or even the deeper content of its mission by reading the website. I’ve gotten involved in projects that seemed perfect for my interests and skills, only to find that up close and in person, they didn’t engage my spirit. The opposite has happened, as well. You can’t know until you jump in and try.

Momentum is easier to work with than inertia

Inertia creates an initial hump when you first move from inaction to action, but once you’re going, you’ve got momentum on your side and it becomes far easier to keep going. Even if you decide to change projects, you’ve still got momentum working in your favor—you’re used to doing something besides going home and growing roots in the couch every evening; you’ve learned that getting involved with something new isn’t as daunting as it looks. Getting over that initial hump is by far the hardest part, so why not get it out of the way as soon as you can?

Specific skills are less important than enthusiasm

I’ll let you in on a secret: activism is not rocket science. Most projects are far more about interest and commitment than genius. What are you passionate about in “everyday life”? Learn about it and get involved with groups who are trying to transform it. There is always a way for you to help.

Figuring out how to work together is the #1 thing each of us can do to change the world

Even No Impact Man, the reigning king of lifestyle change, agrees—individual tweaks to the details of how we live are not going to get us where we want to go. We need to come together behind larger goals.

And there is a deeper facet to this as well that has to do with changing our culture. If you are as sick as I am of polarized arguments, meaningless talking points, and endless yelling on the same subjects, then it’s up to us to create a new way for human beings to relate to each other. Working together within groups gives us the chance to discover and practice new ways of interacting based on creativity and collaboration. In doing this, we actually create a new culture.

If you’re reading this site, you obviously care about the world and have some desire to contribute positively to it. This deep care is really all you need to make a positive impact. The important part is to get the ball rolling, make adjustments, and align your work with your interests.

And you may find, as so many others have, that something really cool happens when you do this: as your talent and passion are unleashed, your life comes to life! Jump in—to anything—today.