The Lifelong Activist: How to Change the World without Losing Your Way

by Hillary Rettig

Overview

The Lifelong Activist is a guide to living a joyful and productive life that includes a strong progressive mission. It offers simple and clear instructions that help you figure out the form your authentic life should take, and live that life with a maximum of joy and productivity, and a minimum of fear, guilt and shame. The book's sections are: Managing Your Mission (figuring out your authentic mission) Managing Your Time (building a schedule that allows you to realize that mission) Managing Your Fears (beating perfectionism, procrastination and blocks to success, so you can follow your schedule) Managing Your Relationships (leveraging your strengths with those of others) The Lifelong Activist is for liberal activists, artists, campaign workers, labor organizers, volunteers, students, teachers, human services workers, and entrepreneurs, but anyone can use it and learn from it. It can act as a useful handbook for students and young people at the beginning of their careers; those contemplating a career or path change; and those at risk for burnout will find it particularly useful.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781590560907
Publisher:	Lantern Publishing & Media
Publication date:	11/01/2006
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	416
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Hillary Rettig is the author of The 7 Secrets of the Prolific: The Definitive Guide to Overcoming Procrastination, Perfectionism, and Writer’s Block. Her articles have appeared in Psychology Today, Huffington Post, Fortune, Future Buzz, and numerous other publications. She is currently Academic Productivity Projects Specialist at Kalamazoo College.

Table of Contents

Introduction     XIII
Managing Your Mission     1
Managing Your Time     69
Managing Your Fears     133
Managing Your Relationship with Self     235
Managing Your Relationship with Others     263
Conclusion     375
Notes     381
Bibliography     385
Index     393

Editorial Reviews

How does one juggle activism-or any other passion, for that matter-with all the other demands that come wrapped up in life? This quandary forms the central focus of Hillary Rettig's The Lifelong Activist. A career coach and vegan advocate, Rettig argues in razor thin chapters punctuated by action boxes and charts that the truly effective activist also strives to live fully and comfortably. She draws on theory from thinkers ranging from Henry Spira, a man whose power rested largely in his charismatic, amiable personality, to Gloria Steinem, a warrior for social change whose success cost her, for a great deal of her life, any sense of peace. Positive psychology takes on the task of optimizing one's time and energy in a way that yields leisurely, joyful, and yes-lifelong-activism.

Veg News

Rettig (founder, Infinite Art), a Boston-based career coach and trainer, focuses on activists themselves, seeking to provide them with self-understanding, management tools, and relationship skills to sustain for a career. Too many organizers, she feels, throw themselves into their work without any thought for themselves. They commit to ungodly hours, accept paltry salaries, ignore their personal lives, and frequently burn out. This guide is like a 12-step program for activists, asking them to examine their motivations, learn to work effectively, and maintain their identity and personal lives while at the same time carrying out good works. Rettig intends the readings and exercises to be done in sequence, but activists with particular problems could consult sections of the work as needed. A specialized book best suited for large public libraries and collections serving activist groups. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal