It’s here.
You’ve known it’s been coming. But it’s really here. In just over a month, American politics ramps up for its most watched contest. And on January 15, the people of Iowa will kick us off with the first-in-the-nation Republican caucus. The very next week, New Hampshire will take center stage, and we’re off to the races with both major parties then in full-fledged primary campaign mode.
2024 promises to be a lot of things because of presidential politics. It promises to be disruptive. It promises to be divisive. And it also promises to be disheartening to many.
Just think back to 2020 and how you felt halfway through that tumultuous campaign year. Were you sick of it all by June 30th? By then, we’d already watched a presidential primary election partially unfold through COVID restrictions and nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd. And there were still months of new headlines to follow!
For many, 2020 was an emotional roller coaster that left them feeling depleted, with less hope for the future. As we enter 2024, I’m trying to ensure the advocates I partner with are better prepared to weather whatever storms will undoubtedly come our way in 2024.
We can’t prevent current events. History writes itself before our eyes each and every day. And while we can’t control the world around us, we can build the skills necessary to control how we respond to those events. For 2024, these are the top three habits I’ll be coaching advocates to use so they can do exactly that. These are the same habits I’ve used to improve, and even thrive, when lots of advocates are getting overwhelmed.
1. Get Grounded
Over the past few years, I’ve been in the habit of a daily reflection practice – a few actually. One is a little routine I take my daughter through every night at bedtime where we answer the same series of questions together to put us in a place of gratitude. Every night, our special questions are a temperature check for us – and a way to put her in a peaceful mood before bed. But I’ve also been investing time to do more of that grounding work for myself.
In 2021, that included reading passages from The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday. In 2023, I’ve returned to his work with The Daily Dad. These page-a-day reads create space for me – someone who spends all day bombarded by politics – to step away from that frenetic world and remember the much bigger arc of history.
For you, it might be more of a religious devotional text, or journaling. But in each day of 2024, I think individuals will find real value in a practice like this. Our lives take place out in the real world, constantly coming into contact with the 24 hour news cycle. Taking a moment to get grounded, to reconnect with your identity beyond all of that, will help you stay level-headed. It will also reflect in how you carry yourself through advocacy.
In 2012, 2016, and 2020 alike, I witnessed longtime advocates lose credibility. in front of congressional offices through their own action. When we give in to the potency of presidential politics, this is hard to avoid. Getting grounded will help you avoid that same outcome.
2. Get Quiet
“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.“
Epictetus
This will be the hardest habit to build in 2024. So you should start now.
Advocates often forget (myself included) that we simply don’t have to hold an opinion on everything. And it’s especially hard to remember during a Presidential election cycle.
Every day, across the country, advocates who keep even an average finger on the pulse of the election will have a new issue to discuss. A throwaway line in a stump speech can become a front-and-center type issue in the blink of an eye. And how a candidate – how our candidate – responds, becomes personal to us. Why?
Well, during the campaign “silly season,” a lot of folks let their own identities get mixed up with their political party affiliation. And regardless of how our preferred candidate does respond to the back and forth of it all, many Americans tend to start spouting off their own ideas about the issue. Take it as the by-product of a healthy first amendment right to free speech.
But for issue advocates, we have to remember that our speech is never truly free – we’ll pay a price for everything we say. In a campaign like we’ll see in 2024, that means what we spout off while advocating for our own causes will be interpreted by the listener in whatever way they are viewing the unfolding campaign. That can put you in a real pickle if you take issue with their preferred candidate in a meeting where you could have avoided the conversation altogether.
You always have the right to refuse to talk “politics.” You can direct an advocacy discussion back to your priorities. You can opt NOT TO SPEAK when you don’t have to. Building the habit of going quiet at the right times can keep you from depleting your credibility. Especially in 2024, find ways to get quiet.
3. Get Realistic
It’s all coming to a halt. Your window for meaningful advances on your issues is shrinking, not expanding as 2024 chugs along.
Right or wrong, that’s the truth. The first two months of 2024 will be the best window for meaningful work in American politics. Beyond that, there are no guarantees that your issue will make it through all the static to come. But that’s ok, too.
Not all successful advocacy looks like a piece of legislation becoming law, or an executive order getting issued. Far from it.
For many in 2024, finding ways to simply move your issue into the discussion at all should be defined as a win. Because most politicians don’t want to talk about your issue in a campaign. They want to talk about their positions and their opponents. As frustrating, and off-putting, as that may be to most, we as advocates have to face that reality head on. Sorry.
Will you get your pet legislation across the goal line in 2024? The chances are slim. But can you build new, meaningful relationships? You betcha. Can you invite candidates and incumbents alike to see your issue up close and personal? Yeah. Could you position them to meet the people impacted by your work in their home districts, out in the real world beyond Washington? Hell yes.
2024 will demand you redefine success. Period. You’ll have to find joy in the small wins, and shake off the frustrations of stagnation.
But, but, but…
As depressing as this can all feel to novice advocates, veterans of this work know something you may not have internalized yet: we’ll get through it.
Elections are finite games. They have winners, they have losers. Most importantly, they have an end date. And after that, the nonsense pauses for a little while at least – and the system reverts back to governance mode.
In June 2016, a couple of advocates asked me why I wasn’t stressed about the results of the election that was coming in just a few months time. I don’t know if they took my response to heart, but I’ll share it with you here:
“The Republic is bigger than any one man.”
That’s the reality. Stressing over the unknown of an election cycle is fruitless, and it clouds your vision. Getting grounded in your own identity beyond politics, finding ways to stay out of the debate, and setting realistic goals for the environment at hand are all geared toward pushing back against our own tendency to stress over politics.
I hope that, wherever you are in your advocacy journey, you can find ways to put these into practice that make sense for you. Doing so may just help you think differently about politics this year, fight more effectively for the cause that matters to you most, and set you up to make real change along the way.
Part of the Possible 