What I learned.

You know....

I've been pretty active with the movement on here and on the retake facebook group. During the time, I've learned a few things. About myself....and about how social movements work....I just want to share my thoughts.

1. Be honest. I think this is the most crucial thing that I've learned when talking with people. Just be honest with them. I've found that people will respond better if they believe you are being honest and straightforward with them.
2. Be polite. I've received quite a few rude responses during my campaigns. People accused me of trying to run a scam. Others did their best to degrade what me and my team (Team Retake...though we may rename ourselves Project Retake or Retake's STG) were trying to do. All throughout it, I only responded with politeness. For whatever reason, it won people over and helped disarm the people that attacked the idea. Plus, people everywhere respond better to politeness.
3. When in doubt, act. There are so many great ideas out there that have been pitched. But the problem was....they weren't acting on them. They told them to me so I could act on them. What I tried to tell them was to just act. They were looking for a leader...for someone who could carry the load. Also...so many would rather complain about the state of things rather than do something to fix it. Ever since I started with making projects, I've seen this more and more. All I can do is encourage everyone to make the movement their own.
4. If we believe the movement needs a leader, we should make the effort to become the leader that we think the movement needs.
5. No matter what, I will always give my absolute best in everything that I do. Team Retake believed the same thing....But... I've learned that about myself. I don't accept anything less than the absolute best from myself. I want to believe that is why the first three campaigns my team ran seemed to go successfully.
6. Learn to pace yourself. There's a lot that I still want to do and there's just not enough hours in the day to do them all. All I try to do is what I can do in a day. Sometimes, I feel burnt out from trying to learn After Effects. Other-times, working on a petition really energizes me. But I can't let one slip just because I feel worn out. So all I do is try to balance things equally. Get done what I can get done.
7. Never, ever officially take sides in any argument. People really appreciate neutrality. A lot of times, when people come to me and talk about concerns about the movement (I've answered a few questions about HTL....more than a few....), I just listen to their concerns and try to give a balanced answer to their concerns. Nothing more than that. It helps breed more trust than anything else. I've also done this when arguments about indoctrination theory became really heated (about a month and a half ago).