3 Great Things

We're running out of time for them.

What if I told you that you only have time to accomplish 3 great things in your life?

This is your annual reminder that you're running out of time to achieve them.

My goal with this essay is simple: if you haven't started working on your great thing yet, after reading this, you will.

Let me be clear, even as a Vegan, you will not live to 100. In the US, that's as likely as you winning the lottery. Since the odds are against you, I'm betting that you'll live to the median age of 75 years old.

That means your midpoint age is around 37.

If you just sighed in relief because you're 36 years old or less, breathe that sigh back in. As Humans, a year of experience is not always an absolute length of time. It's relative to how many years we've already lived.

Remember when you were 5 years old and one year felt like forever? That's because it was! That one year was literally 20% of your life lived.

You will NEVER have that much time ever again.

At 37 years old, one year is just 2.7% of your life (1/37 years old). 2.7% moves a lot faster than 20% - blink and it's gone. This is our perception of time, and it speeds up every year. Time isn't just passing anymore, it's accelerating.

If we account for this accelerating perception of time - starting at age 5 to also account for childhood amnesia - our midpoint through life is NOT 37 years old. It's closer to 20.

You don't have as much time as you think.

Now take another deep breath.

Look at where you are.
Look at where you started.
Living past 20 is a miracle.
Look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now.
We're part of one of the greatest movements towards justice in all of history, and we're on the right side of it.

Isn't that enough?
What would be great enough?

Why can I only achieve 3 great things in my lifetime?

Well, If you're anything like me, just eating Vegan is not enough.
Just staying neutral in this movement is not enough.
To just stay alive, it's not enough.
To just play the game, it's not enough.

I want to build.
I want to lead.
I want to fight.
I want to WIN.

A great thing, to me, is this.
Compounded over.
And over.
And over.
And over again.
Until every animal is free.

And even then, it won't be enough.
There's never enough time for enough.

...

Regardless of what your own age and actions within Veganism are, we share at least one truth: we're running out of time.

We're running out of time for our 3 great things.

It took me around 3 years after going Vegan to start fighting for animals. I've been writing this newsletter for nearly 2 years now, and despite 387 of you reading this, it's just a small good thing. It's not a big great thing.

Yet.

Big things don't happen on small timelines.

To demonstrate, let's take a look at a great thing we all know: PETA. I hope we can all agree that PETA is a pretty big great thing. The organization has over 6.5 million supporters and leads thousands of activists to dozens of VEGAN VICTORIES annually. Some of which are probably reading this very essay! I think PETA is great because I send an email to them and an activist sends me free posters and stickers to fight for animals with. Within 48 hours. You can be a part of this great thing without even having time for a second thought.

Let's have this second thought today: have you ever considered just how long PETA itself must have taken?

Ingrid Newkirk, the founder of PETA, was doing activism for 10 years before she met and co-founded PETA with Alex Pacheco in 1980. It took another 6 years to lead the iconic "I would rather go naked than wear fur" campaign that still fights fur giants (and wins) today. It took another 4 years of winning for PETA to involve celebrities and reach the status of a household name.

That's 20 years.

20 years of building.
20 years of leading.
20 years of fighting.
20 years of WINNING.

20 years for one small good thing, to become a big great thing.

It always takes longer than you think.

Many people say it takes 10,000 hours to be an expert.
That's 17 months.
Nothing.
Not many people say it takes 10,000 days to achieve a great thing.
That's 27 years.
Something.

All the big great things take an amount of time closer to 27 years, not 17 months.

If we're generous, we might shrink the timeline down to 15 years depending on the size of the great thing. Starting at 20 years old until you're 75 gives you room for 3 great things in a lifetime.

But here's the catch…

Life demands sacrifice.

We all have the same 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week, and 365 days in a year. The difference is that not all of us understand the day-to-day sacrifices required for these great things. Including myself:

"I SHOULD still be able to watch TV after work."
"I SHOULD still be able to go out on the weekends."
"I SHOULD still be able to have a holiday season."

I should. I should. I should.

Sure. That's all fine, but continuing these behaviors will simply come at the cost of something else: my 3 great things. It's entitlement to think I can have my cake and eat it too.

It's not about what I think I shouldn’t need to sacrifice, it's about what is required.

I don't complain about the cost of my $225 luxury handbag. I either pay it, or I don't. I've noticed that the activists who win the most are the ones who sacrifice the most for the great things that they want.

It always costs more than you think.

What's more, I also want to use my time for maintaining 1 great relationship network and family, and 1 great practice of health as well. If I've made the trade to keep these, I'm now down to just 1 great thing for the next 15 years. If you're anything like me, so are you.

This great thing can be anything, but not everything.

The best part?
We can start today.

Forget 10,000 days.
Forget 10,000 hours.
It really only takes 20 hours of focused work to be decent at anything.
That's ~3 seven hour work days.
Nothing.

If Ingrid Newkirk had waited for the 'perfect time' to start, or quit after 20 hours, or even 10,000 hours, PETA, and the Vegan movement as a whole might not exist in the same way it does today.

While you'll suck at first, great things only happen step by step. Day by day. Starting today.

So, what will it be?
What will you sacrifice for it?

You're running out of time.

Make your move,
Dani ✌️

2025-01-01

P.S. If your move is towards a great thing within animal rights, I want to make that move with you (mine is here). Reply or comment with what your next move is and what you’ll need to give up to achieve it, and I'll send you free animal rights outreach zines made by my team and I, AND an exclusive VEGAN WORLD NOW embroidered hat ($39 total value, only 6 hats remain) as a reminder that small actions lead to great things. Plus, only the coolest animal rights activists wear them. ;)

The exclusive VEGAN WORLD NOW embroidered hat in the wild!