We tend to romanticise the world around us, and social (or environmental) impact work is no exception. There are work functions where we don't see the immediate impact of what we do, or (and this is worse, I believe), we get disappointed with the organisation we are working with. When starting in social impact, I had one small goal: taking steps to transform the life of people I serve. What is one small goal that you have? It is easy to feel overwhelmed by what we see inside of the organisation, especially if things are not working the way we've envisaged from the outside. How can you focus on your function and how van you make a difference there?

Keep hustling and celebrate incremental progress, with a glass of your favourite wine of course. By embracing the small wins, it'll give you confidence and a use case to showcase your leadership with the decision makers who hold access to those coveted positions. More importantly it'll give you momentum to seek those bigger wins.

One lesson I've learned is to temper expectations and understand that the journey towards making a difference is much more complex than I initially thought. It's easy to get disillusioned by the bureaucracy and setbacks that are often present. Instead of aiming too high and getting disheartened, it's crucial to focus on the small actions and small impacts that we can make every day. By acknowledging the limitations and complexities of the field, we can better navigate the challenges and continue striving to create positive change, albeit on a smaller scale than initially envisioned. It's about finding fulfillment in the incremental progress rather than being discouraged by the grandiose visions that may not immediately materialize.

When starting out in social impact, I grappled with the ethical complexities of the sector as I realized that there is no such thing as ethical purity. Nonprofits sometimes play the role of plugging gaps that government could (should) be doing, donors and funders may have acquired wealth through concerning or downright horrible means, private sector companies may have funds to create a social impact team thanks to underpaying other employees or exploiting resources…and true activist organizing roles tend to be so low paid that you may struggle to sustain yourself. So the real question is this: what are your ethical boundaries? What’s most important to you in an imperfect world?

Choose the organisation you work for wisely and don’t have too many expectations because in these types of organisations you’ll sometimes get to do your passion, but sometimes also have to do the boring stuff too…it’s the nature of the work.

When entering the world of social impact, all things are about changing the world. I dreamt big, but I had to realise that everything starts close to me. Still, I haven't given up on my main goal, but I have broken it down into achievable steps. This is very important. A reminder that nothing is perfect. Social impact is not an exception, either. There are things that doesn't work the way we thought. Under the flag of "doing good" we have done many things that we wouldn't call good. As you are advancing, you will see more and more of these. Keep 2 things in front of you always: 1.) don't give up on your values - if there is a big difference with those of the organisation, take the steps necessary to change jobs. 2.) remember your why.