Redefining Success
In 2023, I achieved several milestones that I’m proud to have led and played a role in supporting the launch of the largest and most diverse democracy coalition in California’s history, planning and mobilizing 70+ grassroots leaders to rally and march in the State Capitol in Sacramento, and coordinating and preparing 50 community organizers from across the state (including those formerly incarcerated, undocumented, etc.) to provide public comment at an in-person informational hearing on why California needs to do more ensure all eligible voters are registered to vote. I also helped plan the largest convening of progressive elected officials in California and helped a corporation adopt a more community-integrated advocacy strategy.
As proud as I am of what I did in 2023, I knew it was an unsustainable path. I found myself overextended and I knew that I needed to make a change and step back from the level I was operating at. This is not why I started my own business, just to continue the burnout cycle I had experienced in other workplaces. I knew I needed to set boundaries and revisit my priorities to achieve the life I wanted.
After some introspection, it was clear what wasn’t working for me. Even though I no longer worked for someone else, I still prioritized what others valued over my own values. You can tell one’s values by how they spend their time, energy, and money. In my case, this meant that my needs were still being put last – not eating well, being glued to the computer, skipping activities I looked forward to, and more. I needed to put myself as my top priority and not be abashed about it.
I created some general guidelines and priorities for me to easy refer back to:
If there is enough work, I’m going to proactively bring on others to help instead of trying to do it all myself.
I want to finish a memoir about working as an election official in Orange County, CA in the 2020 election cycle.
2024 will be the year where I commit to swimming 2x a week, playing pickleball more, volunteering more, and discovering hobbies without the pressure to master or excel in.
I essentially want to try living as someone who is retired and enjoying their golden years, but sooner. If it’s that great, why wait?
Asking my network to help me accomplish these goals and putting it out there publicly so I can be held accountable.
I genuinely believe that it is possible to run a successful business without sacrificing ourselves and our bodies.
I’m privileged to be in a position to explore this possibility and, if it proves to be true, I will have achieved a quality of life that needs to be perpetually evasive (at least to me): the ability to pay my bills, relief from unnecessary stress related to overworking, benefitting from regular fitness and physical movement, and contentedness with the direction of my life.
I don’t expect perfection but I do expect myself to try. When and if I fall, I’ll be there to support myself. I won’t be hard on myself but I will help myself up and try again. That’s all we can do, anyways - we try and try again already, and, this time, it’s for me.
A daughter of Chinese Vietnamese refugees, Jackie Wu is the Founder and President of J Wu Consulting, an Asian American woman-owned consultancy, specializing in civic engagement, voter outreach strategy, and communications. Following the highly controversial and scrutinized 2020 General Election, Jackie felt deeply impacted by the false accusations of voting and election fraud that sought to undermine voting rights. She experienced an epiphany after the January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection, which Jackie felt called to utilize her experiences and knowledge to play a more direct role in empowering historically excluded communities to realize their political power and potential. Her approach to voting and elections work is through a compassionate lens for transformative action.
This article was originally published for the “selah space” newsletter, reclaiming abundance’s care package for go-getters that is released on a monthly basis. “Selah space” offers content to support readers looking to for greater balance by living, loving, and learning deeply to be their most calm, confident, and complete selves. In the Bible, selah means “to pause or to reflect.” It appears most heavily in the Book of Psalms and Habakkuk as musical notations at the end of verses to draw attention back to what was previously expressed.