Proof Through the Night

Recommended Steps

STEP # 1     Read the page "Why Care?" There are a lot of reasons why people are pessimistic about politics and government. We accept this pessimism as our starting point, and we offer good reasons and lots of incentives and payoffs for doing the small amount of work needed to become politically proficient.

If it helps, think of your participation as being part of a battle to help free the electorate. Your mission is to become proficient yourself, and then then support at least two people within six months. In the next six months, you just want to support them to support others.

STEP #2     Understand the remaining steps.

This page walks potential participants through the rest of the web site, step-by-step. Read the rest of the steps now to get an idea of what you'll be doing. Keep coming back to this page, to find out what to do next.

Most of our web pages are for people who are working to gain political proficiency. Once you have it, in other words, once you pass the Proficiency Test, then you'll probably come back to website mainly to use the Political Knowledge page to get current information on candidates and issues.

STEP #3    Read the PTTN Membership Agreement to find out what members are expected to do. We ask a lot, but if you think about it, these are things you'd want every voter to do. To download a signable PDF, go here.

If you decide to be a full participant, continue following these steps. If you're not old enough to vote, you can still do all the steps. You can still do advocacy and have an impact on your country and world. We salute everyone who intends to become an effective citizen.

STEP # 4    If you haven't already done so, read about our strategies for creating an informed, caring and active electorate in America! Right now, you probably don’t believe that a movement could successfully inspire most Americans to get politically proficient; but we have a plan that we think will work wonders. Check it out!

STEP #5    If you're short on time, you can probably benefit from two time-management materials that we've created, as well as links to four more materials that we've found on the Net. These resources can help you find the time you need to come up to speed politically. If you need some support to really apply these time management resources, combine this step with the next one.

Want Management   You can't control time! You can, however, control your wants and get clear on your needs. This four-page article and exercise has been called the equivalent of a whole time-management book!

Time Management Concepts   20 tips on two pages.

Get More Done     About a dozen different articles   (How to: plan your day; delegate; stop procrastinating; simplify, etc.)

Mayo Clinic     List of eleven tips.

Time Management Guide.Com      About a dozen articles. A few ads.

30 Time-Management Tips.  Go here, and scroll down until you reach "Time Management Tips," the fourth link. It's a WORD file.

STEP # 6    Get ongoing personal support. We want you to follow through, and that takes effort. We believe that most people won’t make it all the way through the online training without someone to encourage them and support them. That’s why we strongly recommend that you have someone support you. Here are four options for support. Pick the one that works for you:

a) Invite one person to learn with you. It may be a friend or a family member. You can work through the materials together. If you invite them, it will count toward the minimum of two people that you need to invite for this strategy to chain react. Unless you are almost sure someone will join you, you might read the Tips for Inviting Others page first.

b) Just invite someone to be your support person. They don’t need to take the course or learn anything themselves. They just need to check in with you on a regular basis. Once or twice a week is recommended. We call this being a support “Buddy” and here is a page of Buddy tips for you and your Buddy to read. It helps if your Buddy is also working on some goal. It can be any goal or project. If they are working on something, then you can both support each other.

c) Invite a small group of people to learn with you. If you go to college, invite some classmates. If you go to a place of worship, invite some people from there. Perhaps you know two or three people from work who have some interest in politics. What's nice about inviting a small group, is that you have automatically completed your requirement to help spread this movement.

d) If you need extra motivation, here's a daring strategy: Write a check for a painfully large amount of money, perhaps $300. Make it out to an honest friend or some charity, and tell them they can spend it or use it if you don’t pass the Proficiency Test within a month.

STEP # 7   Read a little about who we are and our standards. You will want to know that we are nonpartisan. Later in these steps, we will be asking you to register as a participant. You will want to know that we will keep the information secure, and not sell it, etc. By the way, you don’t have to register to have access to the political resources and our course. But we'll explain how registration will help spread this political empowerment movement.

STEP # 8    Make your membership contribution. It's only $10 a year, for all the services we offer. Go here to learn where to send the check.

STEP # 9 Learn about registration on the registration page. If you register, you'll automatically receive email reminders to vote, do your monthly advocacy, review the issues and candidates before the election, etc.   This isn't functioning yet.

STEP # 10    Do the planning that will make news intake and advocacy routine parts of your life. See our integration page for tips on creating these new habits. Keep up with your news intake and do your monthly advocacy, so that you'll continue to be Proof Through the Night. When the email reminder comes near election time, plan your 'Party and Study' event, even if you do it alone. The email will contain a link to the page that explains how to prepare yourself, so that you and a few friends get the most out of those few hours of studying the candidates and issues.

Also, the email reminders will remind you of all the information you can access at any time through our Knowledge Resources page.

STEP # 11 If you already know a lot about politics, go to the next step to take the proficiency test. Otherwise, read all or part of the online course. Go there for further instructions. At the end of the course, you will be reminded to return to this page to continue the Recommended Steps.

STEP # 12 Once you've done all the learning, take the proficiency test. Go to the test introduction page for further instructions. Only part of the test is available at this time.

Once you pass the test, congratulations! That was a huge step! If most Americans do what you did, there would be solid hope for America’s future.

STEP # 13 This next step is critical. We want you to prepare yourself to invite and support at least two others to begin the Proof Through the Night learning process. Here are three reasons for doing this right away:

1. You still have a lot of momentum and enthusiasm from your success at passing the test.

2. The sooner the chain reaction spreads, the sooner a healthy and more efficient America will produce benefits for its citizens—and be a beacon of hope and a model for the rest of the world.

3. Building the habits of regular news intake and regular monthly advocacy are not easy. If you invite other people to join, there will be more pressure on you to to follow through because you will need to be a good example to them. Also, once they gain proficiency, you and those you invite can support each other.

If you haven't already done so, read the Tips for Inviting Others page. (Or watch the video when it becomes available.)

Also read, Tips for Supporting Others.

STEP # 14   Now, make the invitation and begin to support at least two other people. Do this as soon as possible. If we are to reach our ten-year goal to renew the electorate, people will need to invite and support at least two people within eight months. In other words, from the day you hear about PTTN you have four months to learn and use the process; then four months to invite and support two others; then four months to support them to support their two people.

STEP #15   Now that you've experienced Proof Through the Night, and now that you've invited and supported two people, you have every reason to believe that the chain reaction of political empowerment will grow and spread across the country. Thank you for fighting for your country!

NEXT STEPS Just continue with your regular news intake, your advocacy and your voting. Your first year of active duty is over. You are welcome to keep inviting and supporting others, but that's not necessary for this movement to grow.   If you signed up for updates, you will get an update each time PTTN doubles in size!