Whether you are campaigning or lobbying for change, you are not going to get everything that you want.
If you start off in the mistaken belief that “it is all or nothing”, you are going to most of the time find yourself deeply disappointed picking up nothing.
Any experienced legislator, knows that the price of reaching an agreement is compromise. Successful legislators know they are not going to get everything they want. You get used used to securing incremental wins.
No perfection on this world
Some may want perfect solutions. If you want that, don’t get involved in the world of campaigning or lobbying. You are not going to find much perfection in this world.
There are even some who see campaigning and lobbying in terms of “total war”. These arm chair generals are best avoided. Such talk reflects little real world experience of ever winning political and legislative campaigns. What may work in the hobbit shire does not work in Brussels. Those who have tried it, tends to sink back in defeat and spend the next 10 years waiting for anyone to even reply to their emails. Most leave Brussels and move to some distant hobbit shire.
Celebrate the small victories
It means you need to celebrate each and every success you get. If you want to melodramatic and are unable to celebrate unless you secure total victory, you are going to be depressed every day. And the problem with being down most of the time is that your foot soldiers who go out day in and day out to promote your case, won’t last long if you set unrealistic expectations of success.
So, even when there are small wins, go and celebrate them. It helps the team’s moral.
If you rate success in terms of all or nothing, you are more or less guaranteed to land up never winning.
An after thought
I’ve always found it strange when two sides to an issue criticise a Commission proposal or the final adopted law. When in the Commission and EP, I realised that if both sides were not happy, we must be doing something right.
I think you mean morale (3rd to last sentence)