Dr. King wasn’t “just” a pastor, and Ghandi wasn’t “just” a lawyer. You’re never “just” a person, unless you decide that’s all you care to be.
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Sometimes I watch the news, or on a rare occasion I pick up a newspaper, and it seems as if our world is falling apart. The sky is falling. We have violence and terrorism, racism, terrible accidents, and scandal and it seems like no one can agree on anything, we are all polarized and political and no one knows where or what direction our country is headed. Sometimes it seems like one person can’t make a difference, and oh what the hell why bother anyway? Your Congresswoman doesn’t pay any attention to you because you don’t give her any money, the boss seems oblivious to you, it just seems like the contributions you make in life are so damn pitifully small.
What if, however, you are wrong? What if you decided you could change the world? That you could make a difference? That you could change lives? That your contribution mattered? I am of the mindset that everybody has the ability to change the world. OK cynic of the highest order, you’re wondering “how can I, simple man with no special superpowers or abilities, no connections or political influence, change the world?
Here are some ways that I think that you can change the world starting today.
- Start local — what do I mean by starting local? I mean changing the world starts with a small step of changing your world. You start with your family. Do you realize how much impact you have being a parent? Do you know how you can change the world of your children by being a great father? You can change your wife’s world by being a great husband? Outside of your family, find someone that you can help, that you can mentor, that you can support or encourage. Find someone in your neighborhood that just needs a helping hand, who needs someone to talk to, or one simple act of kindness to show them that the human race is actually kind. Yes that’s right one of the ways to change the world is to change first of all the local world that you live in.
- Commit an act of kindness for a stranger — when you meet someone, give them an authentic complement by telling them something nice about themselves. Tell them that that they are kind, or that you like their hair, you love their accent, or that they have a really cool store and you never been in one like it before. Ask them how their day is going, and to truly care about the answer. As the bumper sticker once said, “Commit an act of random kindness.” Pay a toll for the person who’s behind you when you go across the bridge.
- Decide on something that you can influence — is there something you care deeply about that you would love to change? The beautiful part about the world we live in is you can create influence literally at the snap of your fingers. You can start a YouTube channel from nothing if you have a video camera that works (like your phone for example.) On your YouTube channel decide what cause you want to influence. You can build a website on the cheap, you can post on any social media, you can write a book, and you could publish a manifesto, all for just pennies. I feel very fortunate to be an author of eighteen books. One of the developments I was recently thrilled by is that my book is going to be published in 10 different languages. So now I can imagine my book being read by someone in India or Malaysia or China. A few months ago I got a heartfelt email from a woman in India who was a mom of eight children, who takes the bus to work every morning and told me that she was reading my book Jumpstart Your Motivation in Hindi, and it was making a difference in her life. Do you have any idea what it feels like to know that you have an impact on someone you don’t know who lives across the world from you?
- Volunteer for something — there are so many wonderful charities around the world who are just begging for help and assistance from somebody as talented as you. Decide on a charity that you feel would make a difference both for you and for them and just take a flyer, take a risk, and flat out volunteer. Each contribution that you make of your time and energy will help that charity just a little. If each person helps that charity just a little, then a bunch of people who decide to do that will help that charity a lot.
- Start something — start a movement, start a charity, start a club start an organization, start a revolution, create an evolution, start a company, and then maybe that something would change the world. It’s really up to you to start something- what that something is would be truly up to you. It’s is something that you would not only be part of your mind and heart but something you have a passion for. But a start is like a spark- it has to start somewhere for the fire to be created.
I write this on the morning of Martin Luther King Day. What if Dr. King would’ve said “I can’t’ change the world, I’m just a pastor?” What if Mother Teresa would’ve said “I’m just a nun?” What if Jonas Salk would have said “I’m just a doctor?” What if Gandhi would’ve said “I’m just a lawyer?” You see before they changed the world, every one of these amazing folks were just ordinary regular people. They were people who decided to start to try to change the world the best way they could. On this day make a decision. Decide how you can change the world, because the world needs you. The world needs you now.
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