Make An Impact

You are just one individual in a world of over 7.8 billion people. It would be extremely hard for you to believe that someone, such as yourself, could possibly have any form of impact or influence over such a vast population, and you'd be right, it would be extremely hard to believe. Such a belief however, is a limiting belief, because the truth is, you can indeed have a positive impact and influence over millions, even billions, of people. Let's take a look at someone like music superstar Ed Sheeran, as an example. 15 years ago, hardly anyone had even heard of him, or knew of him. Nowadays, he has gone on to sell over 150 million records worldwide, and is now placed as the world's 22nd highest selling music artist of all time. His success has led him to have a net worth of over $360 million AUD. Okay, so that's just fame and fortune, but because we are so wrapped up in all the creativity and uniqueness of Sheeran's singing and songwriting, we often overlook the fact that he also donates to several charities and causes, and that's not even mentioning the generous acts he does for his fans on occasions, such as providing them with free pizza after having waited so long to enter the stadium in which he was to perform. The standout feature of Ed Sheeran is his character, as he is a role model to people all around the world on the various values and behaviors we should all possess, such as having the drive and passion to do what we love in life, having the perseverance, resilience, and determination to pursue our goals, having the kindness, care, generosity, love, and compassion, to help and give to others, and having the calmness, composure, and control, in maintaining a positive mindset and not reacting to critics or judgement. Even just through his songwriting, Sheeran creates impact and influence. All of this from a boy who sang in the choir at his local church, and started to learn how to play the guitar at the age of 11. I'd say that's a pretty impressive resume from one individual in a world of over 7.8 billion people.

Now you may be quick to respond to this and say that you'll never be Ed Sheeran, and you'd be right again, you won't be Ed Sheeran, because you're not! You can be similar to him, and certainly adopt all the values and characteristics that he possesses, but you cannot be him. Sheeran is a unique individual with his own gifts and talents, but the thing is, you too are also someone with your own uniqueness, gifts, and talents. Not all of us are born to be exceptional and professional singer/songwriters. What Sheeran was quick to do at such a young age, to which most people fail to ever do in their entire life, was that he discovered his passion and his purpose in life. He loved playing music, he loved singing, he loved songwriting, and he loved performing, and off the back of that, he has used his passion to inspire, influence, and uplift others worldwide. Not only has he focused on his own career, but he has also made sure to place some emphasis, time, and money, into helping others, and it's that what completes him as a person. The good thing for us is that it's never too late to discover our own passion and purpose in life. Whether we are 16 or 60, we have the capability to realize our passion, and we have the ability to transform that passion into our purpose. Behind everyone's purpose lies some form of positive influence and impact, and some manner in which we too can help, inspire, encourage, uplift, and support, others in life. Turning up at a dead end job each day, and one in which we genuinely hate, all in a bid to receive our paycheck, isn't pursuing our passion, or serving our purpose. It's a dead giveaway that if you don't enjoy your job, you're not fulfilling your purpose in life.

Each and every one of us have an obligation to serve others in life, whether that be serving as checkout operator at a local grocery store, to serving the community as a policeman, to serving as a doctor, to serving the gift of music and inspiration as a music artist, it doesn't matter. What matters is that we truly enjoy what we do, and we do it from the heart. We do it out of genuinely caring for others, with the aim of helping, supporting, and providing, for others. Our job or our business is the perfect outlet in which we can be serving others in life, and contributing. The reason being is that we spend pretty much a third of our life working, between when we leave school, through to our retirement. We generally dedicate the highest portion of our awake hours to working, during these years, so to be using this time to be helping, supporting, encouraging, inspiring, and uplifting others, that is using our time effectively and productively. We are making a positive difference in people's lives. We think a lot about how we want the world to be, and how we would love others to live with better values, morals, behaviors, and standards, more in line with our own, yet most of us don't do anything about it, nor do we do anything proactive towards it. It's like we have this belief that nothing we say or do is ever going to change, influence, or positively impact the world, let alone anyone at all. Let's just rewind for a minute and go back to Ed again. His music and songwriting brings smiles to faces, happiness to people's hearts, and joy to their lives, because they enjoy listening to his songs, and perhaps they can relate his lyrics to situations and circumstances in their own life. Again, this 11 year old who wanted to learn how to play guitar, is now a household name, and someone with millions of followers worldwide. Anyone is capable of influencing, impacting, and inspiring others. How do you want to inspire others? How do you want to bring joy and happiness into the lives of others?

What is one of the most powerful tools to creating success and recognition? It's word of mouth, of course. Now there will always be the naysayers, and those whom we cannot satisfy, but when it comes to service, so much rides on people's opinions. Whether it be writing a review, or sharing our experience with friends, family, or work colleagues, about the level of service we had at a particular business, we share our opinions. When someone asks us where's a good place to get coffee, or a nice lunch perhaps, we not only think of the product quality and price of a business, but we also think of the service. We wouldn't recommend somewhere in which we were treated poorly, we would recommend them somewhere that provides good quality, good prices, and good service. With poor service, it's been noted that the person who received the service will go on and tell another seven people, on average, of their bad experience. As humans, when people such as our friends and family provide us with such feedback, we naturally believe them, so what happens? These seven people that were told about the poor service will then also tell their friends, family members, etc. Ultimately, that business has just lost numerous customers because of the poor service they provided that one customer. We often peruse through reviews of businesses also, to gauge a better idea of where we should go, courtesy of the feedback provided by others. Word of mouth is huge, and proven by the reviews that people create, it can go both ways. Where am I going with this? Think about it!! If you can just positively influence, help, uplift, or support, just one person in this world, because of what you did for them, they will undoubtedly share this act of kindness with people they know. If you serve others in a way that brings them great joy and happiness, they will not only advise others of your service, but they too, are influenced by you and can often then start to treat others in the same way. It's like a domino effect. You push one domino forward, and all the dominos in front of it start to fall forward also.

To serve others, and to be dedicated in helping them, uplifting them, supporting them, inspiring them, and encouraging them, along with treating people with respect, kindness, compassion, courtesy, generosity, and love, we are setting an example to others. We are showing leadership, being a role model to how we would like others to be, and helping shape a better world. We are not all going to be famous superstars and household names, but how great would it be to know that we have made a positive contribution to this world, and that we have helped others succeed and prosper in life? That's purpose right there! That's impact and influence! Do it on a daily basis, and that's greatness! So it again comes back to how, for us. How do we contribute, how do we positively influence and impact others? Discover your passion, that's where it starts. What do you enjoy doing? What brings you happiness? From there, it's about turning that passion into your profession, and one that's based around helping, inspiring, and uplifting others. We have each been blessed with a gift, but it's up to us to discover that gift. What is it we are good at? What is it about us that has others paying attention to us, or complimenting us on? We need to seek it, and then we need to invest our time, money, and energy, into it. Once we create it, there's no stopping us. We can then use our gift and talent to create a positive difference in the world, be it on a global scale, a national scale, or just a local scale. If we are working our passion, and helping others in the process, that is success, and that is influence. So if you don't believe you can make an impact in this world, think again!

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