You hear people all the time saying that they really want to do something great with their lives and so we wonder what exactly they are waiting for.
And me too… I too have been guilty of this, I admit it… what is doing something great… perhaps we have thought that it has to be somehow connected with fame, TV, becoming a You Tube sensation, traveling to Africa to feed the starving, adopting a child in need, or for me, being like Oprah! And all of this would be worthy, but…
And then we realise we all have a circle of influence we are already working in and making a difference and we can continue too if that is what we choose to do.
Now your work may not end up on television, you may not get public applause, and you may not win awards… but that is not really why we should be doing it? Is that why we are doing it? Really?
I mean that is the ego’s reason and of course there is a part of all of us that enjoys that and delights in that… but we are playing a bigger, deeper game than that surely? And when we truly get this we realise we can start now! No preparation, no waiting required … you could write something today that could inspire somebody, it doesn’t have to be a best-selling book that makes a difference, it may just be a poem you give somebody or a FB status update, a tweet.
You don’t have to have a stage with hundreds of people in your audience for you to deliver a stirring speech that changes people’s lives… you have stages everywhere in your life, in your workplace, over lunch with a friend, your interaction with somebody in customer service…these are all moments where you can affect somebody positively and make a difference. There are mouths to feed right where we are, there are families dealing with children with disabilities that would love some help, there are schools screaming for volunteers, we have people that live on the street.
And don’t play small on this, don’t underestimate that when you affect one person, and just one, start there… when you affect one person positively that person then goes on to affect somebody else and so it goes on, you will never know the full extent of that ripple that you caused… you may never see the end result, you may never get the immediate gratification and the applause from the audience, but it will come back around, know that, it will be back, and so we don’t wait, we start now, just with one act today, we start now… geez just get started… I notice that some people find it hard to give people a compliment… well just start there even, start with that one gesture that takes all of a couple of seconds and watch the difference it can make. Watch the ripple as that person is affected… and don’t underestimate that, you just did something great.
Let your sparkle shine and make a difference in your circle of influence, the world needs you!
So many people are waiting for an opportunity to do something great with their lives instead of realising that they already can do something great, right here, right now, just with the best of you!