All Things Inspired

You were born to make an impact. Your life has purpose! Your story is important!

You were born to make an impact. Your life has purpose. Your story is important. Your dreams count. Your voice matters. Yes, you were born to make an impact.

What does it mean for you to make an impact? At first thought you might have pictured a scene from Wile E. Coyote chasing the Roadrunner over a cliff only to make a physical impact on the ground at the bottom of the cliff. It's funny, however, I can assure you this isn't the meaningful impact we want to discuss in this topic.

You have the power to influence people or situations you encounter in life. That's your opportunity to make an impact. While this could have either positive or negative impact, we want to focus on the positive aspects of impact as part of the process of transformational growth for you. The impact you create should be positive, meaningful, and inspire goodness in others. Our series of motivational articles this year were designed to give you the fundamental steps to transformational growth. While you must grow personally to achieve success, it is not just about success alone. It is about becoming the best version of yourself that you can become.

Author Roy T. Bennett once said that success is not how high you have climbed, but how you make a positive difference to the world.

Ask yourself this question, "Why is it good for me to make an impact?" You may think that you have little effect on others, or that your role in life is little compared to many other people. You may be comfortable in the world you have created for yourself but let me put this in perspective for you. The Dalai Lama, the Buddhist monk and spiritual leader of Tibet had this analogy on one's small significance. He said that anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference has never tried to fall asleep with a mosquito in the room.

Your potential influence over others has the power to change lives. The following characteristics are indicators of the power you have to impact change in someone's life for the good. Consider these five benefits of making an impact:

Helping others grow - if you've come this far in your journey of transformational growth, you understand what making an impact means. You've been growing personally, and now you can help other people experience the growth that you already know. Perhaps there was someone who helped you break free of your prior beliefs that were limiting your growth. You can now pay that support forward.
Empathy feels good - it can be a negative and demeaning world out there. It appears our society today is searching for the opportunity to beat you down, point out your flaws, and criticize your failures. It's no wonder that reality TV shows abound in our entertainment world. Do we really care who gets the rose or do we really want to witness the heartbreak of rejection and being sent home? Maybe it's time that we change our culture to appreciate compassion for others, kindness toward people we don't know or understand, and inspire others to be the innovators of empathy.
Deeper discovery of your meaning - it's often difficult to discover what our meaning in life is. If you are fortunate enough to have an idea, perhaps you can dig a little deeper into your meaning by helping others. It can give added value to your purpose by realizing there is more, something bigger than yourself. That's where you become impactful!
It's an infection worth spreading - making an impact has the benefit of affecting not only the intended recipient, but by the witness of others who see how your impact resonates. Be impactful and be contagious with it.
Be a leader in changing lives - remember we've said that being a leader is not a title of the role you have in your work-life world. You can be a leader at any level of employment, any age of life, or level of financial affluence. If you lead the way, and invite others to join you, your impact may be greater than you possibly imagined. In fact, your impact can be so strong that it can intrinsically change the journey of someone's life for the better. That's powerful beyond measure!

Whether you believe it or not, you were born with the ability to change someone's life. Don't waste that opportunity. Develop the courage to do bold things. Your purpose in life is not just about you and what you do, but how your example can impact others you meet on your journey to transformational growth.

Here's something to consider: Your influence may fade with time, but your impact on others will live on long after you're gone. Become a leader that creates a positive impact and cares for others. In this world, we see many aspiring to be influencers, especially in social media. But the insightful leaders set a course for something more significant, that is to make a positive impact.

In preparation for next week's article, I have a couple of questions for you. Do you have what it takes to make an impact? Do you really understand what it takes to make an impact? We'll find out the answers to these two questions next week. Until then...

Be inspired! Inspire others!