Why Make An Impact On Your World

The art of making an impact means to me:

Using your natural gifts and talents intelligently and strategically towards a cause bigger than yourself.

The definition of Dharma:

“The word dharma translates as that which upholds or supports, and is generally translated into English as Law. Dharma is generally defined as ‘righteousness’ or ‘duty’.”

Why attempt to make an impact in the world digitally or otherwise? Because deep down you know it’s your duty.

Imagine waking up every morning fully alive and acting upon your highest good naturally.You don’t dread your days, you drink them down with an unquenchable thirst for life. You use every inner faculty you can muster and you do so because you feel inspired to do so.

My question is this, with those kinds of feelings and attitude, why not make an impact that improves the world around you?

You may ask, “how could these feelings be possible everyday?”

Because you are unique and your perspective on the world is unique. There has never been anyone here like you and there never will be. There is a reason for that.

You are unique, your perspective on the world is unique and therefore your talents & abilities are unique.

When you deliver a product, service or idea that improves the quality of peoples lives or even makes peoples lives easier, you begin living a life of contribution day in and day out. The benefits of living like that has an amazing impact on you.

“Contributing your life to something bigger than yourself is one of the biggest keys to waking up inspired everyday rather than waiting to be motivated.”

So maybe you’re thinking:

  • Who am I to make an impact?
  • What  would I talk about and why?
  • Who would listen to what I have to say and why I’m saying it, even when I discover what that something is?!

Before we look at those questions let’s take a look at what happens when you don’t answers them.

Those Who Do Vs Those Who Don’t

Does this take work? Of course, which is why:

“There are many who do so little while there are little who do a lot.”

For many, making a stand and creating impact in the world is a scary process or just isn’t very realistic.

Truth be told, it’s not something for everyone to tackle. They could, but I’m not saying they have to. This process is only for those who know deep down inside that I’m speaking to your core.

You already know deep down you want to make a worthwhile impact in the world.

You don’t need permission to make an impact.

This is one reason so many people take their song to the grave because they waited for something or someone outside of themselves to come along and give them permission.

Fuck that.

Living your ideal life may take work but it doesn’t require permission.

Sure making an impact on the world can be an art and yes, many will tell you art takes talent. To me this means using your natural gifts and talents intelligently and strategically.

I can assure you it still takes work to express yourself no matter what way you decide to express yourself. The process of creating art takes time, effort and input to craft. (i.e.  Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hours)

It doesn’t happen overnight whether your art is writing, paining, music, speaking, dancing or whatever else you decide to do with excellence.

The bottom line is, you have to start at some point and it may as well be now. You can’t wait.

it’s a never ending process because your natural gifts and abilities have lots of room to still grow and expand. You won’t realize this until you start pursuing them though.

There are many who go to the grave with their song still in them however you don’t have to be one of them.

Just start, don’t wait.

Discovering Your Digital Dharma

The definition of Dharma: The word dharma translates as that which upholds or supports, and is generally translated into English as law. Dharma is generally defined as ‘righteousness’ or ‘duty’.

I’n the past I have discovered my duty when I began to:
  1. Do the self exploratory work to discover my highest values.
  2. Acknowledged what I was naturally good at (Hint: it’s usually something you value most)
  3. Discovered a bigger purpose that was in alignment with those highest values where I felt passionate about the end result.
  4. I began to strategically align my daily actions and myself with relationships that support this greater purpose.

This is the only way about doing it but it’s certainly a way that has helped me shape and define the direction of my life’s work so far.

By discovering your dharma your ability to make your impact digitally has grown exponentially over the past 24 months. There are a many who have already began this journey and are spreading their digital dharma (and a few even beyond just digitally). Just read the tag lines to their sites:

I respect each one of these individuals because they are spreading their message and making a worthwhile impact through their own natural gifts and abilities. Each one brings something of unique value.

Why not you? What could be your tag line?

I guarantee that if you were to ask each one of them if they thought they were totally ready when they started, they would tell you no. Their messages have grown, transformed and morphed from when they started.

Or how about Matt Geib who had a dream of creating a training program to help missionaries be more effective and have greater impact in countries they are going to. Months ago he had a dream but has recently raised over $6000 towards his cause from people he’s shared his mission with and has set aside another $10,000 of his own funds to show how committed he is to his mission.

Matt had a dream that he’s turning into reality and his next step is digitally spreading the message. I for one can’t wait to see what occurs when he adds that component.

The bottom line is all of these people did get started at some point and are now making some kind of impact.

Now is your time.

What To Do Next

Since I’ve tapped into this 4 step process I’ve found greater clarity and fulfillment in my daily work. It hasn’t always been easy but I’m not concerned about easy but it has been fulfilling.

1. Do the self exploratory work to discover my highest values:

You can visit a number of posts where I’ve spoken of this like:

You can also grab a copy of How To Be Rich and Happy which has an excellent chapter on discovering your values. (Don’t let the title fool you, it’s so much more than what you may think.

2. Acknowledge what you are naturally good at (Hint: it’s usually something you value most)

Your natural abilities and talents are what seem to come effortlessly to you. Maybe it’s something mentally you’re good at, physically, artistically or spiritually speaking.

Write down everything you’re naturally good at and enjoy doing then give thought to how it may tie into contributing to something bigger than you.

3. Discover a bigger cause that is in alignment with your core values and talents

This one can take some time and you may have to make space for it to express itself.

In Matt’s case his past was organizing and participating in outreach programs and missionary work. He eventually realized that he could make a bigger impact by using his experience to organize and train others.

This can look differently for everyone and you may need to just put yourself into experiences to discover what this bigger cause is. Had Matt not participated in his missionary work, he may have never realized his bigger purpose.

4. Begin to strategically align your daily actions and yourself with relationships that support this greater purpose

Even if this is just setting aside time to articulate in writing your thoughts around purpose. Begin to take time and assess how you spend your time at the end of the day. What did you contribute your time, efforts and abilities to?

What purpose did they serve?

Are you OK with it?

If not begin to go back to your highest values and your natural abilities ask yourself, how can I contribute them to a greater good?

Living consciously is about acknowledging your purpose, strategically acting upon it and everyday asking yourself at the end of the day if your thoughts, actions and words with in alignment with all the above.  Your potential isn’t a myth.

Your Digital Impact

Never before has it been made so easy to spread your ideas and influence upon so many people at one time since the introduction of social media.

Once you become extremely clear on your mission you’ll use tactics like Twitter and Facebook strategically rather than haphazardly. There is a difference between tactics and strategy, believe me.

Unless you’re using Twitter and Facebook in a strategic fashion, it’s just a tactic which can suck up a lot of time and energy. Use them to constructively to not only create new relationships, but introduce others that will support one another in their digital dharma.

Make no mistake about it, strategically is the key word. I’ve done plenty of haphazard activity to know the difference. The tools are there like Facebook and Twitter and your audience is awaiting for you to do the work and bring your gifts to light.

The question is: What will be your message and what action will that look like?

Share your comments and thoughts below, I’d really like to hear them.