Ian Berry at the Differencemakers Community asked what are the top 3 ways we as individuals make a difference.
Here are 3 ways I make a difference:
1. I take my responsibility in ‘Aiding Evolution of Consciousness of 1 New Human’ (i.e. I am a mother to my 18 month old son) very, very seriously. Sometimes a bit too seriously… for example, last night I responded to a friend’s email about what I wanted my boy to be when… and her response to my response was something like, “good grief it’s like reading a prologue to a book!” – not in scope but perhaps in analysis.
From this need to make this particular difference, I consciously decided to be a “stay at home mom” and reorganize my business ventures around my son. Right now because my son is still very young (not yet 2 years old), I work when he naps and after he goes to bed. I am now forced to innovate in ways I never imagined, and made me an even more effective entrepreneur. I consider this “controlled adversity”, and essential to my own evolution as a human being, entrepreneur, and mentor.
2. I challenge myself to do the right things even when sometimes I’d much rather save myself a whole lot of trouble and do the easy thing. I became an entrepreneur because of wanting to do ONE right thing.
From this need to make this particular difference, I consciously decided to quit a 6-figure career and become an entrepreneur with a very specific mission. I learned how to bootstrap my business and run a lean, mean operation, and at the same time, I never skimped on my own learning and personal development. I had invested over $30,000 within the first few years of becoming an entrepreneur to work with coaches and mentors!
So when I write about the importance of investing in your learning, I’m not doing that so you’ll want to hire me as your coach or mentor (although you’re welcome to apply if reading this fuels a fire), but because I have personally seen the returns on investment from my own experience.
3. I view my role as a case study and sometimes guinea pig, with what writing and speaking talents I may have specifically so that I can share the lessons I have learned in life and through whatever pain or mistakes I have faced.
My very first step in the fulfillment of this role (before I knew this was one of the important roles I have in life) was back in 1998 when I suffered from clinical depression and felt scared and alone. Knowing that if I felt this way, others may feel the same, I began sharing my personal stories of pain and healing online with my mental health website in 1998, which still exists today.
What was born from this need to make this particular difference? You are reading one of them – all the articles and blogs and books I have written, were descendants of this need to make this difference in this way. This is how I came to be sharing all this with you.
You know what’s funny?
Out of our own needs to make a difference in the lives of others, we end up making the biggest difference in our own lives.
Image by Miamiamia (India)