We often talk about making a dent, making an impact. The obvious assumption here is that it is done the Steve Jobs way – create something amazing and put that ‘ding’ in the universe. It’s akin to mass marketing. Put that big advertisement on TV and the assumption is that it will touch millions. It probably will.
But the fact remains that real impact comes from the people we touch on a day to day basis. For a guy like Steve Jobs, I would argue that the real impact came from the people he touched and inspired, those that will make sure his legacy will live on at Apple and Pixar.
And while somebody like Jobs was both brilliant and hard working, he was also aided by incredible good fortune and not all of us may be as lucky during a lifetime.
What we do have going for us is that every one of us does have the opportunity to directly impact many a life in our lifetime. Be it friends, colleagues, mentees – the ability to impact a life in a positive way (and inspire?) is not beyond us.
Life is what we make of it. Real impact is well within our reach. We don’t need credentials to live wonderful inspiring lives. We don’t need to have massive accomplishments to live lives of integrity and to help others around us get better, do better, work harder, learn more and live happier.
We just have to learn to cut through the noise and focus on making a dent, one person at a time, one interaction at a time, one minute at a time. There’s 7 Billion others waiting to be inspired. No excuses.
A Learning a Day 