Believe it or not, many people overestimate the depth of the positive impact they have on other people. At Simply Great Lives, we encourage people to have a profoundly positive impact on other people. We want some serious change for the better. Unfortunately, our society tends to overestimate how much of a difference people are making with small actions.
To be clear, little random acts of kindness won’t change peoples lives. Nobody’s going to look back over their life and say, “That guy who paid for my coffee at Starbucks really made a difference in my life.” That kind of thing makes people feel good for a couple hours. But we want change that lasts for years.
Deep impact that’s positive hardly ever happens on accident. It requires focus and effort.
So I encourage you to start critically evaluating what really helps a person. Following are the criteria we use to evaluate impact.
Positive
We’re looking for distinctly positive change. A person isn’t left the same, which would be a neutral impact. They are certainly no worse off. They are different in an obviously positive way.
Focused
Results are focused when efforts are focused. If we are unfocused in our efforts, helping out with this or that or giving to any organization, our impact will be greatly reduced.
Recognizable
We want to see a clear before and after. It is apparent to the person whose life was changed as well as to somebody observing that there is a real difference.
Long-lasting
This is where many help efforts fall short. We want a change that lasts years. It would be even better if the change lasted the rest of the person’s life, or maybe even forever.
It’s good to be able to accurately assess our life’s impact. When we are honest with how we’ve been impacting other people, we can choose to make some adjustments. But if we overestimate how much of a difference we are making, we are unlikely to make the adjustments needed to make a real and lasting impact.
Do you tend to overestimate how much of a positive impact you are having? Here is an exercise that will help give you some clarity:
First, set the context by looking at who has had a profound impact on your life.
- Write the names of 5-10 people who had a profoundly positive impact on you.
- Write the names of 3-5 people who had a profoundly negative impact on you.
Next, take an honest look at the impact you’ve had on other people.
- Write the names of 5-10 people on whom you’ve had a profoundly positive impact.
- Write the names of 3-5 people on whom you’ve had a profoundly negative impact.
That little exercise is a major step toward having an accurate assessment of your life’s impact up until now. If your level of impact isn’t where you wanted to be, it’s time to do something about it. Call us at (916) 783-2622 today for a free Discovery session to explore the possibilities of how great your impact really can be.
