Often we have clients and potential clients create a list of people who have had a positive and significant impact on their own lives. We are looking for people who made a real difference. There is a clear before and after. The persons life is changed because of those people.
It’s a great exercise to set the context of considering what kind of impact we have had in the lives of other people. We start by having people make that list because it gets them thinking about what a significant and positive impact looks like. When we look at our own lives, we are more clearly able to see what really made a difference versus little things that didn’t really make a difference in the long run. Otherwise, it’s easy to exaggerate the positive impact we have had on the lives of other people.
So, here is a great question: if the people you’ve known throughout your life created such a list, whose list would your name be on? Whose life is positively and significantly different because of you?
It’s unlikely we will end up on someone’s list on accident. It’s not very often people are surprised, saying, “Wow! I really improved that person’s life for the better! Who knew?”
If you want to have your name on that kind of list, you’ll need two things, passion and focus. Passion is important because it provides fuel for the fire and makes us move forward in our quest to make a difference. Focus is important because it keeps us from getting distracted and helps us stick to what is important.
How about you? Are you clear on what you want your life’s impact to be? Do you know for sure your name would appear on such a list? Or, even better, how many lists would your name be on?
