I hope that I can inspire other people to find their voice and make the impact they were born to make on the world.
There are few ideas I’ve come across that have resonated more with me than Stephen Covey’s 8th Habit:
“Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs.”
I want to help make people better. That is all.
Did you know that more than 90% of the plastic we “recycle” ends up in landfills anyway? Despite what we think of as our best efforts, that revelation makes it all feel pointless…
But there is a way you can take your plastic bottles and put them to good use, even if they don’t get “recycled” in the traditional way we think about it.
Make an Ecobrick—a used plastic bottle filled with all types of micro-plastics we consume every day. Things like:
It’s a great way to efficiently reuse all the little plastic we deal with every day. And these Ecobricks can be used all over the world to build things like raised gardens, play parks, and even solid walls for houses!
Check out this guide to learn how to make them yourself, and give your plastic bottles a second life.
Denis Waitley was wildly optimistic about the future when he recorded “The Psychology of Winning” in the 1990s.
Here are just some of those predictions:
Denis also predicted that by the year 2000, women would have equal pay with men and be equally represented in business schools, law schools, and entrepreneurial startups.
Like I said, wildly optimistic. It might even seem laughable, like something out of a futuristic 80s movie.
And yet…
We are so busy trying to get back to normal after this pandemic, we’ve somehow lost all the opportunity to actually make these happen.
Because of COVID-19, we already did 100% online, virtual education for a year and a half. It wasn’t perfect (far from it). But it worked. It’s been shown to be possible.
But we were so busy being focused on “getting back to normal,” we seemed to have missed the opportunity to push it further and make it better.
I don’t know the first thing about hydrogen scrubbing and powered cars. But I do know we have the technology for all-electric vehicles that don’t pump pollution and toxins into the air on a daily basis (multiple companies have this tech).
But instead, we’re buying bigger, badder, less efficient, gas-guzzling, pollution-admitting, tank-like vehicles, all in an effort to make a statement about our political views or our masculinity.
And here we are, 22 past after the year 2000… And women are still fighting for equal pay, equal representation, and control over their own bodies, not to mention all the other genders and races fighting for the same things.
So yes, Dennis was wildly optimistic. But it’s understandable why.
Because even back then the technology was coming online, the possibilities were there, and he saw them and thought, “Surely the world will embrace all of this—right?”
Yet here we are. Rejecting all of it out of hand.
Yes—some of these wonderful possibilities were forced on us by a horrible situation… Yet they were still wonderful opportunities.
But we were so desperate to go back to normal that we looked them in the face and said, “No thank you.”
We’re operating with 21st-century technology and possibilities while trying to stay in a 20th-century world. Why?
Because it’s the world we know. It’s the status quo. It’s “the regular kind.”
I feel like we missed a big opportunity here. And now I’m worried it may be years or decades before what’s possible actually comes to fruition.
Do you have to be skilled with words, a paintbrush, or a musical instrument before you can call yourself an artist?
What about our work in the business world? Can marketing, sales, or leadership be artistic endeavors? It depends on your definition of art.
Art is the act of creation. What you create doesn’t determine whether or not you’re artistic.
Seth Godin defines art as “creating change in another person for the better.”
If that’s our definition of art, then marketing, sales, leadership, customer service, and every other potential job we have is artistic…
But only if we take the leap and use our work to make people better.
You are already an artist. Focus on creating change rather than your medium.
I was walking at the park near my house this afternoon. And when I crossed the bridge, walking the well-known paths I’ve memorized, I saw a picnic table next to the river where no table had ever been before.
It’s at the perfect place where you can hear the water splashing over the tiny spillway under the bridge—a light, pleasant gurgling and rushing sound that’s quite pleasing to the ears.
From the looks of it, somebody went out and bought treated pine from a home improvement store, built it themselves, and set it up in this spot.
They didn’t ask permission. They simply thought that this little neck of the woods would benefit from having a place for people to sit… A place to gather and eat next to the water with family and friends in peace and near-quiet.
This was a small, brave, creative act. They didn’t ask permission from the Parks Department to let them do it. They saw a way to make something a little better for other people, and they did it.
They took a small creative risk. That’s what we were asked to do on a daily basis.
No one ever gives us permission to be creative. No one will ever give us permission to make things better.
Because the way things are right now is the status quo. And people don’t want the status quo to change. So we have to create—to make things better—without asking if it’s okay.
It takes a little bit of courage, the tiniest amount of risk, and the will to act.
There is a war going on, a content war—one of which we are all a part. If you are on social media or have a smartphone, you now have a voice.
We have two choices:
We can sit on the sides and watch passively, soaking up everyone else’s content and letting it sway us one way or another.
Or we can choose to create, contribute, and add our voice to the mix and try to be heard. To change someone for the better. To make a difference however small.
It’s true you may never be noticed. You might be drowned out by all the other voices. But doing the work is still worth it—in fact, it’s all that matters.
If we do not speak up, there is no chance that we can improve anything. And those that seek to make things worse will overtake those who want to make things better.
Never miss an update. Subscribe below!
No one ever got paid for an idea alone. Only those who came up with an idea, or took someone else’s, and acted upon it have made a difference worth anything.
“I have more respect for the fellow with a single idea who gets there than for the fellow with a thousand ideas who does nothing.”
—Thomas Edison
I have dozens of ideas pop into my head each day when I’m taking a shower, walking at the park, or driving in silence. Not one has generated anything for me or anyone else except those I showed to the world.
Better to have one idea and the will to act upon it than 1,000 ideas and procrastinate.
Want more insights? Subscribe below!
If you’re reading this, you have an electronic device with access to the internet.
With that access you have the ability to reach upwards of 2 billion people on earth – a reach unheard of in human history.
Use that ability – in the form of blogging, video, photography, or some other medium – to create a voice that makes things better.
You won’t reach all 2 billion people (you might not even reach 2), but if you reach one person, you’ve made a difference. And maybe that one person will tell the others.
This freedom may not last; the open systems, those that have allowed anyone with internet access the ability to speak up, are closing to us as quickly as they opened 20 years ago.
You’ll never have a better opportunity than today.
Nathan's Blog 