Want to integrate living a life you love and making the world a better place? Want to live an energized, impactful life?
You’re in luck! This blog is here to help you do just that!
At the core of everything I talk about here is the Ripple Revolution model, which has three main components:
- Living a heart-based life
- Living an energized life
- Making a difference
I have already written posts on living a heart-based and an energized life. Today I want to take a look at the question of how we make a difference.
Over the years as I pondered the bazillion ways we can make the world a better place, I started to notice that they all fall into one or more of eight main categories, listed below. Those categories offer a framework for maximizing the positive impact you make with your life.
1. Work
You can make a difference with what you do for a living. This covers a wide range of possibilities, such as:
- Working in what we typically think of as do-gooder roles, like social workers and therapists.
- Playing a supporting role in the efforts of an organization doing good in the world (e.g., an accountant in a non-profit).
- Being an entrepreneur and creating jobs.
2. Service
This includes both formal service (volunteering) and informal service (e.g., running errands when your neighbor is laid up in bed sick).
3. Money
This is how you put your money to use to do good in the world. Traditionally this category was primarily about donating to charity. But these days the options have expanded to include things like microcredit lending and socially responsible investing.
4. Tangible giving
There is a tangible component to giving as well. Maybe that’s a meal for a homeless person, or a book that has been sitting on your shelf that you know a colleague would benefit greatly from.
5. Consumption and conservation
If you’re alive on this planet, you’re leaving a footprint. The choices you make about what and how you consume and conserve can have a significant impact.
6. Interaction
This is possibly the most powerful way to make a difference, because most of us spend the majority of our waking hours doing this. This could be brief and fleeting, like a smile or a compliment. Or it could be deep and long-lasting, like the way you raise your kids and the values you instill.
7. Energy
This category encompasses a range of less tangible, metaphysical ways to make a difference, such as energy (think Reiki), prayer, etc.
8. Serendipity
Finally, there is one that you have no control over. It just happens. Imagine having a conflict with a co-worker and resolving it in a healthy, productive way. Another co-worker sees it and decides to use your approach when she has similar conflicts in the future. She benefits. Anyone she has conflicts with benefits.
But that wasn’t your intention – you were just resolving your own conflict. Pure serendipity! And that happens all the time.
A map of making a difference
Think of those eight categories as a map of making a difference in your life, one you can explore by asking questions like:
- How am I making a difference here?
- How could I make a difference here?
- How do I want to make a difference here?
The goal is not to make this a weighty addition to your “Must.Do.This!” list. It is simply a map to help you explore and discover the difference you’re already making and the difference you have the potential to make.
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Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst TM