Do you want to make a difference in the world? Feeling called to a life that feels more meaningful? Feel like it’s high time to get busy creating a world we can be proud to hand down to future generations?
Now more than ever the world needs all hands on deck to work towards positive change. The Ripple Revolution is a movement to change the way we think about making a difference, the legacy we leave, and our individual and collective potential to make an impact.
There are three core ideas underlying the Ripple Revolution:
I. The Inner Game
If you want to maximize your potential to make a difference, it starts with the inner game.
You are at the heart of any positive effect you set in motion. And that means the inner game plays a key role in maximizing your ability to make a difference.
It’s simple logic. The inner game – your personal growth and development work – helps you:
- Feel more energized.
- Feel more at peace.
- Block the flow of what’s possible less.
- Improve your ability to both recognize and act on those possibilities.
The more you cultivate those things, the greater your ability to use your life in service of making the world a better place.
II. Leaving a Ripple Legacy
This is a shift away from “ego legacy” thinking (“will they remember me?”) towards Ripple Legacy TM thinking.
Ripple Legacy: The cumulative impact – both immediate and ongoing – of the choices you make and the actions you take every day of your life.
Whether you realize it or not, you are already leaving a Ripple Legacy. Just by showing up in the world every day you’re creating ripples. Some of those ripples are positive, and some are negative. So the question isn’t whether or not you want to invest time and effort into creating a Ripple Legacy – you don’t have a choice in that. The question is how conscious you want to be about tilting the scale of that legacy in a positive direction.
Your potential to make a positive impact is mind-bogglingly huge, because it includes not just the direct results of your choices and actions, but also the results that ripple out from there. Some of those ripples will continue having an impact long after you’re gone.
III. Interconnection as an impact amplifier
Finally, the Ripple Revolution recognizes that connection and community can be an amplifying force for the impact we have as individuals.
That amplification can come via the collective effect as our individual ripples join with the ripples of others to create more powerful waves, and it can come from the resonant effect of like-minded people reinforcing and inspiring an approach to life that creates ever more ripples.
The Ripple Revolution Model
This model offers a way to think about how you make a difference. It has two broad components:
You: This is the inner game, focused on freeing the flow of your potential, unlocking both awareness and action, and “being the change you wish to see.”
The difference you make: This distills the many ways you can create positive ripples down to seven key areas. In addition to the traditional ways we think about making a difference, it offers an opportunity to weave difference-making into the fabric of your everyday life.
The Inner Game of You
At the heart of the Ripple Revolution is YOU. There are a lot of different ways to think about how to play the inner game. One useful way of looking at it includes these four components:
- Freeing the flow: Most people have infinitely more potential than they realize. Freeing the flow of your potential is about understanding how you block that flow internally (via things like feeding stress, self-criticism, procrastination, or chronic pessimism) and working to dismantle those blockages.
- Being the change: Related to freeing the flow, the way you show up (e.g., with a greater inner peace, or more compassion) influences both the impact you make through your direct efforts and the impact you make “by osmosis,” affecting others around you just be the way you show up.
- Energizing your impact: The more energy you have to put into making a difference, the greater your ability to be a force for change.
- Empowering awareness and action: The more opportunities you see for making a difference, the greater your potential impact. But awareness needs to be paired with a willingness to act.
Creating positive ripples
The opportunities to create positive ripples range from a fleeting action (for example, a smile, or a simple kindness) to something that that requires a deep commitment (the career you choose, for example).
Think of the Ripple Revolution model as a map that offers one way of looking at how we make a difference in the world. It breaks it down into seven main categories:
Work: This can be either working directly on making a difference or working in support of an organization that is making a difference.
Service: This can be either formal (volunteering) or informal (e.g., helping a neighbor in need).
Giving: This could be financial, like giving money to charity, or it could be giving in material form, like a meal, or clothing for the homeless.
Money use: How you put your money to use (e.g., socially responsible investing, microcredit lending, purchasing from socially responsible companies, etc.).
Consumption & conservation: What impact are your choices about how you consume and how you conserve having on the people around you? Your community? The environment?
Interactions: The potential to create positive ripples through everyday interactions range from the brief and fleeting (e.g., paying someone a sincere compliment) to the deep and long lasting (e.g., the way you raise your kids and the values you instill). It could even extend beyond people to include interactions with animals and nature.
Serendipity: The positive ripples you create without intending to.
Taken together, the first six proactive ways of making the world a better place offer a template to explore:
- How am I making a difference in each of these areas?
- How could I make a difference in each of these areas?
- How do I want to make a difference in each of these areas?
We each leave SO much potential to make a positive impact on the table. Not because we don’t want to, but because we don’t notice the possibilities.
The Ripple Revolution model offers a way to evaluate the difference you’re currently making, explore different ways you could make a difference, and act from a more conscious and aware place.