Tag: making a difference in the world

Fix Something

We’re business builders,
doers,
likely also fixers.

There are so many issues
in the world
right now
to fix.

I’m tempted to try
to fix them all.
That’s not possible,
especially if I want to fix things
permanently
and
in the best way possible.

I have to focus my efforts,
go where I most make a difference.

When Wikipedia, for example,
didn’t accept my expert edits,
I moved elsewhere,
focused on the next project,
on an issue I WAS allowed to fix.

We can’t fix everything
but we CAN fix something
and that something might make a difference.

Praising Partners

Once a year,
I go through my list
of people I work closely with
and I send letters of praise
to anyone who has helped me
in any way
over the past year.

I do this for everyone
but this especially matters
for people
who work for an employer.

These letters are usually added
to their files
and can be used to negotiate
raises, promotions, title changes
and other incentives.
They could save the person’s job
and/or could change their lives
for the better.

I do this EVERY year.

I’ve been sending one person
letters of recognition
every year for over a decade.

And she has been using them
to negotiate better pay
every year for over a decade.

If you want to change
someone’s world for the better,
send them a letter of recognition
when they help you.

If You Can Be Kind

A writer contacted me yesterday.
She is now a big name writer.
Her books are awesome.
They sell a gazillion copies.
And she recently landed
a movie deal.

She confessed yesterday
to almost quitting
after her first published story.
It had sold very few copies.
And it was being critiqued hard
by some readers
and other industry professionals.

She endured a week
of that misery after her book release,
decided her career as a writer was doomed.
That would be the first and last book
she ever published.

Then I commented on
one of her social media posts.
I told her
I was cheering for her.

Between you and me
and the internet,
that is something
I tell a lot of writers
…because I DO cheer
for a lot of writers.

But, for her,
it made a difference
between quitting
after that first failure
and continuing
onto eventual success.

She told herself
she couldn’t quit
because
if she did that,
she’d disappoint
(k),
a USA Today Bestselling Author,
an author she admired.
She didn’t want
to let me down.

And today,
she is an author
other writers admire.

If you have a choice,
if it doesn’t hurt you,
be kind.

You could change a life
with a mere one line message
of hope.

An Opportunity To Start New

Every year,
on January 1st,
we are given a reminder
– it is possible to start
something new.

We are starting a new year.
We can go one step further
and start a new business,
a new habit,
a new relationship,
a new outlook on life.

We might have been solely employees,
for example,
in 2021
but this is 2022.
In 2022, we are different people.
We’re business builders.

In 2022, we work on our dreams,
we strive to achieve
the goals we have always wanted
to accomplish.
We take action.
We make a bigger difference
in the world.

This is a new year.
Do something new during it.

Your Life Matters

Building a business
matters.
Starting a business
matters.
If the business succeeds,
that matters.
If the business fails,
that matters also.

Giving back matters.
Influencing the next generation
matters.
Heck, picking up a piece of garbage
and putting it in the trash can
matters.

What we are doing matters.
And WE matter.

Mona Eltahawy
shares

“The most subversive thing
a woman can do
is to talk about her life
as if it matters.
Because it does.”

Our lives matter.
We’re making a difference
in the world.

Talk about yourself,
your business,
your actions.
Be proud of what
you’re doing