I believe that we all have the power to change the world. I do, and you do too.
Before I tell you how you can change the world and make a real difference, I want to point out where you may be right now.
Perhaps you're sitting on the couch watching TV, seeing all the countries at war, watching atrocities such as beheadings and firing squads. You switch channels and you're seeing volcanoes erupting, smothering whole towns with lava or earthquakes turning cities into rubble. You change again and watch the forlorn faces of beautiful polar bears trapped on tiny patches of ice as large glaciers melt around them.
Things seem pretty dismal, and you feel helpless, a victim who can't help, can't bring about change, but you're wrong, you absolutely can and if you follow these 10 steps, I promise that you will.
1. Make a U-Turn.
Instead of feeling hopeless and victimized, believing you are just one person and can't do anything, recognize that you need to start telling yourself that you're going to be in control, in charge of the one thing you really can be in charge of -- yourself.
2. Talk to Yourself, Out Loud, Every Day.
Stand in front of a mirror, look yourself in the eye and make affirmative statements to yourself.
"I am strong. I am smart. I can accomplish whatever I set my mind to."
Say these over and over to yourself until you start to feel the power of your words inside your body.
3. Make Behavioral Changes to Go With Your New Mindset.
Set short-term goals to put these changes into practice.
a) I will say hello with a smile to five strangers everyday.
b) I will lift my head high and walk with my shoulders back an hour the first day, and an additional hour each day after that.
c) I will turn off my cell (phone and text) one hour a day and interact with a live human being.
These first three behavioral activities may take you a while to implement. Before you start, sit down, read them through carefully and decide how long is a reasonable time for you to accomplish these changes. Remember you have to actually feel different, not just act different. Pick a time frame for yourself, perhaps three to five weeks, then dive in. Don't procrastinate, no matter how many good reasons you have.
When your three to five weeks is up, and you are handling these tasks well everyday, you are probably starting to wonder what this has to do with changing the world.
Well I have a surprise for you. You already have changed your world by changing the most important thing in your immediate universe -- yourself.
You may already be getting comments from friends and family, telling you things like "You seem different but I'm not sure how" or "You seem much more confident when we talk." You may notice people having a different and positive response to you when you walk past standing tall, smiling and saying hello. They may smile back and say something nice.
These are all very good changes and you can feel proud of yourself even if you do nothing more, but you are going to do much more, because you want to change the world.
4. Sit down with a piece of paper and a pen.
My experience with several thousand clients has shown that the visceral process of putting pen to paper and seeing your thoughts go from your mind and heart to your paper aids in forging a stronger commitment. Make a list of the 10 problems in the world that concern you most, the ones you believe most urgently need changing. Look your list over and decide which one is most important to you, then prioritize them, most important to least important. This is backup for later.
5. Take a different piece of paper and write down what specifically needs to be done to bring about this change.
For example, Reverse Climate Change. On the second paper you might put:
1 - Eliminate fossil fuels
2 - create new legislative standards for car emissions
3 - implement changes in beef production to cut down methane emissions
Just continue your list like this. You may have 10, 20, 30 items when you're done. There's no right or wrong amount. This is your list, you're in charge.
6. Now you can go to the computer and type these two lists up so you have a permanent saved copy. Then take a couple days to get away from this, preferably outside, and think about what you've accomplished so far. You have recognized and identified a problem of great importance to you. You have categorized changes that need to happen to correct this problem. Now it's time to insert yourself in a very real way into this change process.
7. It's time for some honest and objective soul searching.
Up to now, you have brought your passion into play, but it's time to step back and take a realistic look at your skill set. Think about what you know how to do, and what you do well. List at least five things, and maybe you can find 10 things. Then re-arrange them in order of what you like to do most down to what is your least favorite.
Number 8 and 9 go together.
8. List skills required for each of these changes and match to your skills. Go through and pair the two lists up.
9. Research organizations working on this problem. Find out who to contact and let them know you want to help and what you'd like to do.
10. You will be part of the solution - you will be changing the world!