Guest article written by Lori Robinson of Saving Wild – SavingWild.com
Do you dream of making a difference in the world? Well, YOU can. YOU can do great things. All it takes are a few easy steps.
First, start by admitting that making a difference is a result of actions that are both large and small. You don’t have to be Mahatma Gandhi or Martin Luther King to have an impact on the world.
To significantly change the world, to make a difference, you need to be uniquely who you are.
That’s right. It’s pretty simple.
All of us need to live a life from our own unique perspective and passion. The passion I’m talking about is not the same as the daily distractions and busywork that often fills up our lives. Instead it’s the passion that’s based on love and service and caring, the passion that comes from deep inside of us and is unique to only us.
Once we find our passion (with our unique perspective that we bring to it) we need to let it shine from within us out into the world.
How do we do that?
We focus. Let’s say you are passionate about animals. How can you focus that feeling about animals to actually make a difference in the world of animals? Maybe you narrow it down. You pick a topic: elephant poaching, puppy breeders, deforestation – and learn everything you can about your topic. Become laser focused in your gathering of information until you become an expert.
Next, as Gandhi says, “be the change you want to happen”. Tell others about what you know. Create a way to share your expertise: start a blog, a Facebook page, an NGO – like Madi, the 19 year old who is working to rid products of palm oil, and Richard, the 11-year-old lion “hater” who is saving lions. Share your knowledge and passion with the world.
Then show up. Carve out the time, and commit to working on your project regularly. Put other things aside. Turn off your TV, lose your addiction to the Internet, and devote your full attention to your chosen passion-inspired project.
Know that it doesn’t matter what you achieve. What matters is that you are living your passion, fully engaged in it. You can’t control the result, but you can control your engagement.
Keep going until you’re amazing. And then keep going some more. Don’t stop.
Work from your passion, pursue with single-minded devotion, and never give up. That is how you will make a difference in the world.
Join other people who are passionate about making a difference in the world by signing up at SavingWild.com.
About Lori Robinson:
I think I came out of the womb loving animals, and learned from an early age to respect and protect the natural world.
It’s why, since my first trip to South Africa in 1984, and my recent work as Africa Adventures Specialist for the Jane Goodall Institute, I’ve spent the last 30 years traveling, living and working in the African Bush – a place that connects everyone who visits, so deeply to wildness.
You can find more about me in an interview I did with Annabel Ruffell.