I love hearing, That’s a great idea! I’ll try it. I’m delighted when I say it. This week my chiropractor said, You need more hydration, try drinking one more glass of water this week, and two more next week. I’m tickled when I counsel someone and they say Great idea, I’ll try it, as happened this week. I spoke with a friend with a rare disease in a new community, Maybe you could focus next on building a new care team, Those are making a difference of one.
There’s another thrill to being a good leader and making a difference for a team: Family first. What do you need to get the job done? What do you recommend? We’ve got to have fun doing this. Some make a difference for communities, nations, the world with products and policy. For example, Obamacare provided health insurance for 20 million people; the Internet allowed virtual supportive communities to form. And there’s in between, as when a client says That’s a great idea to my proposal, we could use this platform to promote caregivers’ coaching each other and the caregivers could earn some money at it?
As I get older I feel a tension between wanting to make a difference in one person’ s life and wanting to make a systemic difference. Shifting to less policy and products to more team and individual. I used to think What concrete thing am I creating? I’d get frustrated when I had nothing to show for my efforts. Now I think, How can I pay it forward? How can I help create an environment for others to network, enact policies and create products? I less want to run things or create stuff. I more want to think, write, coach, and mentor.
How do you want to make a difference? It’s good to know your sweet spot. Today’s sweet spot might not be tomorrow’s. Circumstances change.
