Impact over Interest Archives - Page 12 of 13

Impact Is the End Game

December 1, 2013 by costaricaguy Leave a Comment

Consider the following impacts…

Gandhi, through his ideas and examples of nonviolent political defiance, was able to disintegrate British imperial control over India…

Martin Luther King, via Gandhi-inspired ideas and examples of nonviolent political defiance, was able to secure equal rights for African Americans…

Mother Teresa, by showing selfless compassion to the lower castes of India was able to bring some sense of dignity to countless lives who otherwise might never have had that experience…

Nelson Mandela, by refusing to submit to the evils of Apartheid and encouraging others to do the same, even while imprisoned for 27 years, was able to bring down the system that had denied basic rights to the majority population of South Africa for almost 50 years…

Gene Sharp, through his study and writings on nonviolent political defiance, was able to influence a generation of activists whose actions resulted in the overthrow of dictatorial powers throughout the Middle East…

Scott Harrison, starting with the simple idea of “birthday donations”, created a charity that is able to bring safe and clean drinking water to 100’s of thousands throughout Africa…

So, you ask why is impact so important? Important enough to have a blog focused exclusively upon it?

Well ask any of the above whose entire lives were and are focused on impact. And we regard them as pretty important examples of how to bring good into the world…don’t we?

That’s because “good” and “impact” are more than related concepts…they are the same concept.

And I will go a step further and proclaim that in order to live a truly “good life” it is necessary that your life be an impactful one.

In order to live a truly “good life” it is necessary that your life be an impactful one.

Many things…most things even…observable in our world can be reduced to scientific explanation. However, I believe that the unique human capacity for good is not among them. For Gandhi to fast to the point of death in order to bring about the desired good he sought…to convince others to resist nonviolently in order to achieve the grand strategy of political freedom for all Indians…flies in the face of how humans are supposed to act.

We are supposed to do things that enhance the probability of self-survival…not do things that put that prospect in jeopardy in order to enhance the probability of societal survival.

But this concept of good is what connects humanity on a level that is above and beyond the grasp of science. It is where we might begin to talk about a higher power…a god.

And the good that god wants to bring about in this world is via our impact.

True, we cannot all be Gandhi and in reality we’re not even supposed to be.

I have written before that your impact is as personal, individual and unique as your fingerprint. This blog is not about telling anyone what their impact should be…only that you should have one…and it is important enough to place a priority on it…even above self interest…just as those listed above did and do…

Impact is the end game of your existence.

So high time we get started with this…don’t you think?

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Paying Attention

November 20, 2013 by costaricaguy 2 Comments

How can we really make a difference? Maybe even change the world (as we know it….and it knows us)? Feed the starving? End war? Cure cancer? Well, of course, all of those would be positive developments, but realistically speaking, how?

I will go out on a limb this morning and suggest something a tad simpler….paying attention.

I have been on kind of a mindfulness kick lately, adopting the habit of meditating in the morning and reading a lot on the subject. Mindfulness means, among other things, paying attention to what is going on in your life. To use a very well-worn cliche it means, basically, stopping to smell the roses. And that is a good habit to instill. To train one’s mind to be, well, mindful, can, I believe, enhance one’s quality of life. But this post is more about changing the quality of life of others, about making a difference. So, how can mindfulness help us do that?

It dawns on me on a regular basis that people in general just don’t pay attention. Why is that? The simple and probably most accurate answer is that they don’t want to pay the price of doing so. Paying attention takes time, energy, and effort. It can be annoying to try to do so in the midst of one’s busy day.

Let me provide an example that I experienced recently. While walking along the pristine paths that lead to the summit of Cerro Chirripo, Costa Rica’s highest mountain and one of its most beloved national parks, I chanced upon an alarming sight. Trash that some hiker who was NOT paying attention had thrown down on the ground. Maybe intentionally. Maybe not. I am not here to judge. I was tired. I had a large backpack that was making my shoulders and lower back ache and burn. I did not want to notice the trash, let alone stop, stoop and recover. After all, where would I put the stuff. I don’t want to stick someones dirty crap in my pocket, do I? But then I thought, what was the RIGHT thing to do? What would be impact-full? What would make a difference, albeit a small one, but a difference nonetheless? After considering all that in the blink of an eye, I stopped, I stooped and I recovered. In fact, by the time I reached Base Crestones, I had two pockets full of the stuff.

After considering all that in the blink of an eye, I stopped, I stooped and I recovered.

You might regard my example as a trivial one. Maybe so. But it does get right at the heart of what I am talking about. And that is, being mindful of the impacts we have. Paying attention to how our actions, and in-actions, can influence the world, or other’s experience of it. I will promise you that if you begin to pay attention, you will quickly find that throughout each waking day, there are about 1 million ways to make a difference, to have an impact, just by paying attention.

Throughout each waking day, there are about 1 million ways to make a difference, to have an impact, just by paying attention.

Once you begin paying attention, that inner voice will lead you to the right action. Oh yes, there will always be a competing voice as well. But if your goal is to be an impactful person, to make a positive difference, to live with integrity and honor, then the “good voice” will usually win the battle, as long as we are paying attention in the first place.

It is much easier to be indifferent. To rationalize that your actions really can’t make much of a difference. That there are more important things to do….things reserved almost exclusively for me and after all, you gotta look out for number one, don’t you? No, not that much. Not nearly as much as we generally reserve time for.

Paying attention is enlightening and liberating and extremely important to the quest of making the world a better place.

Why not start today?

Choose Your Impact

November 12, 2013 by costaricaguy 1 Comment

James Altucher says you should Choose Yourself. The reason being that no one else is likely to do so…except in the rare case of those so-called “chosen few” (there’s a reason that phrase ends with few…rather than, say, many).

But “choose yourself” for what purpose exactly? This blog infers impact, rather than, say, fame or fortune. But I’ll admit that’s a bit elusive.

What impact am I referring to?

Here you read about prioritizing impact over interest and striving to be more inspirational than aspirational. But what does making an impact really mean? Must it be along the lines of A.J. Leon’s Kenyan windmill, or could it be something a little closer to home?

Of course it can. The sky really is the limit here. Even though I write repeatedly, prioritize impact over interest…impact can be just as varied as one’s personal interest. Neither does it have to be some singular all encompassing purpose that we dedicate the rest of our lives to. It could be a series of small impacts that we are mindful to make on a daily basis. It could be both.

The principles that I often speak of: prioritizing impact over interest, the Big US, and removing impact blinders…are about getting the barriers out of the way that prevent us from honing in on the impact(s) the universe is calling us to make. But those principles don’t presume or dare to insinuate knowing what your particular impact ought to be. Society will try to dictate that…but you won’t get any such dictation from this blog.

The revolution is a rebellion against societal norms that presume to tells us what our impact(s) should be.

Impact and interest certainly can and should align. My interest is Latin America. I love the land and the people here. So more than likely I will channel my impacts, at least for the foreseeable future, in this region of the world. Yours could be something completely different. Of course it could be impacting the community you live in right now.

Changing the world becomes a more practical concept when you reduce it down to spreading an “inspirational virus” person to person. One person can impact another and that person the next and so on…until before you know it, the world becomes a better place for us all. That’s why I sometimes refer to it as IIM, or inspirational impact mindfulness.

Changing the world becomes a more practical concept when you reduce it down to spreading an “inspirational virus” person to person.

Impact mindfulness is here only to remind us not to allow self-interest, small us thinking or impact blinders to convince us that all this stuff about impact making and world changing is just a bunch of bleeding heart bullshit.

But “your” impact…

Now that is something for you alone to choose.

Impact mindfulness is a “practice” that helps us to remember that unless we are “mindful,” we just get caught up in worrying about money and other material pursuits, succumbing to the fear-spawned hatred that consumes, divides and diminishes the scope of our world, and adopting close-minded views that society intimidates us into believing.

But “your” impact…

That’s a choice only you can make.

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Standing for Something…

November 1, 2013 by costaricaguy Leave a Comment

I made a decision back in December of last year to get serious about really learning how to do business online. I’d been doing exactly that for some time, but always relying on the usually shitty advice of “experts” when it came to the more cyber-spacial technical aspects. I have learned a great deal since then. One thing my “getting serious” did for me is lead me to guys like Srinivas Rao, who in my opinion is a true pioneer in the online entrepreneurial world.

Something happened recently that is causing me to pause and ask myself…what the f**k? I sense a disturbance in the force. What exactly is going on with this alliance that has suddenly blossomed between Srinivas Rao (my aforementioned online hero) and Glenn Beck, a guy who has been featured prominently in many of my past blog post rants?

What “the beck” is going on here? I believe, however, that having Rao and Beck allied is helping me to understand how to draw a distinction between what I want this site, Revolutionary Misfit, to be about and what others, such as that of Srinivas, are about.

First off, I read the letter that Srini posted to his Facebook Page that he received from Mr. Beck. In it Beck speaks of a radical transformation in world view. I am not exactly sure to what, but almost anything different than his former one would certainly be an improvement. Because his former one was to quickly label any attempt (and I mean ANY) to cure many of the ailments that both people and planet are universally suffering these days as part of an evil progressive conspiracy to subvert “American” world supremacy.

Beck’s views, or at least those he has spouted on Fox News, his radio show, books and other media outlets, have been as diametrically opposed to my personal world-view as one could possibly be. It is the antithesis of impact mindfulness…in my opinion.

Now maybe all that is changing…who knows? But, I doubt it.

So, what to make of Srini and Beck “teaming up” to do…exactly what…I am not sure? Actually, I have no idea whether there will ever be such a “teaming”…but the letter certainly invites one.

Srini’s views purport to be apolitical. Beck’s are, or have been, anything but. This site does not in any shape or form purport to be apolitical. It does propose the shedding of any of the usual labels that folks like Beck would normally be quick to slap upon it. But I do want the site to stand for an ideal…a worldview. And it is hard to untangle worldviews from politics. That worldview is more than a slightly bit impractical I will readily admit. But the only thing being suggested here is that we adopt and execute this worldview where it really counts…between the ears. Since that is where impact has its immediate impetus.

The only thing being suggested here is that we adopt and execute this worldview where it really counts…between the ears. Since that is where impact has its immediate impetus.

This site is not about the way to online entrepreneurial success. It is not a site about you, or me, but about us…the Big US. It is a site that says People matter…the Planet matters…and if ideas that better the condition of either could potentially be branded as radical, as progressive, as socialist, as communist, or as capitalist…it doesn’t matter. What matters is the impact that they can make on bettering the human condition!

That is the proposition on which this site stands and as someone once said…

Either you stand for something, or you’ll fall for anything.

Boycott Big

October 8, 2013 by costaricaguy Leave a Comment

My blog reading this morning has inspired a rant. Specifically the inspiration comes from a post by Corbett Barr of Think Traffic. The title of the post was Celebrate Small and in it Barr tells us of the pitfalls of the “size matters” trap. That error in thinking that smallness has to be resisted as if it were the enemy of progress. There is also an underlying message in his post…one that resonated with me on a deeper level.

It is revealed by this quote:

It’s hard to separate big from greed. A few people get rich when something goes public. Investors and founders get rich. Employees and users aren’t better off.

He’s right, it is hard, maybe impossible. But the prevailing mindset, nevertheless, is that bigger is better…be it bigger businesses, muscles, houses, banks and bank accounts, or, well, you know. I am here to join with Corbett and take issue with all that…well, that last one I won’t voice any opinion on.

Take the concept of the “big box” as an example. I moved to a little town in Costa Rica called Perez Zeledon about two years ago. I was living in San Jose…a very big city with a lot of big box stores…there you have your Walmarts, Office Depots, Price Smarts and so forth.

But here in Perez it is all mom and pop. I can remember back when small town U.S.A. used to be like that. But not any more, the big box concept destroyed it and turned small town U.S.A. into “ghost town” U.S.A.

And what happened to the “small farmer?” We actually still have those here in Costa Rica.

Now all that bigness might indeed be good for those investors and founders that Corbett mentions, but the rest of us…not so much, in my opinion.

Why is it that we suffer under this bigger is better illusion? Because along side of it there exists that related malady of mindset that more is never enough. What’s at the heart of it? In a word, greed.

In the movie The Social Network, when Sean Parker uttered that now famous line of “A million isn’t cool…You know what’s cool?…A billion,” I don’t think he had much more than “me, myself and I” in mind.

The bigger is better mindset is one that promotes scarcity and zero-sum.

Now, I’ll admit, as I type this and get ready to publish the finished product to Twitter and Facebook, that there is a tinge of hypocrisy in my hype. Twitter and Facebook are both big and getting bigger all the time. Big can be downright hard to avoid. It’s everywhere. It rules the world…to some extent.

But small is making a come back. And small is the way you and I can make an impact. As Corbett alluded to, small means a more intense level of connection. And our economy is becoming more and more driven by connection than by consolidation.

Small means a more intense level of connection. And our economy is becoming more and more driven by connection than by consolidation.

I believe people are becoming increasingly fed up with the commoditization of every facet of our lives. Because when that happens the quality of everything comes down, including that of life itself.

My message this morning is boycott big…not that we neglect the advantage of harnessing big for the advancement of the small…as many do with these gargantuan connection platforms…but we resist, even rebel against, the mindset that bigger is best…since it rarely ever is.

Let’s make impact the impetus…not shareholder return.

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Be Different Not Indifferent

October 3, 2013 by costaricaguy Leave a Comment

Well I got a second chance yesterday. I posted the other day about a missed impact opportunity. I missed it because I failed to do myself what I encourage in this blog. I put my interest over my impact. But I was sitting in that same Subway and the same poor kids were outside once again. I guess that’s the regular routine for them to find something to eat. This time I was mindful of the things I speak of here. I was mindful of impact over interest. And those kids enjoyed a full stomach…at least on that day.

And then early this morning I witnessed something right in front of me here on my quiet street that caused me distress. There is an elderly gentleman who always walks by my house every morning. He sells lottery tickets in the center of town (what we call here in Costa Rica, “chances”). He was trying to dial a number on his phone, but apparently was having problems doing it, either due to poor eyesight or dexterity in manipulating those tiny “smart” phone buttons (I know because I have trouble with both even at my youthful 52…why can’t someone invent a smarter smart phone to deal with these issues?). An adolescent passed him on the sidewalk and the gentleman asked the youth for some help. This little snot just brushed him aside and continued his brisk pace. The scene made me angry. But that is the infirmity that inflicts our youth, as well as society in general. And it is true here in Costa Rica just as much as in the U.S. And that infirmity is indifference.

What is the source of indifference? A mindset of interest (self) over impact, pure and simple. Take this current mess in Washington D.C. I don’t want to get political in this blog. I have in the past. The problem is that politics always tends to polarize and that is the opposite of the Big US that impact mindfulness teaches. But I’ll use this current event as an example. What is really going on here? There is a small group of Congressman whose constituents do not like the Affordable Care Act (what they call, “Obamacare”). I am not even sure if it is “Obamacare” that is the real problem…more than likely it is the man himself they don’t “care” for (for reasons I won’t go into in this post). So, they have decided to shut down the entire government of the U.S. unless they get what their constituents want…some sort of repeal of this law…that previously passed both houses of Congress as well as constitutional muster via review by the Supreme Court. It is also a law that provides health insurance to millions who could not otherwise afford it. But that doesn’t matter. They don’t like it and to hell with the rest.

What is the source of indifference? A mindset of interest (self) over impact, pure and simple.

You see, for me that is the same attitude that this youth had when he rudely brushed aside the small and simple request of the elderly gentleman. There was such a lack of respect on display that it really ignited a passion within me to run out and give “a good talking” to the little shit. And we humans crave respect. It is quintessential to a dignified existence. And everyone wants that. We cannot all be millionaires. But we can all expect respect.

We humans crave respect. It is quintessential to a dignified existence. And everyone wants that. We cannot all be millionaires. But we can all expect respect.

Being indifferent to another human, who just wants some dignity, some respect, is the ultimate slap in the face of humanity. Why do we do that to one another? How could we? Easy…because we are only concerned with what interests us. If Obamacare has the minuscule chance of costing me an extra buck in order to provide someone the dignity of healthcare (who could not otherwise afford it), to hell with them. I want it repealed and I demand that my Congressman take action to see that it is, the consequences to the nation be damned.

Interest over impact my friends. That is the problem we face in our youth, on our streets, in our cities, in our nation and throughout our planet.

Impact mindfulness might just be the cure we should be looking for.

Impact mindfulness encourages us to be different not indifferent.

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