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.

photo credit: Lori Greig via Compfight cc