Making Your Difference in the World

I see people complaining on a regular basis about how the world treats them. It's interesting to watch as they go on and on about politicians or their jobs or corporate America in general. They are not happy with anything.

If the same people would put as much energy into making change as they do in complaining, maybe something could be fixed, maybe they could change the way their world works. Maybe they can change the way their business treats them. Maybe they can find the right politician to run for office, someone who would actually care about what they find most important.

I think people want to try to make things change but I don't think people understand what it takes to make changes in the world. It takes action. It takes somebody with a creative and determined mind. They have to be ready to stand up for what they believe in and have the answers when people challenge why they want to make this change.

If you were passionate enough about making a change then you can definitely make it happen. All you have to do is build the plan and put it into action. Not every plan will work, but taking action may open the minds of people to the change you're trying to make. Perhaps someone else will agree with your change and help you make it happen.

Sometimes people want to make a change when they really don't understand what it is they're asking. Sometimes a policy in a business is there for a reason. Sometimes stores require their compactors to be locked at all times. Trying to make a change to keep the compactor always unlocked for convenience sake could be working against what the policy was created for in the first place.

If your compactor is locked because you have a rash of dishonest people throwing products in the compactor instead of putting it on the shelf, you have a problem. Be sure you know why the compactor is locked at all times before building a plan to change the policy.

Find out everything you can about the process that is already in place. Find out everything you can about the politician or the person in charge before you make a plan to make a change. Know how your change will affect all those people involved.

When you're trying to make a change, it is so easy to get angry and frustrated and loud. It's so easy to hurt somebody else's feelings because you disagree with the way they're doing things. I think it's important to be as nice and polite as possible.

You are trying to make a change that will benefit not just you but other people in your situation. Change is hard for some people. If you ask somebody to change the way they do things, if they've been doing it for a long period of time, they're most likely not going to want to make that change. It may not have anything to do with you and your process. The way they have been doing things is habitual. It's the way they have always done it. They will not want to make changes just because you want them to.

It's a good idea to sit down with them and explain in complete detail the reasons why you want to make this change. You should make it clear that you're not trying to slow them down or make their job harder. In fact you're trying to make their job easier, too.

If you're worried about how big of a change you want to make, sometimes it is better to break that change down into small parts. Sometimes you need to take on the challenge one piece at a time, changing one part of the problem at a time.

If you have to make a lot of small changes to effectively change the big thing you might want to write it down. The small changes could be many and having a written record of your plan can help make sure that you complete every section of your plan.

This plan is always better if you have somebody helping you. You might need somebody to bounce your ideas off of. You need somebody who might have other ideas, who might have a different way to complete what you're trying to change.

You might have a friend who agrees with you, who might want to put in some effort to help you make this change. You might have a small group of people who like to get together and talk about how to make this change. These are both great ideas. The more people you have that think the same way you do, the closer and the faster you'll be able to make the small changes to complete the big change.

If you don't have anybody who agrees with you then you should probably go out there and find somebody who does. There are 7 billion people in the world. Someone has to believe the same things you do. If they don't then you need to step back and reevaluate why you want to make the change. Maybe it's not worth it.

Sometimes groups can also be there to provide a voice of reason. If you want to make a change that is unreasonable or completely selfish, many times people in these groups will feel obligated to let you know where you stand. They will tell you that the change you want to make is either ridiculous or not feasible.

Make sure you listen to what they have to say. Take their opinions into account. Think about their point of view and add it to your own. Using more thoughts and ideas can help redirect your change to something that will benefit more people at one time. If you are not open to those ideas then you might miss an opportunity that could change the world.

Many times when you want to make a change you have an opposing force. This is why it's sometimes difficult to make a change. You have to stand up to them if you feel your change has merit. You do not have to be angry or violent but you can be stern and provide all kinds of resources and support to help you prove why your change is important.

If things start to get hot between you and the opposing force, take a step back and smile at them. Admit that you want to understand where they are coming from and that you want the chance to sit down and discuss it. There is no reason to fight. If you can get them to sit down, maybe you can create an alternative change that will benefit both you and the opposing party.

if the opposing party will not move, then you may have to get stronger authorities involved. If someone will not change what they are doing then it's possible lawn enforcement or upper management may have to take over to make that change happen. This should be your last resort. You do not want to make enemies of your opposing force because you may still have to live or work near that person or group.

Once you have overcome all of the obstacles and have created a working example of your changes, then you can celebrate. It's important to celebrate the victory. Beware of how you celebrate.

If you jumped for joy and scream and shout next to the person who was opposing you, you could create more problems and ignight new conflicts. Conflicts can cause the change you just made to become in jeopardy.

If you're going to celebrate, take the people who agree with you out to dinner and enjoy a moment of excitement and happiness amongst yourselves. Take yourself away from the opposing force.