Category: Making A Difference

…Is a powerful mantra to help guide you through days filled with difficult, annoying, lethargic, frustrating, unjust type people (and more).

A coworker hit you with a bunch of negative energy? Hit them back with a bunch of the opposite. Don’t match their energy; set the standard.

Eating highly processed fast food a norm in your family? Lead by example and prepare wholesome, easy, nutrient dense meals. Don’t match their energy; set the standard.

Find yourself in a situation where something wrong is happening and everybody around you is a bystander? Stand up and speak out. Don’t match their energy; set the standard.

Did you hate the way somebody taught you (or tried to teach you) a lesson? Teach that lesson to somebody else in a way you would’ve loved to have learned it. Don’t match their energy; set the standard.

Hate how divisive news, media, and politics is making our society? Turn it all off and volunteer at a local nonprofit or soup kitchen—something that’ll connect you to other humans regardless of their background, beliefs, or political standing. Don’t match their energy; set the standard.

Now go ahead and write this on your bathroom mirror or save it as the background of your phone. And keep it at the forefront of your mind so you can help us not only set… but raise the standard.

This is my neighbor (Image link if it doesn’t show above).

I don’t know how old she is, but my guess is well into her 90s. Her spine has her hunched over almost a full 90 degrees and she’s more blind and deaf than she is seeing and hearing.

Today, she ventured over to my house and we had a quick chat. A lot of what she was saying didn’t make sense, but, I carried on with her at a decibel loud enough for all of the immediate neighbors to hear. Once finished, she turned to leave and I followed her home.

…What I found interesting is right as she turned the corner from her driveway onto her front porch walkway, she noticed out of the corner of her downward pointed gaze a flower pot and a weed. She reached into the flower pot and pruned away the dead branches… took a few more steps, grabbed the weed that was as tall as her, bent it to the ground and stomped on it until it snapped.

…And yet, just a few moments earlier, when we were talking in my driveway, she told me that if she died, her house would go to her son and daughter—which, she said as casually as she did their names—”might be tonight.”

…And yet, there she was, still tending to her garden; still bringing beauty to the world; still managing what worldly chaos she could in the best way she knew how.

A friend was telling me about his son’s first Jiu-Jitsu tournament.

He went against a kid who was way better than him, got tapped three times in less than 10 seconds each, and that was it. Over and done.

Sure, a good coach can find plenty of coachable moments buried within that sub-30 second competition that could very well lead to hours and hours of pointed, high quality training.

But, as facilitators of experiences for kids, we should also be asking ourselves if this is the best we can do for our next generation?

Whether you’re a parent or not, a teacher or not, a coach or not… adults have an innate responsibility to pave a way forward for our next generation—in the same way the generation before did for us… and the one before them.

And what we should be asking ourselves is how can we maximize the experiential learning buried within each opportunity taken? How can we increase the reps, the time on stage, the effort required… so as to expand the amount of raw experience our kids can dissect (and learn) from? How can we make the IRL experiences as exciting and rewarding (and even as time consuming) as the damn video game experiences that are competing for their attention day-in and day-out?

As an adult reading this right now, I hope you’ll at least consider this question for the sake of the kids who could be impacted by the efforts and energy of your life…

When I see a student come in early and work on something I’ve taught or am curious about, I want to meet them there early and give more.

When I see a student stay late and get extra reps in on something from class or some above and beyond material, I want to stay after with them and give more.

When a students asks questions that extend beyond the scope of what’s required—that they can’t seem to figure out how to train past on their own—I want to answer those questions and give more.

When a student is struggling with curriculum and is persisting in the face of frustration, I want to step in and give more.

When a student gives more, I want to give more.

Which, isn’t to be confused with the student who constantly wants to take more.

When the student comes in early or stays late and wants me to teach them a private class… or asks questions about things they haven’t even tried to solve on their own… or wants answers to things they haven’t experienced frustration from yet… I feel like I’m being taken from as opposed to enthusiastically giving.

The difference is subtle… but, in its understanding is a powerful truth.

Invest the time, put in the effort, expend the energy yourself… and I will meet you on the other side.

Try and squeeze me for more time, effort, and energy without the match on your side… and I’ll eventually start taking away, too.

Most people are so busy with their own lives that they have no time to imagine the immense potential in others.

And so they simply live their busy life and wait for others to realize their own potential before they notice, hire, invest in, honor, or reward.

And sure, nobody should be more concerned with realizing another’s potential than their own.

But…

And this is a big but…

If you can zoom out from the busy madness of your own life and… notice, hire, invest in, honor, and reward the untapped, unrealized, unharnessed potential in those around you…?

…Not only will you create a sunlight on the buried seed of a plant effect—

…But you’ll start to see the quality and strength of the plants—people—increase around you.

Why? …Because plants (and people) grow only with and towards the sunlight.

…Having a hard time seeing the seeds around you? Of course you are—they’re buried.

Do what the sun does and shine down indiscriminately.

Double down on the ones that respond and peak through.

…Soon you’ll be surrounded by great oaks instead of buried seeds.

Such a simple idea that could significantly help customer oriented businesses: treat customers the way you would want to be treated as a customer.

I have been stunned at how I’ve been treated by several major companies lately and it just makes me wonder how such disconnected practices and systems have been put into place?

Like… YOU, customer service representative, would HATE the very experience you’re putting me through right now if YOU were the customer… How have we gotten here? Why is it like this? How can we change it?

Some of you reading this are in customer oriented businesses. And I encourage you to challenge your practices and systems and see if they pass the above test.

And some of you maybe aren’t. But, you certainly interact with them regularly. Keep pushing back against bad practices and bad systems. Keep voicing your frustrations and suggestions for improvement. Keep voting for good business with how you spend your money… and stop giving money to companies who have bad business practices.

Big change never happens all at once.

…It happens slowly, slowly. One push, one shove, one vote at a time.