1,000 x 1,000
What is impact?
You probably have your own definition, but here are a pair to think about:
1. come into forcible contact with another object (think of an impact, a vehicle collision or an asteroid hitting earth and causing dinosaurs to go extinct...but I digress).
2. to have a strong effect on someone or something (you might have an idea of where I'm going with this).
Think about the number of people you interact with on a daily basis. Your family might include a handful right away. Then add your close friends. Maybe that adds another 4 or 5 people. Now add the people you go to school with or your coworkers. There's another 20 or 30 depending on your situation.
So just from my simple math, you come into contact and interact with 40-50 people per day, likely at a minimum!
But it doesn't stop there. Think about the people who had to wait behind you while you turned left in your car. How many people do you think you interacted with considering this?
Or think of the people you interact with getting your morning coffee or running errands to the grocery store?
How many people do you stand in line with each day?
Now imagine multiplying that by weeks, months, years, decades...
How many people might you impact in your lifetime?
Jordan Peterson (12 Rules for Life guy, here's the link to the book) estimates (I think conservatively) that we all impact 1,000 people in our lifetimes. Then each of those people impacts another 1,000 each as well.
1,000 x 1,000 = 1,000,000
You are 2 individuals removed from access and impact on 1 million people.
"Cool math, Josh, what's your point?"
My point is this: you have a much wider reach of impact and influence than you know.
Each interaction, each conversation, smile, handshake, a door-holding gesture of kindness makes a difference.
Showing someone (even a complete stranger) that you care about them even a little bit, can impact them in the moment and create impact potential to the people around them.
Your actions, behaviors, and impacts have meaning!
How you treat others will have ripple effects, even those you can't see.
So...what sort of impact do you want to have on 1 million people?
Do you want to positively influence those around you? Or do you want to be remembered in a negative light?
Do you want to brighten a room when you enter it? Or when you leave?
Stay frosty, do good, friends. Be people of positive impact.