Do you remember the movie “Back to the Future”? It’s where a wacky scientist turned a Delorean into a time machine, and his friend, Marty, played by Michael J Fox travelled back to 1955.

A common thread throughout the movie series is they had to be very careful about not impacting the other time dimension. For example, while back in 1955 Marty inadvertently got his then very young Mom to fall in love with him. The problem is he would not exist in the future if his Mom didn’t fall in love with his Dad. So the story line turned to a quest to have the two of them fall in love, as it should be.

Back to the Future was only a movie, but the idea of our unintended impact in the world has become very real for me.

My life touches dozens of other lives every week. Whether it’s through the work I do, my personal life, or one of the many people who read my writing. It’s exciting to think how many people I come into contact with every week. 

I have lots of opportunities each week to impact the lives of people around me. Whether it’s a workshop I’m leading or just someone I talk to on the street, I am excited by the possibility of how I impact their lives both directly and in ways I don’t intend.

What if as a result of attending a workshop I’m leading someone becomes more open to a conversation that leads to mending a broken relationship. What if by reading my newsletter someone decides to end a career that’s sucking the life out of them. What if by agreeing to co-lead a workshop, my co-leader and I discover an unimaginable way we can have an impact in the world. What if …

This week’s thought:

It would be understandable to look at what’s going on in the world and wonder how you could possibly make a difference. It can be very overwhelming with wars, terrorism, racism, US politics and much more happening all around us.

So stop trying to solve the whole problem.

Instead, just try to make a difference in the life of one person today. That’s it, just one. What you can never know is the unintended impact your actions will have in this person’s life, or how they are going to go out and impact others. 

Just one … you can’t know what impact that will have, but I guarantee it’ll be bigger than you could image.

Building Great Teams

Building Great Teams

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