You want to have a bigger impact in the world, right? It sounds noble. Many of us long to contribute more; to do real good in the world; to foster generative, sustainable systems, especially in such dark times.
But here’s the problem: when we chase bigger impact, we often end up applying and reinforcing the current system’s broken logic to social change. We end up recreating the same toxicity that got us here in the first place.
Under capitalism, we are trained to believe that everything can and should be quantified. We may even want to believe that we receive a little “impact” score that reveals something meaningful about us. But we don’t. And when we try to quantify things in this way, we fail to understand them in their full power and complexity.
Our world is impossibly mysterious. It is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. In such a world, we can never truly know the full effects of our actions. What might look small may ripple out in world-changing ways we can’t comprehend or see, even for decades after the fact. What seems huge and meaningful may vanish overnight or have massive, unintended, harmful consequences that undermine the change we seek.
Impact cannot be reduced to numbers or comparisons in the way we might want. The only thing we can actually consistently measure in this arena is something like social clout — likes, followers, recognition, status. But social clout has nothing to do with impact. And it has everything to do with winning some imaginary competition that validates our existence in some way.
Here’s the thing: Doing good in the world is NOT about being bigger, doing more, or proving ourselves. It’s not actually about you or me at all! Let me say that again: It’s not about you. It’s not about me. It’s about the world at large. It’s about aligning to that world from a place of integrity, compassion, and purpose.
So maybe the question is not: How do I have a bigger impact?
Maybe it’s something more like: Is my life’s work (at whatever scale) an expression of goodness? Am I in integrity? Am I in a genuine positive exchange with the world around me?
These are simple yes-or-no questions.  There’s no measurement. There’s no score. There’s no grade. There’s no award – other than just feeling good and knowing you’ve contributed something meaningful to a world in need.
If it feels good through and through, it’s almost certainly doing good in the world. And any amount of doing good is enough.
More articles
-
The crisis within
The polycrisis is the knot of crises facing humanity today, all intensifying and complicating one another. But it’s not just that. Our internal experience of these crises is itself a real crisis. Living with the deeply troubling challenges of our world, with the growing possibility that civilization as we know it will collapse within our…
-
A knot of crises
Humanity in the 21st Century is facing a seemingly endless stream of crises: the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, poverty, economic inequality, pandemics, growing authoritarianism, terrorism, gun violence, runaway technological advancement, the erosion of shared knowledge and meaning, and much more.
-
Ordinary World –> Extraordinary World
The hero begins their journey in the “ordinary world” of relative peace, comfort, and familiarity. The antihero begins their journey already in the extraordinary world, already striving for heroic greatness, already exhausted trying to be something they will never be.
-
You are not your “issues”
Your “issues” are only ever just a tiny fraction of who you are. They are potholes in the road. They are a puff of cloud temporarily blocking out the vast Sun of your being.
-
You are not special
You are unique. You are beautiful. You are whole. Just like everyone else.
Interesting thoughts on “scaling up”. The only quibble here is how do you define “goodness” and “positive exchange”? Instead perhaps, “am I contributing to the creation of regenerative capacity within larger living systems”? Am I in integrity with my own essence? Good/bad, positive/negative binaries are a significant part of the problem. The question is how do we reconcile, harmonize, and balance these supposed dualities while staying our of judgement?