jakelacaze.com

“Most of the time I got nothing to say
When I do it’s nothing
And nobody’s there to listen anyway”
I Taught Myself How To Grow Old by Ryan Adams

We all have varying degrees of influence. Some people just seem to have a knack for being leaders; people observe what they’re doing and naturally follow suit. These leaders could propose jumping off a cliff and everyone would be gung-ho and eager to execute the plan. Meanwhile, you propose going to the movies to see some artsy flick as opposed to this week’s action blockbuster and everyone stares at you as if you’ve lost your mind.

You may feel that events like this happen far too often. You may feel that you try and try but your efforts just aren’t worth it because you never see the results that you desire. But don’t get discouraged. Don’t give up.

Chances are that you have more influence than you realize. When you think no one’s paying attention, there may be someone who is observing and soaking up everything you say and do.

Here is a personal example:

The summer of 2007 was my third and final summer at Med Camps of Louisiana. While working there, I saw around 400 children with disabilities come and go, but this story revolves around one child. This kid was kind and obedient, never caused a bit of trouble. But I didn’t feel that I made an impression on the kid. I didn’t feel that I’d connected in any way.

A couple of weeks later, I saw the boy’s mother when she returned with her niece. She told me that her son had shaved his head to be like me. He didn’t go quite to the extent that I did…

But how cool is that? That is undoubtedly the greatest compliment I ever got.

Maybe you feel that your online influence is lacking as well. You don’t get any retweets, your links never get any hits, your blog posts never get any comments. Again, don’t get discouraged. My blog gets only a handful of hits a day (my peek is just over 30). I get very few comments and just as few retweets. According to Feedburner, jakelacaze.com has only 6 subscribers. My Facebook fan page has 8 fans. But it’s all good.

The other day, a friend mentioned that after reading my rant about meetings, she was inspired to skip out on one. Sure, maybe she was leaning that way already, but I like to think that I pushed her over the edge. And this makes me happy.

We live in a connected world. A world that is more connected than ever before. You never know who you’re connected to or how you’re connected to anyone (for elaboration, check out the six degrees of separation). Think about it: every little thing you do has the potential to change the world, if only a little bit. You don’t have to do anything epic, just be yourself.

If that’s not cool, I don’t know what is.