On February 4, 1968, at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, in speaking about how he wished to be remembered after his death, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated:
I’d like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to give his life serving others. I’d like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to love somebody…
Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major. Say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won’t have any money to leave behind. I won’t have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind.
One of my favorite exercises to do is to write your own eulogy. Thinking about how you want to be remembered after your death is the best way to tap into your values and begin to plan a life that is aligned with those values.
If we are not intentional about this, it’s easy to be pulled off-track by the values and priorities of others, of a culture that tells us what’s important, of conditioning that tells us who we should be and what we should do.
For example, I’ve worked with many mission-based entrepreneurs who have big visions of “serving the world.” They spend their days buried in work, traveling far and wide to make things happen in service of an amorphous goal.
When I ask them to write their eulogy, however, they write about a person who always showed up for their kids and spouse, and made an impact through the love and care they gave to their family and friends.
It’s easy to get pulled into the lure of doing work that “changes the world.” The truth is, most people don’t do work that has such a global impact. Even the people you think do “world-impacting” work don’t usually start out that way.
How to Have a Big Impact on the World
The “world” is a big place with a lot of people and a lot of problems — more than any one person can impact. Trying to have such a big reach can prevent us from taking actions that have a more profound impact.
Instead of thinking so big, what if you try to scale it back?
Notice that Dr. King didn’t speak of having an impact on the world. He said simply that he wanted to be remembered for trying to love somebody.
Somebody. One person.
It’s fair to say that his impact was much greater than loving one person.
Let this be instructive for all of us.
The best way to have a big impact on the world is to have an impact on one person at a time. The impact you have on one person has ripple effects that will eventually spread beyond what you can imagine.
Stay local. Focus on serving one person with love and presence. Aim to have an impact on the people immediately in front of you.
You might be surprised how that impact ripples far beyond your immediate sphere.
Legacies are built one interaction at a time.
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