Tag: writing

What difference did we make?

Posted on by philipdodson

At the end of our journeys, whenever that might be, we will undoubtedly ask ourselves this question ‘what difference did I make?’.

May be some won’t reflect back on their lives, and some will, but might not like the answer.

It has taken me a long time in life to realise that the purpose of life is to make a difference, whether that is large or small, that is not relevant, as success is a personal thing for us to measure ourselves. It is not something for others to set for us.

It is up to us to choose what that ‘difference’ might be.

So I want to be able to reflect on my life and say that I made a positive and lasting impression on the people who mattered in my life. That is all I am aiming to do now for the rest of the journey. I want to help others and I want to create an alternative to the current old school world system. The one based on fear, shaming, judgement and greed. The one that benefits mainly just a tiny, tiny 1%, where the rest of us are just, as Seth Godin put’s it ‘interchangeable cogs’.

This will mean that after I have gone, there will be a positive legacy left in the memories of the people who are still there. Whatever I have created as alternative, big or small, will be what I have created to make my ‘difference’.

Now with this in mind, life is a whole lot less complicated, as the decisions that we have to take, are clearer and easier to make when you know what your purpose is.

So if there is one thing worth finding out, what is your purpose and what difference are you going to make?

Don’t over engineer

Posted on by philipdodson

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All too often in life we try too hard to make something happen.

Our desire to make something happen is very strong at times, even though the only thing we can control is ourselves. Yet, we many times get hell bent on engineering an outcome.

Most humans resent or rebel when their freedoms are compromised by others, and the more that is forced, the more we tend to rebel and the less likely the outcome, that the controller wants to make happen, happens.

We all would recognise this when we are on the receiving end, yet when we have that strong urge to get something to happen how we want, we then seem to forget all about that, and end up going head first into forcing something.

Don’t over engineer outcomes, in fact try hard not to engineer anything with a overly selfish motive behind it, as the best things in life happen naturally, unforced and out of serendipitous moments.

The more you relax and stop swimming against the tide, the more you are just yourself, the less you deliberately seek something.

Then we send out the right signals, and allow others to make their own minds up. It is better that the other person choices the outcome we want, because it is something that they are inspired by, not something we have manipulated or motivated them to choose.

This all comes down to the audiences we choose too, if you are surrounded by the right people, who like you and your values, then the are more likely to be inspired to choose what you stand for, and the less you will need to over engineer.