W.I.N. Wednesday: Popularity or Impact

“Popularity is how many likes you collect. Impact is how many lives you enrich.” 

Adam Grant

Take time to reflect on your life and ask yourself, “Am I seeking popularity, or impact?” 

Be careful that you are not seeking popularity under the guise of impact. These are the people who jump on the bandwagon of the latest hot topic and say all the right things just to try and be popular. That is not impact. 

Impact is not about posting selfies on social media saying, “Heh, look at me. Look at the great thing I just did.” Impact is about doing the work for the right reasons. It is about doing what is right when it is not popular, easy or expedient. Impact focuses on significance, not “success”. 

If you are seeking impact you will not always be popular. Some people will disagree with the work you are doing. Some people will resent the work you are doing. Some people will be jealous because of the impact you are making in the world by enriching others. 

Impact does not have to be on a grand scale. You do not have to try and enrich the lives of missions in order to have impact. Start with enriching the life of one person and work from there. Some of the most impactful people in society are teachers, coaches and first responders who you will never hear of. They will never be rich and famous, but they will have enriched the lives of the people they came in contact with. 

Brian Decker is a retired US Army Special Forces Lt. Colonel and currently the Director of Team Development for the Indianapolis Colts of the NFL. In an interview for the Talent War podcast he was asked what advice he would give his 20-year-old self. As part of his answer he said, “What I would say is I would have learned a little quicker that it’s not about what you can do, but it’s what you can bring out in others.” That’s impact. 

What’s Important Now? Seek impact. Seek to enrich the lives of others. If that results in popularity, so be it. 

Take care.

Brian Willis

www.lifesmostpowerfulquestion.com. 

ONE QUESTION BRINGING FOCUS AND CLARITY IN THE CHAOS AND COMPLEXITY OF TODAY'S WORLD.

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