97. Good Enough to Change Someone’s Life

What I’ve found to be interesting over the course of the past 97 weeks is that I often get the most positive feedback on my blogs that I think aren’t that good. It’s the ones that I hesitate to put out there that seem to touch people the most. If it weren’t for the commitment I made to myself to publish a blog every Thursday, plenty of people wouldn’t have benefited from the words I type.

It’s not to say that my words are changing the world, but they could be, and so could yours.

You never know when something you do or say is exactly the inspiration that someone else needs, so put your stuff out there, even when you don’t think it’s your best. Don’t rob the world of the opportunity to improve because you think your stuff isn’t good enough.

You’ll always be good enough for someone, and it’s that person that needs you to show up and keep the commitments you made to yourself. Playing small is too self centred. You’re too important to the world to stay inside and keep quiet.

Each of us is uniquely capable of contributing to the people around us, and it’s the times it doesn’t feel like it that it’s even more true.

It’s become my viewpoint that the world improves when individuals improve. Policies change, governments rise and fall and technology progresses rapidly, but none of that impacts the world like a group of individuals who decide they’re going to see what they can do.

Don’t underestimate yourself. Think about your life and what inspires and motivates you. It’s people.

Nobody was ever inspired by a new law that passed. Sure, sometimes public policies make an impact, but it’s the individuals that leave a legacy, for better or worse. You will leave a legacy, for better or worse.

See what you can do and then do it. The rest of us need you to. We’ll all be better if you get better. None of us benefit if you think you’re not good enough or important enough. Act like you are and you’ll be shocked at the impact you can have, just don’t expect a medal.

That’s the tricky thing about all of this. You might never see or hear about the impact you have. Sometimes I write these blogs and think to myself that I just nailed it. It goes out there and I think I’ll be flooded with messages thanking me for my work. Then crickets.

It’s easy to be discouraged in those moments, but it’s those moments when you need to double down and march on. Keep the commitments you make to yourself, even when it seems like nobody cares, which will be most of the time.

Doing and being your best is a thankless job and it doesn’t always pay well, but it’s the most important thing we can do. The change we want to make in the world can only happen if we take that job seriously.

— Cody

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See you next Thursday.

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