How To Make An Impact With Your Life In 2018

I have chosen my power word for 2018. The word is impact. 

If you have been reading my blog, you may remember that I was toying with the word, communicate as my possible 2018 power word about a month ago, Communicate Is The Word but it didn’t make the final cut for one big reason. It’s not a “be” word. I’ll explain further in a minute.

First, let’s talk about why you would want to make an impact, and who’s lives would you want to impact in 2018?

In order to answer those questions, you must first be able to ask yourself these questions: Who am I and what do I want to create in my life for 2018?

Pretty deep questions to be sure, but in order to be an influence on other souls, you must first know yourself and what your drive in life is. Or in other words, how you want to “be” as a person and what you want to “do” as that person.

Impact is a “be” word – as in, “In 2018, I want to be a positive impact on other people’s lives so that they can do better in their own lives.

A “be” word is your why, your reason for doing whatever it is you are passionate about doing. It has power because it creates action. So in order to make an impact in 2018, you need to understand how you want to “be” for the coming year. When you get clear about who you are as a person, and understand what are your beliefs, what are your strengths, what are your natural talents, and then marry them with what it is that you want to create or do, then you have the framework to make an impact.

I passed on the word communicate this year as my power word because it is a “do” word.  As in, “To make an impact on my circle of influence, I need to communicate effectively.” Communicate is something I need to “do” not something I need to “be”.

Okay, so in order to make an impact in 2018, you need to decide how it is you want to be. But to put your personal philosophy of being in motion and create something, you next need to decide what it is you will “do”.

Luckily for me, I already had the start of that plan in place for 2018 with the word, communicate. My continuing passion in life is to help others by offering clear information, tips, advice, and practical wisdom so that they can gain clarity in whatever it is they, as human beings, are seeking in their life. I do that by communicating through various channels like this blog and in my daily interactions with the people I encounter.

To make an impact with whatever your “do”, or in other words, whatever you choose as your means of action to create the life you want in 2018, you will need to focus in on one thing at a time.

All high level professionals rise to the top of their fields because they set their attention on one goal based on understanding the question, “Who am I and what do I want to create in my life?” and then work with laser focus until they have mastered it.

The heart surgeon who literally touches our hearts and saves lives. The writer who specializes in the art of unforgettable love stories. The world leader who campaigns for tolerance and equality. These, and professional like them in every vocation imaginable are the individuals who impact the lives of others and the world around them.  Their understanding of themselves and the life they have chosen to create, builds into careers with an impact that ripples out and touches many.

So far, I have talked about how understanding who you are and what you want to create can have an impact on the world around you, but there is another component of this plan for 2018 that can impact you personally as well.

When you fully understand who you are and what you want to offer out to the world by way of your gifts, your strengths and your focused and mastered skills, something magical happens. You begin to reap the personal rewards of the impact you are having on others.

Here again is another chance for you to create impact in your life for 2018 and that is through balance. This is where you see the fruits of your labours and begin to reap the rewards, whether that be monetary, with status, or emotional. And this is also where you can lose sight of your focused path and create negative impacts instead of positive impacts.

Having an impact within your area of influence can be a heady feeling indeed but with out internal balance, life can quickly veer down a dark path.

We have all heard the cautionary tales. A talented singer who, unprepared for sudden success, looses focus and finds themselves self medicating in a bottle of whiskey. The powerful leader who’s ego becomes bigger than himself and looses touch with the people he serves. Or the surgeon, who although continues to skillfully save lives, becomes unbearable for others to work with because he believes he is better than everyone else.

To be of influence on the world around you in 2018 and beyond, you must not only have  an impact with those your vision serves but also to create a positive impact within yourself that balances all the areas in your life that matter to you the most. For what good is being an influencer and creating an impact with what you “do”, if it drains power from who you set out to “be”.

I asked at the beginning of this post, “Why would you want to make an impact, and who’s lives would you want to impact in 2018?” The simple answer to this is that whether you are aware of it or not, everything you do, and everyone you encounter in life, is impacted on some level by your actions. So why not strive to have those encounters to be inline with your awareness of who you want to be and what you want to do while you live this precious life.

When your actions align with who you truly are and are then fueled with your life’s passion, or your why, you can not help but make an impact in your world for 2018.