The Butterfly Effect

You will never know how your simple words and actions will change the lives of people you will never meet.

When I took (too much) time to simply decide what my first blog post would share with a limited number of readers, the butterfly effect ended up winning. We’ve heard this theory that the flap of a butterfly wing can be the root cause of a hurricane on the other side of the world. It’s an extreme example, but it does somehow make sense in our minds.

I knew the purpose of this blog would be the same as my life mission: to empower others to make the world a better place. A few months ago, I had the privilege of leading our leadership symposium at Humana, and I came across this as a topic of discussion. I shared this news story of a man with ALS who did one simple act of kindness which changed the world for a group of people halfway across the world (and is continuing to change the world for many others)! If my goal (and the goal of the blog) is to empower others to make the world a better place, I can’t think of a better initiation topic! I hope and pray my few simple words I share here will create a butterfly effect, helping you as a reader take part in changing the world!

My simple challenge I continue to give myself after our leadership symposium discussion, and now the challenge I give to anyone who wants it, is to recognize what words you use, what actions you take, and especially what attitudes you employ. These are very small flaps of a butterfly’s wing. What kind of hurricane are your wings creating for those people you will never meet? Does that hurricane put smiles on faces? Does it solve a problem? Does it make an outcast valuable? Does it make someone better at what they love to do? Does it remove a fear? Don’t deprive the world of your value; it will benefit from you!