What do I hope to inspire people to do and be?
Posted: - Modified: | passion, reflection, sketches
It amazes me that people find my work and my life inspiring. It’s an honour to be able to share what I’m learning and to learn from how people build on it! I can’t wait to see what adventures we’ll share.
Sometimes I feel the twinges of the imposter syndrome. Sometimes I worry about things going to my head. But I want to be inspiring, the way my mom and dad are inspiring, the way that my role models are inspiring. Sometimes I suspect I’m an experiment in happiness. =) I want to be the person whose example reassures people that good things are possible.
If we’re creating this gift in the space between us (between us, because it’s too big to be just me), what will it be for?
What do I hope to inspire people to do and be?
I want to inspire people to be happy and passionate and alive. I want to show that work can be an expression of love, that happiness can survive in this world, and that good things do happen to good people. I want people to know that happiness isn’t something you strive for or buy, it’s something you are.
I want to inspire people to share. If people can learn from what I’ve shared of the things I’ve learned in these few years, imagine what people might learn from others (and from themselves!).
I want to inspire people to play to their strengths. Many introverted people feel limited by their personality, when it can be a real strength. Same goes for lots of other factors that we often mistake as weaknesses.
I want to inspire people to practice relentless improvement in a kind and loving how-can-we-make-things-better way (as opposed to here-are-all-the-ways-you-suck).
I want to inspire people to connect and collaborate to make bigger things happen, and to figure out their own big picture if they need to. You don’t need a special title in order to be a leader.
I also want to inspire people to read manuals, save up, spend time and energy and money on what matters, smile more, let go, and a million other things, but we’ll figure that out. ;)
It’s a big thing, too big for my small hands. But I have a world to learn from, many conspirators, and (I hope) decades to explore.
I don’t want to be a star, shining but remote. I want to be a lens that helps bring out the light and colour of people around me.
How can we grow towards that?
3 comments
Jeffrey Tang
2010-04-27T21:57:36ZI feel like I could have written so much of this article - so many of your goals align perfectly with mine.
This, for example: "Many introverted people feel limited by their personality, when it can be a real strength."
And this: "I want to inspire people to practice relentless improvement in a kind and loving how-can-we-make-things-better way."
And ESPECIALLY this: "I want to inspire people to connect and collaborate to make bigger things happen, and to figure out their own big picture if they need to."
And like you, I often struggle with impostor syndrome. "Who am I to be writing about this or telling people what I believe?" I've learned to remind myself that I don't have to be a famous guru to have something worth saying, and that if I just share what works for me, people will respond.
Sacha Chua
2010-04-28T23:58:33ZOne of the things I'm learning about leadership is that you don't have to have a formal title or years of expertise in order to lead. You can teach as you learn. Your struggles with the imposter syndrome help other people realize that they don't have to be born with confidence. The small things that you do helps other people dream of doing great things. =)
Peter Jaros
2010-05-01T20:41:58Z*Your* struggles with the imposter syndrome have helped *me* realize that I don’t have to be born with confidence. Or wisdom. Or charisma. Or a network of people who trust me.
Thanks for living out loud. You are one of the reasons I've successfully continued to write my blog. When I feel like a post I've drafted needs more work, or should just be scrapped, I remember, "Sacha would tell me that someone desperately needs me to share this with them, even if it's not perfect yet." That's responsible for a lot of the words on Nothing Undone.
Thanks.