Making a difference

I was asked this week to share my thoughts about global warming: "How do we deal with that? What kind of future are we creating for our kids?" Wow, good question! And such a tough issue.


It's easy to feel powerless in the face of natural disasters like fire, flood, drought, earthquake... yet we can kind of comfort ourselves with the thought that these are forces beyond our control. But it's pretty confronting to contemplate the havoc we're wreaking on our environment and say: "I'm part of that..." It's not something that's happening to us - we're co-creating it along with everyone else, to whatever large or small degree. Not a very cheerful thought, is it?

But instead of sitting there beating yourself up about it, ask yourself: "What IS my part in this? And what can I DO about it?" Because I truly believe that each and every one of us can make a difference in the world - it's a matter of figuring out what and how. So, start small... and begin with the possible...

Raise your voice...
Having trouble believing that your voice or your actions can have an impact on something so big? Picture this... You're in an enormous sports stadium, watching a football match. There are only a handful of other people in the stands with you, scattered here and there around the arena. You feel isolated from one another and disconnected from the game.

It's actually a pretty exciting game so, occasionally, a fellow spectator tries to engage with it and raises his or her voice in encouragement, but the sound is immediately swallowed up by the vast emptiness of the space. So you sit there silently, passively observing, feeling like it doesn't matter whether or not you're even there.

Now picture the stands filled to the rafters with people. A goal is scored and everyone jumps to their feet at once, cheering loudly. The crowd roars as one and the sound can be heard for miles around. This feels completely different, doesn't it? You feel truly connected - part of a gigantic living, breathing whole.

Follow your passion...
Individually, it may feel as if your presence doesn't make that much difference to the Earth. But just as with the stadium analogy, collectively, every positive thought, every voice raised and every action taken truly DOES matter. We're all part of the magnificent living organism that is our planet.

So, what can you do? Start with something you really care about - passion is a great driver and motivator... Join an environmental conservation group, lobby your government to ratify the Kyoto Protocol to reduce global greenhouse emissions, get your kids involved in a local EarthWatch program...

Ride your bike or catch the train to work, drought-proof your garden and help your family and friends to do the same, switch to a hybrid car... Install rainwater tanks and solar heating at home, implement water conservation strategies within your workplace, take your community group to see "An Inconvenient Truth" and decide what action you can take together...

One plus one...
The future of life on Earth is in all of our hands. These are just a few ideas, off the top of my head, as to how you can make a difference. Of course there are loads more ways, great and small, in which each of us can make a contribution to being part of the solution, rather than the problem. Never underestimate the power of one plus one plus one... As my friend Paul Graham puts it:

"One raindrop raises the sea."

Overcoming procrastination

How many times a day do you berate yourself about all those things still sitting there on your to-do list: "I should... make that phonecall... prepare for next week's presentation... put the washing on now... do the banking... finish editing that report... catch up on reading some articles... put my suit in for drycleaning... shop for dinner tonight..." We all do it! But it can be pretty wearing, can't it?



And that's just all the stuff that is yet to be done. Even more insidious, is continuing to dwell on all the things that aren't finished: "I should have done this... or I didn't get that done as well as I'd have liked..." Spending a lot of time focusing on the past - especially worrying about whether or not you've got everything done 'perfectly' - can really sap your energy.

What often happens when you're constantly directing your attention to the past or the future, rather than focusing on where you are right now, is that it all begins to feel like it's too much to handle and you start procrastinating about doing any of it - it feels too big or you don't know where to start.

Do one thing at a time...
So what to do about this? Well, the best strategy is to concentrate your energy and focus on the present, which is truly the only place you can directly impact. Instead of incessantly running through in your mind all those "I should do this..." or "I should have done that..." items, ask yourself:

"What is the ONE thing that I need to do right now?"

Try this for yourself - it feels much more powerful. Your mind actually helps you to sort your priorities and choose one to work with. This is a great approach to take whenever you're feeling overwhelmed. After all, you can't do everything at once, can you? So, simply by selecting one thing to start with, you draw in and concentrate your attention - and you'll find you can be far more effective with your time. You actually get more done by tackling things one at a time. It doesn't matter which one you start with - by beginning to generate some momentum, you'll find you naturally flow onto the next one and then the next one.

Reward yourself as you go...
Sometimes it's good to start with an easy thing, so that you can achieve it fairly quickly and give yourself a pat on the back for it. Then when you go onto something harder, you can remind yourself that you can do this - after all, you got that other one done, didn't you? It's far better to be kind to yourself and congratulate yourself for each and every little thing that you do get done, than to constantly beat yourself up for all the things you didn't.

Be patient and gentle with yourself, and just keep taking care of that one thing that you need to do in this very moment, and you'll be amazed at how you do end up getting through all those things that really matter...