 Hi, welcome to Seymour's World commentary on Think Tech Hawaii. You can find all my commentaries and Seymour's World episodes on the Think Tech Hawaii website. I welcome your comments by email, text, or phone. And you could reach me at Seymour.Kazimersky at gmail.com or 808-551-3222. Today's commentary is Can You Make a Difference? Let me ask you a question, and I want you to answer honestly. Do you really think you can make a difference in the world? If you're like most people, your answer was no. Well, guess what? You're probably wrong. Not only can you make a difference, you've probably had a far greater impact on more people than you realize. Are you a leader or a follower? All of us are leaders in our own way. We accomplish what we want to every day of our lives, not always perfectly, not always the way we want, but we get up and keep trying to make our own lives better. That said, it does help if you believe it. You have to believe you are special and destined for great things, a powerful combination that's often self-fulfilling. It's probably the single most common characteristic among successful leaders. They truly believe they can make a difference. Now there are a lot of ways, too, as Steve Jobs said to the original Apple Macintosh design team, make a dent in the universe. But I want to focus on one person, namely you and me. We can really make a difference by influencing our friends, our family, and our community. And don't think for a second that it's a rare thing. It happens all the time. Here are a few examples so you can see what I'm talking about. First look at every priest, rabbi, minister who helps their congregation. Yes, they are making a difference in helping others. There are hundreds of organizations that need your help, whether it's children, homeless, animals, refugees, I could go on and on. All you need to do is to want to make a difference. It's really all about your personality and your willingness to make a difference. On a personal level, most of you know that I have devoted the last few years to helping others from children in the hospitals through our Make Him Smile program, our Foster Kids program called You Are In Charge, my mentoring program, and so on. I do it because it gives me so much pleasure to help others. I actually feel that I am making a difference in their lives, and this, my friends, is something that money cannot buy. It all started when my mother lecturing on the Holocaust, then her devotion to her senior citizen's choir. The love she got back was priceless, and this is the essence of my message to you. You can have a profound influence on people all around you by just beginning the process of making a difference. Now I know what you're going to say, that's easy for you Seymour. O Contrary, the truth is that to make a dent in the universe, you don't have to be a priest or a rabbi. You don't even have to directly influence thousands of people. Just a handful can make a huge difference. Think about it. When one person influences a few others, there are two magic effects, a ripple effect that over time can actually impact thousands over generations, a broadening effect since one person influences many, like multiplying tree branches, like a pebble beginning the ripple effect in a body of water. Here's an exercise for you. Think about all the people who may have had an impact on your life, employees, coworkers, bosses, vendors, customers, family and friends, lots and lots of people, and they're just part of the equation. You may have influenced dozens of others without even realizing it. Can you list five people who just by saying one thing had a profound impact on your career and your life? I can list many more than that and some of them were people I hardly knew but said something in passing that really resonated with me at that point in time. Well, it works in reverse too. You have no idea how many people you can influence and help just by sharing your experiences and your insights. It's a far more generous thing than any material gift you can ever give. Speaking of influence, one of the most influential, albeit polarizing figures in history, has to be A. N. Rand, half a century after it was published. They're still remaking Atlas Shrug movies. Say what you want about the woman. Rand's philosophy that individuals can do great things has always inspired me. Not that anybody really is special. I've learned from experience, we're all just flesh and blood, men and women. Nevertheless, we can do great things if only for a brief time. And most importantly, the impact of those actions, what we say and do, can reach far beyond our mortal selves. My name is Seymour Kazimurski. You're watching a commentary of Seymour's World. You can find all my commentaries and Seymour's World episodes on the Think Tech Hawaii website. I welcome your comments by email, text, or phone aloha.