“Don’t jump”. She said she heard. She was depressed and alone in the bridge. Her addiction and her life pushed her to the limits. As she stood on the edge of the railing of the bridge to take her life in the middle of the night – she heard the voice from a passing car; – “Don’t jump”.
She felt, that there was someone out there – who felt that she should not throw her life away. She felt cared for.
She did not jump.
She wants to thank the person who prevented her from committing suicide.
Could it be your voice?
We often feel that we do not have power to make any impact. You feel that you do not have the time to make an impact.
I am here to tell you. You are powerful. You have made impact. You probably have not seen it or not realized or have not think of it
Power of your word
You are powerful. What you say is powerful.
Listen to this talk – ‘The Power of Words’ by Mohammed Qahtani.
Remember you have the opportunity to make real change and create impact by using the right words.
Look back and you will find that you have made an impact.
Power of small positive influence
Here is an actual psychological experiment – called “Dime in the phone booth”.
If you are not familiar with the phone booth – it is a small phone booth where you drop coins and make a call. You drop coins and you buy minutes which you can use to talk.
After you talk the machine does not return any coin.
In one group of subjects did the call and the machine did not return any money as expected. For the other group – the machine returned some coins which was unexpected.
When the subjects in a phone booth found a dime in the coin return unexpectedly – they were found to be prone to help another person.
The point here is that when you are making a positive difference to an individual – it can have a very significant impact on the person. In short, a small act of goodness or kindness can have a big impact.
Having the courage to lead
You have summoned enough courage and maybe that gave others the courage.
Go back and look at your life.
You probably have changed lives. You probably took the first step and that encouraged others to take action. You probably do not know.
Check out this clip
Lead India – The Tree.
Stories from my personal life
- I recently met my nephew who has become a doctor. When we met, he told me that 15 years back I had advised him on a technique of studying which helped him to be successful in his academic journey.
- I met one of my old colleagues with whom I worked almost 20 years ago. He is much junior to me. When we met – he was about to touch my feet as a show of respect (It is custom in some cultures in India to touch the feet of senior folks to show respect. I was shocked and I flinched as it is not common in corporate culture at all. He explained to me that when he joined the company where we both used to work – he was ridiculed by folks for the solution he proposed.
I remembered the situation. He was proposing something – which was very different from the way it was typically done. I stood by him listened to him and encouraged his originality.
He felt that it gave him the courage to speak up when what he said was against the norm. It planted in him the seed to have the courage to speak up and practice in his professional life.
- I recently met a budding author. He mentioned that his history teacher said that he had the seeds of a great author. He got the courage to start his writing journey
Our inability to see the impact
We tend to evaluate a situation based on what it means to us, but actually, it may have a very big impact on others.
Conclusion
Remember – you are powerful. You have the power to make an impact – both negative and positive. If you look back and think carefully – you may be able to find that you have made impact.
The fact they are not visible does not make you any less powerful. Let nobody try to make us believe we are weak.
