Changing the World

"Does the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?" I'm confident you have probably heard that phrase before. And while physically it may or may not be true (I'm not sure), as a metaphor, it holds much truth.

Like the butterfly's wings, we as individuals can bring about a large-scale change with just a small movement. To say that changing the world is not possible is to ignore all progress made. Countless individuals in countless fields have changed the world in history - Galileo, Einstein, Mozart, Da Vinci, Columbus,the Wright brothers, the list could go on endlessly. Even in more recent history, Steve Jobs, with the invention of the graphical OS, changed the world. With the personal computer being used in the daily lives of almost everyone today, it is undeniable that the work of Steve Jobs has changed the world.

So changing the world is possible, and I believe many will acknowledge that. But the question then becomes, is it possible for us? Most people would wave off that question, saying that changing the world is possible, but it's a job for someone else, someone more prominent, of higher power and authority, for someone smarter or more talented, etc. I find it hard to accept that belief. What sets apart the people I've mentioned from the rest of us?

Da Vinci was an illegitimate child. Abraham Lincoln grew up in a farm and owned a store that failed badly and left him in debt. Steve Jobs was an adopted child and a college dropout, and was fired from the company he started. These are ordinary people from ordinary backgrounds.

So what makes these people different? Three things, in my opinion.

Firstly, focus. These people had one thing they wanted to do, and focused on that. They put all their energies into that one thing. They didn't get distracted by other things. Yes, they sometimes pursued other interests, but when it came to their work, they focused on the one thing they were doing. Take the modern example of the iPod. The iPod is by far the most successful mp3 player. And yet it lacks the features of many other players. It doesn't have a voice recorder, it doesn't have FM radio, in itself, it is actually a very basic player.

Why is it so popular, then? Because it is good at doing what it is meant to do - play MP3's. It was designed as a simple to use, quality mp3 player, and Apple focused on that. They didn't try to do too much, they just tried to design the best MP3 player they could, and that's why they succeeded. Only when they were the best at one thing did they move on to others.

The second quality that sets these world-changers apart is belief. They had something they believed in, and they went all out for it. Even when society on a whole disagrees with them, even when everyone else thought they were wrong, they stuck to their beliefs. They had an intrinsic belief in their ideas, and that sort of belief is something that society cannot take away. Galileo was arrested for saying that the world was not the center of the universe. If you are easily swayed by society and don't stand firm in your beliefs, you won't change the world.

Thirdly, and most importantly, is passion. This is one of the most important factors in changing the world. In order to change the world, you have to be passionate about what you're doing. With passion, you won't be afraid of failure, you'll stick by your ideas no matter what. If you're passionate about something, you'll learn everything you can, you'll do the best you can and you'll strive to be the best, not for the sake of the end result, but just because you love doing what you're doing. You won't settle for being "above average" or "good enough". That's what the revolutionary world-changers had. Passion.

They had passion to push on despite circumstances, and to not settle for what the world viewed as enough, but to go beyond what is commonly seen as "reasonable" and give all they could. They gave a 110% in what they did because they were passionate about it and loved doing it. And it's that final 10% that set them apart, that allowed them to change the world. And that final 10% can only come when you are passionate about what you're doing.

Three things - focus, belief, passion. These three qualities are highly lacking in society today. Too often we settle for the status quo, for fitting in. Too often we are too afraid of failure to press on in our dream; too afraid of rejection to stand for what we believe in; too focused on well-roundedness to truly excel.

Changing the world is possible. It's possible for everyone, it doesn't take a special person with special powers to do it. It just takes someone with focus, belief and passion. 3 things that we can all acquire, if only we choose to do so. And that's the big question, isn't it? Changing the world is not impossible by any means, it's not even that complicated. It's just risky and requires a change of mindset on our part.

The question is not whether it's possible to change the world. It is. It's been done before, and it can definitely be done again. The question is are you willing to take the step of courage to do it? Are you willing to make the choice to take the risk in pursuit of the dream?

To quote a poem by Rives, "It's not a question of if you can, it's do you?"