I never thought I’d receive a message like this…
I was living in Vietnam in 2019, achieving a four-year dream of mine while traveling around Southeast Asia.

The 10 months I spent out there ended up being one of the most impactful times of my life, but there was one event that I’ll never forget.
I had been posting life advice on Instagram on and off for a few years, and I was starting to take it more seriously while living in Asia.
I had built a following of around 15,000 people at the time, posting videos and stories almost every day inspiring people to follow their hearts, chase their dreams, and live their dream lives.
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While I received dozens of comments on each post and messages from people telling me how much my content was helping them, the way I felt on the inside was a little different.
I was struggling with some internal conflicts:
Who was I to be saying these things?
What credentials did I have?
Why would they follow me when they could follow someone bigger or more accomplished?
Despite making a positive impact on thousands of people and expressing what I truly believed in, I was struggling with self-worth issues.
I didn’t feel like I was 100% worthy to be doing this, to be this person, sharing these thoughts and ideas.
At least, not yet.
Then I received a message I never expected.
Related: How I Found My Life Purpose: My 10-Year Journey of Self-Discovery and Personal Growth
Table of Contents
The Message I’ll Never Forget
In Vietnam, my morning routine was to wake up around 6 AM, meditate, hit the gym, and come back to my apartment for an hour-long mastermind meeting with my roommates.
Then we’d disperse and work on our businesses for the rest of the morning and afternoon.
Just as my roommates left the apartment to start the rest of their day, I sat down to check my phone and get to work.
I had a message on Instagram, and I quickly opened it and read it.
As soon as I began reading, my jaw started to drop and my heart began pounding.
The message came from one of my followers who told me about how low she had been feeling.
She had been just days away from taking her own life, but the words of encouragement in my posts lit a new spirit inside of her and inspired her not to do it.
Then she thanked me and said she loved what I was doing.
By the time I finished the message, my heart was beating out of my chest. I couldn’t believe it.
I thought my posts were pretty impactful, but not that impactful!
Not “inspire someone not to take their own life” impactful!
Immediately, my perspective shifted.
Even though many people were commenting on my posts and messaging me, there was an invisible impact I wasn’t seeing.
Despite my feelings of lack of worthiness, the impact of what I was doing was reaching far beyond what I could imagine.
I finally recognized the importance of what I was doing. I recognized the importance of sharing my truth and continuing to do so.
Because you never know the impact you can make on someone just by being your true self and expressing what you have inside.
“You never know the impact you can make on someone just by being your true self and expressing what you have inside.”
If It Helps One Person, It’s Worth It
Since I got into personal development as a sophomore in college in 2011, I’ve had the opportunity to not only help myself but to help thousands of people as I began to follow my passion and make this my life’s work.
I’ve had the opportunity to help thousands of social media followers and email subscribers, clients I’ve coached, friends, my parents, and random people I’ve met with all sorts of things related to their personal development and life goals.
I call it an opportunity because it’s a special position to be in. It’s a privilege to be able to help someone, and it’s one of the most fulfilling and empowering experiences I have in life.
I’m a firm believer that if what I do helps even one person, it’s worth it.
“If what I do helps even one person, it’s worth it.”
If an article I publish helps one person, it’s worth it.
If an email I send out helps one person, it’s worth it.
If a video I create helps one person, it’s worth it.
If a book I write helps one person, it’s worth it.
If a conversation I have helps one person, it’s worth it.
Because it means that what I’m doing and creating is making a difference.
Whether I help one person or one million…
It’s worth it.
What Is a Life-Changing Force?
A life-changing force is someone who over-indexes on the positive impact they make on people’s lives.
In truth, every person on the planet impacts lives every day. Simply by living, you are co-creating with 8 billion other people.
The difference between what you may call “regular impact” and a “life-changing force” is the magnitude of the positive impact and the energy it’s created with.
The Unique Characteristics of a Life-Changing Force
A life-changing force tends to either:
- Make a positive impact on a lot of people in smaller ways
- Make a positive impact on a small number of people in big ways
- Make a positive impact on a lot of people in big ways
This person also tends to carry themselves with an aura of purpose and passion for it.
They love it. They live for it. This is who they are at their core.
Helping people and making a positive impact on people’s lives is one of the truest expressions of who they are.
They’re not doing it because they feel like they have to or they should (which usually comes from a place of guilt and perceived obligation).
They do it because they’re answering a call from within to be of service to others and serve them in ways they love doing so.
This love energy, this passion, radiates through them. It creates resonance with those they feel called to serve, and it magnifies their positive impact on the world.
Whether that impact is “small” or “big” isn’t as important as the energy with which it is done.
A small or big impact is both relative and subjective. It depends on the measuring stick you’re using. But the energy you do something with is absolute.
You can feel it, and so can others.
A life-changing force makes a positive impact with a deep and authentic drive to answer the call from within and serve others to the best of their ability in whatever way they feel called to do it.
“A life-changing force makes a positive impact with a deep and authentic drive to answer the call from within and serve others to the best of their ability in whatever way they feel called to do it.”
It’s a genuine, courageous expression of who they are.
And these people end up becoming some of the most life-changing and world-changing figures in our history.
Related: The 5 Stages of Purpose (And How to Navigate Them)
Who Are The Life-Changing Forces in Our World?
I’ve been inspired by many of these people, and our world is blessed with perhaps thousands of over-indexing positive forces for good (if you know where to look).
Not long ago, I was walking through a Walmart with two of my friends, and I saw a book by Jay Shetty1 on the shelf.
Excitedly, I said, “Nice! Jay Shetty made it to Walmart.”
My friend looked at me, puzzled, and asked, “Who’s Jay Shetty?”
I said, confidently, “He’s an influencer.”
My friend gave me a weird look again, “Influencer? He doesn’t look like an Instagram model.”
To him, the only influencers he’s aware of are Instagram models. To me, the influencers I follow are literally life-changing forces.
They are the writers, speakers, authors, coaches, scientists, podcasters, YouTubers, and entrepreneurs helping people grow, evolve, and become the best versions of themselves.
It’s no wonder my friend looked at me funny. The influencers we follow are totally different.
But if you know where to look and who to look out for, you will see people following this path, making a deep and profound positive impact on the world.
Here are a few of them (past and present):
1. From Childhood Abuse to World-Renowned Performance Coach
Many people look at the millions of copies of books he’s sold, the dozens of businesses he owns, the celebrities he’s worked with, and the over 4 million people who have attended his seminars.2
But most don’t know that this world-renowned performance coach was born into a chaotic and abusive household in North Hollywood.
His mother was an alcoholic and a drug addict, and, as the older sibling, he had to protect his brother and sister from physical abuse in their home.
At seventeen years old, he got a job as a janitor and helped people move on the weekends to help support his family financially.3
During one such move, he happened to be helping out a family friend who had managed to turn his life around and become super successful.
The young man, not even eighteen yet, asked his family friend how he did it.
He told him it happened after he attended a Jim Rohn seminar and applied what he had learned. (Jim Rohn4 was one of the fathers of personal development.)
The young man spent a week’s worth of his pay to attend one of Jim Rohn’s seminars. Het met Jim and, eventually, asked him if he could work for him.
The young man soon became Jim Rohn’s understudy and began a new life to master the science of change and optimal performance and teach it to others.
Thus, the Tony Robbins we know today was born, and he has gone on to become a true life-changing force in the world.
If we were to create a family tree of the top influencers in personal development today, Tony would be at the top of it. Tony was the first person to inspire many of the people who are now changing lives in the personal development space.
The origin story of a lot of personal development influencers and entrepreneurs begins with a version of, “Well, one day I saw an infomercial on TV with Tony Robbins. I bought his course, and my life has never been the same.”
Not to mention the millions of people who have attended his seminars and bought his books.
Tony began his life in a difficult and abusive household, but through unwavering determination to better his life and the lives of as many people as he can, Tony Robbins became a life-changing force that has empowered people around the world.
2. From a Failing Business to Impacting Tens of Millions of Lives
Growing up without much money and filled with negative beliefs about how money is acquired, a 55-year-old television producer found herself near bankruptcy on a failing project.5 6
Her father had died not long before, and she was still wrought with grief while grappling to turn her financial life around.
To give her some hope and inspiration, her daughter gifted her a book.
This book was unlike any she had read.
It contained a philosophy of financial success not based on what family you were born into, what education you had, how smart you were, how lucky you were, or who you were connected to – some of which had been her limiting beliefs since she was a child.
No, this book was different.
It talked about the power to succeed through right thinking, through inner power, through visualization, and through gratitude.
This began Rhonda Byrne’s trip down the rabbit hole to discover the secret behind this teaching and to apply its lessons.7
Soon after applying what she learned from this book and the other teachings she discovered, Rhonda’s financial life began to improve. Her emotional life and her health improved, as well.
Inspired by everything she had learned and the amazing results she experienced, she began a new project – to share the secret she had come across with the world.
A little more than a year after her daughter gifted her The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles,8 Rhonda released the movie, The Secret, in 2006.
By February of 2007, the DVD had sold 1.5 million copies, with no advertising or theater release.9
Rhonda wrote and published The Secret book shortly after the movie, and it has since sold more than 35 million copies around the world.10
Rhonda has now published six more books, along with producing a motion picture adaption of The Secret.
The numbers indicate the magnitude of Rhonda’s impact, but the true impact is in each individual who has been inspired and empowered by her work.
It’s in the millions of people who now believe in themselves and their inner power. It’s those people who have changed their thoughts, their beliefs, and their lives.
It’s the people who have healed themselves, built wildly successful businesses, fell in love, and achieved inner happiness and peace.
Still, to this day, over fifteen years later, people send in stories on a daily basis to Rhonda’s company about the breakthroughs they’ve had by applying this knowledge to their lives.11
I first watched The Secret in high school, around 2007. I was about 15 years old and hardly knew what I was watching, but it planted a seed in me that I had a special power within me – that I could change my thoughts and affect the outcome of my life.
Years later, I watched the movie and read the book again, and I used the knowledge to help me heal my body through the power of my own thought.
Rhonda Byrne is a life-changing force because she followed her heart and set out to empower the world with the new knowledge she had discovered.
Years later, people all around the world are still benefiting from her courage and perseverance to make a difference.
3. From a Passive Yet Righteous Lawyer to Inspiring a Country of 300 Million People to Band Together and Gain Their Independence
Mohandas was an Indian lawyer born in 1869 to a political father and a highly religious mother.
Although he was born into a religiously strict household, nonviolence, non-injury to living beings, vegetarianism, fasting for self-purification, and tolerance of other beliefs were basic tenets of Mohandas’ upbringing.
This doesn’t mean he followed them perfectly as a young boy. Like many teenagers, he rebelled, which came in the form of atheism, petty theft, smoking, and meat-eating.
He wasn’t a brilliant student either. His marks weren’t bad, but they weren’t outstanding.
So far, nothing in his life would’ve hinted at who Mohandas would grow up to become, and the impact he would have on his country and the world.
In time, Mohandas began to take his self-development into his own hands. He reconnected with his spiritual beliefs and began to model himself off some of the heroes of Hindu mythology and the values and virtues they stood for.
When it came time to decide on a career path, the young Mohandas would have preferred to have become a doctor, having nursed his dying father until the age of sixteen.12
However, he was urged to follow in his family’s footsteps and aim for high political office, which meant becoming a barrister (a type of lawyer that deals with common law).
Mohandas got an opportunity to study in England and quickly took it. Three years later, he returned to India and learned his mother had died while he was away. To make matters worse, there was an overabundance of lawyers in India, and finding work was more difficult than expected.
After a few failed attempts at finding and keeping even the most basic law jobs, Mohandas received a proposal from an Indian firm in South Africa, accepted it, and left India in 1893.
Upon landing in South Africa, he was quickly introduced to the widespread racism and discrimination present in the country and the area he was stationed.
Within just his first year, Mohandas got asked to take off his turban in a courtroom, he was physically thrown out of first class on the train, and he got beaten up for not making room for a white passenger.
Mohandas received a first-class education on what it was like to be a second-rate citizen in a racially segregated country.
And what he learned, no…what he decided, was that he wasn’t just going to stand by and take it.
He was going to do something to stand up for his innate human rights and for the rights of Indians in South Africa.
He studied how his people were treated in the country and started educating them on their rights and how they could stand up for themselves.
He made steady progress, and his fellow Indians began to appreciate him for the work he was doing.
However, it was never Mohandas’ plan to stay in South Africa. His contract with the Indian firm was only for a year, after all.
At his farewell party just before leaving, the young, righteous lawyer happened to pick up a newspaper and learned that the local government was considering a bill that would remove Indian people’s right to vote.
When he mentioned this to his peers, they expressed their lack of understanding and power to fight the bill and asked Mohandas if he could fight for them.
Mohandas, only 25 years old at the time, wasn’t the most confident lawyer yet.
Despite his desire and efforts to empower others, he had been passive for most of his life, and he suffered from stage fright when public speaking or defending a client in court.
Yet, hearing the pleas of his people to fight for their rights and basic dignity, Mohandas stepped into the role and blossomed.
He began political campaigns to build awareness of Indians’ rights, which gained recognition in India, England, and Natal (the South African province where Mohandas campaigned).
He founded the Natal Indian Congress in 1894 and became its secretary. He exposed the discrimination and prejudice against Indian people in the region.
But this didn’t come without resistance and retaliation. Shortly after returning to South Africa from a trip to India, Mohandas was attacked and almost killed by a white mob.
The colonial secretary wanted the Natal government to convict the guilty mob, but Mohandas refused to prosecute them, a sign of his ability not to stoop to the level of his oppressors.
Over the coming years, and under his leadership, Mohandas continued to fight and petition for the rights of Indians in South Africa, including nonviolent protests in Johannesburg.
Instead of giving in to oppressive laws, hundreds of Indians protested and were jailed. Thousands of Indian workers were subjected to imprisonment, flogging, and shooting.
Facing pressure from both India and Britain, the South African government finally accepted a compromise negotiated between Mohandas and General Jan Christian Smuts to protect the rights of Indians in the country.
Mohandas left South Africa for India in 1914, having landed as a lost soul looking to make a living, and left as the leader of a people who had been in desperate need of someone to fight for their dignity and basic human rights.
Although Mohandas’ work didn’t lead to lasting social justice for Indians in South Africa, it prepared him for his next (and greatest) challenge in his home country.
For the rest of his life, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (later named Mahatma Gandhi) would battle the oppressive British colonialists of India in nonviolent protest and passive resistance, gradually inspiring an entire nation of over 300 million people13 to stand up for themselves and gain their independence in 1947.14
This is the Gandhi we all know of today, dressed in poor clothing with a big, loving smile on his face.
Gandhi was a life-changing force because he made it his purpose and mission to stand up for the rights of the oppressed and to do so without stooping to the oppressors’ level of violence, hatred, and discrimination.
He was also willing to sacrifice himself to do it. That commitment, that belief in what was truly right and honorable, is what made others believe in him and their cause.
And, more importantly, it’s what made them believe in themselves.
4. From Humble Beginnings in the Virginia Mountains to the Greatest Success Book of All Time
Napoleon Hill was born into a superstitious family in the Virginia mountains – humble beginnings, to say the least.
But after a family member gifted him a typewriter, Napoleon fell in love with writing. He also became immersed and intrigued with business and set out in his early 20s to make a career for himself.
Through a chance encounter at the age of 26, Napoleon was sent to interview one of the most successful people in the world at the time, Andrew Carnegie.
During this chance meeting, Carnegie saw something in the young Napoleon and made him a proposal.
Carnegie would make the necessary introductions to some of the most successful men in America. He charged Napoleon with the task of interviewing these men, studying history’s greats in all walks of life, and creating the first complete philosophy of success ever recorded.
The catch? He must spend at least 20 years in research before publishing his findings.
For a young man from such humble beginnings, the task seemed monumental, but Napoleon took about 30 seconds to mull it over and gave his answer. A resounding “yes.”
Decades later, and while the world was still recovering from The Great Depression, Napoleon Hill published Think and Grow Rich,15 a book that has sold tens of millions of copies worldwide and became the greatest success book of all time, inspiring and empowering multiple generations to believe in themselves and put their dreams forth.
5. From Injuring His Back in a Biking Accident to Teaching People All Over the World How to Heal Themselves and Become Their Own Medicine
Dr. Joe Dispenza suffered a serious back injury during a bike race that left him in the hospital, bedridden, and unable to move.
While his doctors recommended surgery, Dr. Joe had another idea.
He refused surgery and elected to heal himself with the power of his mind. His doctors thought he was crazy, but Joe Dispenza knew more than they did about the mind-body connection and proceeded to put himself back together.
Just six weeks later, Dr. Joe walked out of the hospital on his own two feet, having succeeded in healing himself without surgery.
This set him on a mission to study the mind-body connection and learn everything he could about its healing power. He studied spontaneous healings all over the world and began working with the HeartMath Institute16 to quantify and measure the results of his findings.
Years later, Dr. Joe Dispenza17 now puts on workshops around the globe, teaching people how to heal themselves through meditation and become their own medicine.
I used one of his meditations to heal my nervous system without the aid of medical professionals, along with tendinitis that I’d had for six years.
Now I, too, know and have experienced the healing power of the mind-body connection, along with thousands of others who have healed themselves and gotten their lives back.18
6. From Russian Immigrant Traded for Wheat to Inspiring Millions of Entrepreneurs
Gary Vaynerchuk and his family were traded by Russia to the United States19 for wheat during the height of communism in the country.
An entrepreneur in his own right, Gary’s father started a liquor store in New Jersey and worked days, nights, and weekends to make it a success.
Gary rarely saw his father growing up, but he still took after him.
From an army of lemonade stands (with employees) to flipping baseball cards, little Gary Vaynerchuk was an entrepreneur from the get-go, eventually having a stash of $30,000 under his bed while only a teenager.
In his 20s, Gary took over operations of his Dad’s liquor store and grew it into a highly successful business. At the age of 30, Gary started a YouTube channel called Wine Library when YouTube and social media first arrived on the scene and rebranded the liquor store to the same name.
He grew Wine Library into an even more successful business, eventually working his way into the tech world, becoming an early investor in Twitter and Facebook and striking it big.20
With his unrelenting drive to inspire, motivate, and educate others, Gary Vaynerchuk now has a following of millions of people across his social media accounts, including entrepreneurs, athletes, and celebrities, who love his perspective on life and his brutally honest yet grounded advice on business, life, and happiness.
7. From a Potato Gun DVD to Starting a Worldwide Movement Around a Piece of Software
He has now become one of the greatest marketers of our generation, but his start was anything but glamorous.
As a broke (and married) college athlete at the dawn of internet marketing, Russell Brunson decided to test his luck with a friend and sell something on the internet to make some extra money for his new family.
His goals weren’t very high at the time, but he was excited and enthusiastic about the prospects.
Is it really possible to make money online? He was about to find out.
Russell and his friend created a DVD teaching people how to make a potato gun. They set up a basic website to sell it, bought some ads on Google, and waited to see if anyone would buy.
To their surprise, they did!
However, soon after, Google raised its ad prices and swallowed up Russell’s profit.
Discouraged, Russell talked to one of his marketing buddies and told him what happened. His friend then gave him some advice that would change his life and the lives of thousands of other entrepreneurs forever.
His friend told him to create another product and sell it right after the first one. This related product is called an upsell and would make his campaign profitable again.
Russell tried it, and it worked. He was profitable again, successfully making money online with his first sales funnel.
Over the coming years, Russell launched over 150 sales funnels in every industry under the sun, constantly refining and improving his process.
He eventually launched a software product called ClickFunnels that helps entrepreneurs set up sales funnels quickly and easily.
With his marketing genius, Russell turned ClickFunnels (a piece of software) into a global movement with a raving fanbase of “funnel hackers” using a simple slogan:
“You’re just one funnel away…”
ClickFunnels is now a 9-figure business used by thousands of entrepreneurs and businesses to bring their businesses to life and serve customers around the globe.
8. From Dating Coach to Blogger to #1 New York Times Best Seller
Mark Manson, a rebellious loner in his early years, quit his big-wig finance job after just a few weeks to become a men’s dating coach, start an online business, and travel around the world.
He bounced around from client to client, helping men get better with women and improve their dating lives, all the while writing for his personal blog, which began attracting millions of readers per month looking to improve their lives.
Mark self-published his first book, Models: Attract Women Through Honesty,21 in 2011, which quickly gained popularity in the men’s dating space and reshaped the way the industry thought about dating and seduction, helping men attract women through self-improvement and emotional connection.
With the success of Models, Mark officially became a full-time writer and continued traveling and living all over the world running a successful online business.
After years of publishing content on his blog, Mark published The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life22 with HarperOne in 2016. The book has now sold over 16 million copies and has been translated into 65 languages. The book hit #1 on the New York Times Bestseller list23 and is still in the top 10 years after its release.
People all over the world credit Mark for having changed their perspectives on life and themselves, helping them live happier, more successful lives through his counterintuitive approach to navigating life.
Mark Manson was the first person to inspire me to become a blogger and travel around the world, he’s been a life-changing force in my life for years, and he’s a big reason I’m doing what I’m doing right now.
Is a Life-Changing Force Natured or Nurtured? Can Anyone Change the World?
The nature vs nurture debate is an old one. The basic idea is this:
Is the ability to succeed something we’re born with? Or is it something that can be developed in just about anyone?
Can anyone change the world?
After over a decade studying personal development, I strongly believe that becoming a life-changing force in the world is nurtured.
Yes, I believe that just about anyone can change the world if they decide to.
I am my own test subject on this, but I’ve read too many success stories not to believe that this is something that can be nurtured, developed, and taught.
If you want to change the world, if you want to make a positive impact, I believe it is possible for you to do so.
It may take a lot of self-development to get there. It certainly has for me over the years.
But if this is your calling, if you feel called to become a life-changing force, you can do it.
The people mentioned in this article are just a few of the examples alive right now and littered throughout history, and they were all nurtured.
None of them began with much promise of success at the start, but through dogged determination, they developed their talents, overcame their obstacles, faced their demons, and fulfilled their chosen destinies.
Now, if you feel called to make a positive impact on others, let me share some insights on how you can start today to be a life-changing force in the world:
How to Be a Life-Changing Force: 10 Tips to Change Yourself and the World
From over a decade of studying personal development and learning from some of the biggest life-changing forces alive right now and in modern history, here are ten tips to help you be a life-changing force in the world:
1. You Only Need to Be One Chapter Ahead to Make a Difference
Many falsely believe they can’t help others because they aren’t far enough along in their lives yet.
They believe they need to be at the top of the game of life before they can reach back and lend a hand to others. This is how I felt sometimes when I first got started.
However, this simply isn’t true.
If you are even a little bit ahead of someone else in an aspect of life, you can lend them a hand.
You don’t have to be at the very top. You just need to be one chapter ahead, not an entire book or library.
When I was living in South East Asia, a few months before I got the Instagram message I’ll never forget, I expressed to my friend how I was feeling about sharing all of these thoughts and ideas on Instagram to help people.
I told him I was considering stopping my posts until I felt I’d reached a higher position in my life.
He immediately told me that I only needed to be one chapter ahead to help someone.
Even though I still experienced some internal conflict up until I got that message from my follower, that conversation inspired me to keep on publishing and helping people.
If I hadn’t, who knows what would have happened to her? Me continuing to post and share my truth may have been the decision that saved her life.
I only needed to be one chapter ahead to make a huge difference, and the same is true for you.
2. Step Inside the Cave You Fear to Enter and Face Your Dragon
Joseph Campbell famously said:
“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.”
Each of us is on a hero’s journey – a series of stages we go through as we grow and develop throughout our lives.
One of those stages is to step inside the cave we fear to enter and face our dragon (our fears, worries, doubts, and insecurities).
However, many people stop their own hero’s journey at this stage. They never step inside the cave. They never face their fears.
But what they don’t realize is that inside the cave they fear to enter is the treasure they’re seeking.
Their goals, their dreams, their fulfillment, their true happiness – it’s all there waiting for them.
But they need to step inside the cave and face their dragon.
They need to face their fears, worries, doubts, and perceived limitations.
To be a life-changing force in the world, you need to step inside the cave you fear to enter, you need to face your dragon, and you need to slay your fears.
Because only by doing this can you become the force the world needs you to be.
The treasure for a life-changing force is a combination of who you become by slaying your fears and the opportunity you gain to then turn around and lend a hand to others.
Yes, you will accomplish all of the worldly goals and dreams you desire, but the true treasure is the ability to serve others.
That is one of the ultimate sources of fulfillment for a life-changing force.
3. Shift Your Energy from Service to Self to Service to Others
“Service to others is the rent we pay for our room here on Earth.” – Muhammad Ali
Even if you feel like you are in a needy or scarce place in your life, a life-changing force must focus on service to others more than service to self.
If you really want to make a difference, this energy will shine through everything you do.
This mindset shift was one of the biggest epiphanies I’ve had in my life so far.
I’ve always wanted to help people. It’s always been my ultimate goal.
But I spent years with my mind predominantly focused on service to self:
How do I accomplish my goals?
How do I accomplish my dreams?
How do I get what I want?
The biggest shift in my energy happened when I changed my focus from service to self to service to others:
How do I help other people accomplish their goals?
How do I help other people accomplish their dreams?
How do I help other people get what they want?
These are “service to others” thoughts. The focus is external, and it changes your whole energy.
People can feel whether you are trying to get something from them or whether you are trying to give something to them.
For life-changing forces to get what they want, the path is to give as much as they can to others – to serve and help others to the best of their ability, whether they’re getting paid for it or not.
This is the energy a life-changing force must carry themselves with, especially if they want to be successful over the long term.
As soon as people feel like you’re trying to get more than you’re trying to give, they can sense it and many will be repelled.
However, the more people sense that you’re here to give, the more people you will attract who are ready and willing to receive what you have to offer.
So the key is to focus on what you can give, how you can help, and how you can serve in ways that you love to serve, and the rest will fall into place at the right time.
4. Be Fully You, Your Most Authentic Expression
To be a life-changing force, you cannot be someone you’re not. You cannot try to be someone else, and you cannot hide behind a mask.
All your masks will need to crumble and dissolve in order to continue progressing on your hero’s journey.
The masks must come off, and you must eventually express your most authentic self.
Because that is the self the world really needs.
The world needs you, not a fake public persona version of you.
You are already what the world needs.
People need to see and look up to authentic expressions of those they admire because of two things:
- It gives them permission to be their true selves.
- It shows them that you can succeed by being who you really are, not a masked version created just to please others.
By being your authentic self, you inspire people to be their authentic selves.
This creates a deep resonance with your audience, a deep connection that allows you to have a greater impact on them and serve them better.
You don’t have to share everything about yourself with the world, but show your vulnerability. Show who you really are.
And people will fall in love with you because you are giving them permission to put their guard down and express their uniqueness, as well.
5. Make Personal Growth and Development Who You Are at Your Core
The more you improve and develop yourself, the more you will be able to help other people improve and develop.
Fill your cup up to the point where you’re overflowing with how you can help others.
The way to fill your cup up consistently over many years is to make personal growth and development who you are at your core.
It must become a part of you. It must become a core part of your identity.
This is who you are. You are someone who is always learning, growing, and evolving because you love it.
And this means you always have more to give, to share, and to help others with, simply because you are always becoming more through your own personal growth and development.
You don’t even have to try that hard because, once again, it’s who you are.
It’s easy and natural.
Related: The No BS Guide to Improving Your Life
6. Accept Help From Others
To truly excel and reach your full potential, I believe it requires some humility.
It requires enough humility to accept that other people know more about certain things than we do, they have more experience in certain things than we do, and we could learn a lot from them if we open ourselves up to it.
All of the life-changing forces I’ve studied attribute a lot of what they’ve learned to other people. Yes, they are self-made, but that doesn’t mean they did it alone.
We are all standing on the shoulders of giants. We are all benefiting from those who came before us.
(We can also learn from those who came after us, as well.)
Someone who’s truly confident in themselves, and someone who’s truly committed to being the best version of themselves so they can serve others to the best of their ability, has the humility to accept help from others to further their growth and expansion.
7. Turn Your Mess Into Your Message
Many people get bogged down by the challenges they’ve faced in life without realizing there is gold buried within those challenges.
The gold is this:
Your mess can become a message that can change people’s lives.
Your challenges, the experiences that may have almost taken the life out of you, are the exact stories that can inspire others to face and overcome their challenges.
Turn your mess into your message. Go back through the challenges you have faced, extract the lessons from them, and then teach those lessons to others so they may learn from them as well.
Every life-changing force has been through the proverbial blender. They’ve seen some stuff. They’ve experienced things that would have crushed most people.
The difference between them and everyone else is they took those experiences and turned them into something positive and empowering.
They learned from them and used them as stepping stones to greater success and positive impact.
And you can do the exact same thing.
There is gold buried in your life story that can make all the difference to someone else at the right time on their journey.
I will always remember this quote from Russell Brunson: “The impact that the right message can have on someone at the right time in their life is immeasurable.”
Your message, from the mess you have experienced, can change someone’s life.
What a tragedy it would be if you kept it locked up inside of you.
Set your life experiences and lessons free, and watch them change the world.
“Set your life experiences and lessons free, and watch them change the world.”
8. Always Be Thirsty for Knowledge and Wisdom
A life-changing force is a life-long learner.
They say leaders are readers. You don’t have to be a reader, but knowledge and wisdom act as fuel that ignites inner and outer change.
Stay thirsty for knowledge. Stay hungry for wisdom. Never stop learning.
This one habit will fuel your growth until the end of your days.
And as you continue to grow and learn, you’ll become a stronger and stronger force for change in the world.
9. Embrace Your Shadow
There is no need to pretend like you are the most perfect angel on the planet who has never made a mistake and never will.
No life-changing force I’ve learned from has lived a mistake-free life.
In fact, it is this exact reason that has turned them into who they are today or who they were in history. They made mistakes, they learned from them, and they became better because of them.
Embrace your shadow side. Don’t avoid it.
You’ll do more for others by owning your shadow than by pretending like it’s not there, because we all have it.
Most of us have important shadow work to do in order to better ourselves and grow, and it can be some of the most transformative and enlightening personal development we go through.
Our shadow side is not our “bad” side. To call it bad is to give it a moral human judgment.
When, at the end of the day, it’s just energy. It’s energy we have the opportunity to work through and learn from, just like anything else.
The more you embrace your shadow and learn from it, the more you’ll be able to help other people embrace their shadows and learn from them.
10. Be a Catalyst for Other People’s Transformation
If there was one definitive way to describe a life-changing force, I’d describe it this way:
A life-changing force is a catalyst for other people’s transformation.
In chemistry, a catalyst is a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction. It increases the rate of change.
It’s also a person or thing that causes an event to happen.
As a catalyst for change, you are the force that ignites a tremendous shift in others. You are the catalyst for other people’s transformation.
People can easily see the difference between the time before you entered their lives and the time afterward. That’s the type of impact you can make on people.
To be a catalyst for other people’s transformation, all you need to do is continue to be your own catalyst for your own transformation and maintain a consistent intention, drive, and desire to help others.
That’s it. The rest will come to you.
The people will come to you, and you will go to them. The knowledge and resources you need will come to you. You will develop the skills you need. Your intuitive abilities will increase over time.
And you will become a magnet for people who are ready to transform their lives, even if they aren’t aware of it themselves yet.
You will be a walking, talking, breathing, life-changing force.
And it’s one of the most amazing experiences you will ever have.
Don’t Delay In Living Your Truth, You Are Always Ready
There are two ways to think about this:
- You are always ready.
- You are never ready.
Either way, don’t delay. Get on it. Start living your truth now.
Few of us ever feel truly “ready” to do the thing we most want to do in life. All of us must break through barriers and do what we want to do despite not feeling totally ready yet.
Here’s a hint to help you do this:
You will get ready by doing it.
You will learn everything you need to learn along the way. You don’t need to be fully prepared for anything.
All you need to do is take the leap of faith and start living your truth.
The rest will come to you when you need it.
Now, go forth, and be the life-changing force the world wants and needs you to be.
Don’t delay.
You are always ready.
Related: Don’t Be Realistic
Summary
- You never know the impact you can make on someone just by being your true self and expressing what you have inside.
- If it helps one person, it’s worth it.
- A life-changing force is someone who over-indexes on the positive impact they make on people’s lives.
- Helping people and making a positive impact on people’s lives is one of the truest expressions of who a life-changing force is.
- A life-changing force makes a positive impact with a deep and authentic drive to answer the call from within and serve others to the best of their ability in whatever way they feel called to do it.
- These people end up becoming some of the most life-changing and world-changing figures in our history.
- Becoming a life-changing force in the world is something that can be nurtured, developed, and taught.
- If you want to change the world, if you want to make a positive impact, I believe it is possible for you to do so.
- Set your life experiences and lessons free, and watch them change the world.
- Few of us ever feel truly “ready” to do the thing we most want to do in life, so don’t delay. Start living your truth now.
Footnotes
- Jay Shetty
- About Tony Robbins
- Tony Robbins started out as a broke janitor — then he saved a week’s worth of pay, and the way he spent it changed his life – Business Insider
- Biography – Jim Rohn
- My Humble Beginnings Before The Secret – London Real
- The Rhonda Bryne Story of Sucess – The Strive
- Rhonda Byrne Biography – The Secret
- The Science of Getting Rich – Amazon
- Shaking Riches Out of the Cosmos – The New York Times
- HarperCollins
- Stories – The Secret
- My Father’s Death And My Double Shame – mkgandhi.org
- India demographic trends – Britannica
- Mahatma Gandhi – Britannica
- Think and Grow Rich – Amazon
- HeartMath Institute
- drjoedispenza.com
- Stories of Transformation – Dr. Joe Dispenza
- Gary Vaynerchuk on His Family Being Traded for Wheat
- HOW MUCH MONEY I MADE DURING MY TWENTIES!!! – Gary Vaynerchuk
- Mark Mason – Models
- Mark Manson – The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life
- New York Times Bestseller list – Advice, How-To & Miscellaneous