Looking for Littlest Bits

Many coaches, virtual assistants and small business owners want to make a difference in the world in addition to making a living. This is a noble goal, but without some specific planning it is often only an unfulfilled wish.

I propose that making a significant difference in the well-being of people and the planet does not take a fantastic stroke of luck or herculean efforts. Rather, it can be done by taking a minimalist approach to change. The same principle applies to more mundane goals, such as getting more clients, making more money, and working fewer hours so you can spend your time on other activities.

How, then, do you begin? You start by asking yourself “What is the smallest action I can take that will make a difference in the world?” Come up with a list of fifty or a hundred of these tiny actions, what I call littlest bits.

Then start looking for opportunities to do them.

Not all of them. Not all at once. Not necessarily even every day. But just open your eyes to possibilities. There will be far more of them than you ever realized before.

Why, you may ask, is looking for the littlest bit better than looking for a way to make a big difference in the world? You can do that, too, certainly, if you want. But let me ask you a question: How has that been working for you? How many times have those big opportunities come your way? And did you act on them?

Let’s take as a case in point the recent earthquake in Haiti, that is still causing a lot of suffering for the people of this poor island nation. The hearts of the world have opened up to help. Some individuals have sent whole cargo planes full of food, water and medical supplies to Haiti. Others have left their homes and jobs to join search and rescue teams. More is still need, since whole communities still need basic supplies, and the search and rescue efforts are ongoing. There are still reports of finding people alive in the rubble a week later. All this is wonderful, and I am thankful these people are responding in this way.

But do you have the resources or training to send over a whole plane-load of supplies or join a search and rescue team? Probably not. Is your only other option to do nothing?

Of course not. Former President Bill Clinton said in a TV news interview three days after the earthquake that over $4,000,000 had been raised for the relief effort through the Clinton Foundation Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund, mostly in donations of less than $100 each. I have no idea what the total is now, but I am sure it is several times that.

Multiply that by all the $5, $10, $25, $50 and $100 donations to the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and scores of other charities, and you see that the littlest bits of lots of individuals add up to a whole lot!

This illustrates how littlest bits have a way of multiplying. For a long time I have been sick f the litter lining the streets in my neighborhood. Until recently I was content merely not to add to the problem by being careful to throw my fast food drunk cups, French fries boxes, candy bar wrappers and soft drink cans in trash receptacles. That’s good, but I decided I could do more. So I started picking up wrappers and cans near trash cans. This was easy, and it was a littlest bit.

Last week I took a plastic grocery bag and picked up all the litter on my street, on both sides of the road. it took about half an hour.

For the past several weeks I have seen some old wet, warped furniture lying in a ditch inf front of a house where the tenants had been evicted. It was apparent the city was not going to pick up this debris unless it was placed on the side of the road where the trash collectors could reach it. And it was also clear that no one was going to take the responsibility to put it there. So this morning I walked the couple of blocks to the place and picked up the furniture. A neighbor waling his dog came along and cheerfully offered to helped me pick up a large entertainment center I couldn’t move by myself.

The trash collectors hauled away the old furniture and the other trash I picked up on that street about an hour later (today is their regular day for trash pickup).

So far no one has thanked me for this or gave me any recognition, and that’s not why I’m doing it. But I trust that sooner or later people are going to notice, and my neighbor who volunteered to help me is proo9f that it is already happening. I hope it will set a precedent and that people will pick up the litter from in front of their houses more and more.

I also had another idea. Maybe I will approach the neighborhood association that was formed about a year ago to sponsor a cleanup day, so that the whole neighborhood can get a face lift. Sure, it will have to be done again, and again, and again–litter is a never-ending problem. But having a cleaner, nicer neighborhood for even a few days is a good thing and it could lead to permanent change.

I challenge you to start by making your list of the littlest bits you can do to make a difference in the world. Shares some of them in a comment. I’d love to see ‘em!