Solve it For Yourself, Solve it For The World
If I were to tell you that there are a lot of things wrong with the world, you probably would agree with me. But if I were to tell you that some of them are your fault, you probably wouldn’t.
Why do I say they’re your fault? Simply because of all the problems in the world, there’s at least a small amount that you could solve. Therefore, all of those problems are partially your fault, just for not solving them. I’m saying this in an humorous way, of course, but it’s still true. If the wright brothers would have chosen to focus all their efforts on their bicycle business, which was going great, they would have never invented the plane.
I’m not saying this to demoralize you, rather the opposite, I hope to motivate you to change what’s bothering you about the world. Whether you realize it or not, you’re probably really good at certain things and are making the world a disservice by not using those talents.
And the easiest way to change the world is by looking for things that bother you, things that just aren’t quite right to you. Once you start seeing each problem as an opportunity for improvement, the world suddenly becomes full of opportunities.
How Dropbox Got Invented
Do you know why Drew Houston invented Dropbox? This is what he said in an interview:
“I needed it badly. I worked on multiple desktops and a laptop, and could never remember to keep my USB drive with me. […] Nothing just worked, so I started hacking something together for myself and then realized it could solve these problems for a lot of other people.”
It’s a complete shift in mentality: instead of thinking “why hasn’t anyone solved this yet?”, think: “what can I do to solve it?”. Don’t like something about the world? Change it. Every minute you spend complaining about something is a minute you're not working towards improving it.
Why Should I Care About Improving The World?
There are many good reasons to improve the world, but I can’t think of a better one than the fact that it will make you happy.
“It is in giving that we receive” — Francis of Assisi
It’s really an interesting paradox: those who try too hard to increase solely their own happiness end up miserable (think of all those rock/pop/movie stars that die of overdose) while those who try to help others find an amazing gratification.
I’m not saying this from a purely spiritual point of view, there are biological reasons that make this happen: we humans evolved in an environment where our survival depended on the survival of the whole tribe. So those tribes whose members were able to help each other were more likely to survive than those composed of more selfish individuals. As a result, big part of our happiness depends on our capacity to be helpful to others: we’re just programmed to feel this way.
“[…] you’ll often do more for the people you love than you will do for yourself. The reason […] is that humans have an intrinsic need to contribute beyond themselves.” –Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life
If you don’t believe me, think of all those millionaires-turned-philanthropists, like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg (just to name a few). Why do they donate huge percentages of their wealth to charity? They just got to a point in their lives where they realized that what kept them motivated wasn’t a number in their bank account, it was making a difference.
And even if you don’t care about anyone else’s problem, even if you focus entirely on solving your own problems, there’s still a good chance that the solutions you discover may benefit someone else (just like it happened with Drew Houston). All you have to do is think of what you want, what’s bothering you; I’m sure you can think of many such things.
The cool thing is, there’s probably thousands of people with the exact same problem. So once you solve any of your problems, making an impact becomes as simple as sharing (or selling) your solution.
What You Can Do About It
Are you convinced that creating value for the world is a goal worth pursing? If so, here are a few things you can try to get you started:
Change Your Mindset
I recently became a father for the first time. This meant that for about 5 months my wife was pregnant in a way that was quite conspicuous. When this happened I suddenly started noticing pregnant women wherever I went. It wasn’t that they weren’t there before, it was just that my mindset had changed: I suddenly cared enough about pregnancy to notice, because I was emotionally attached to it.
The reason I’m telling you this is that you should try to apply the same principle to the way you face problems: changing your mindset.
The next time something’s amiss, something bothers you about the world, instead of complaining about it, look for creative ways to solve it.
After a while, you’ll learn to associate the feeling that something’s wrong with the urge to find solutions. You’ll start noticing ways to improve the world all around you, just like I started noticing pregnant women. They were always there, but we were just too blind to see them.
Think Big, But Start Small
We usually associate the phrase “change the world” with huge changes like the invention of the light bulb or the airplane (my bad for mentioning the Wright Brothers earlier). This is to be expected, since big inventions tend to pop in our minds faster than smaller ones: they’re just more memorable.
But this doesn’t mean small contributions aren’t important. Actually, the things that are most valuable to you are probably as valuable to only a small group of people; they’re just not for everyone.
You’ll probably be more successful by building something only few people use, but absolutely love, than trying to build something that the whole world will supposedly use (specially if it’s something most of them will merely like).
And if you really care about making a world wide contribution, which is perfectly valid, consider that most things that are huge today started small, and then grew up as time went by. Facebook was originally designed for Harvard students, not for 20% of the world.
So if even if you want to be big, starting small is the natural way to go. It will allow you build up some momentum, figure things out, and set you up for bigger challenges in the future.
Improve Yourself and You’ll Improve the World
“As you grow, something amazing tends to happen: you have more of yourself to give. It’s an incredible cycle: the more you grow, the more you can help others grow; and the more you help others grow, the more you grow in return.” –Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life
One easy way of changing the world is to start by yourself: you are part of this world, after all. There are many different ways of improving what you don’t like about the way you are; I have written a couple of times about some of them.
I’ve yet to encounter an easier way of changing the world than changing myself; it’s a lot simpler because there are a lot less variables to consider in the process. Specifically, there’s just one human mind involved.
Also, nobody understands your personal problems and limitations better than yourself, so nobody is more suited to solve them. The good part is, there’s probably other people with the exact same problems. So once you’ve figured out exactly how to improve that thing about yourself that’s bothering you, you’ll have something really valuable for that people, something which you can then share with them.
In the end, it all boils down to two simple questions: What’s bothering me? and What can I do about it? Learn to ask those questions, and to act upon whatever answers you might find, and you’ll be taking the first steps towards making a better world.
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