You’ll Meet 10,000 People in Your Lifetime
So how will you impact them?
In his 2014 commencement address to the graduates of the University of Texas at Austin, Admiral William H. McRaven said this:
“Tonight there are almost 8,000 students graduating from UT. That great paragon of analytical rigor, Ask.Com, says that the average American will meet 10,000 people in their lifetime. That’s a lot of folks. But, if every one of you changed the lives of just 10 people — and each one of those folks changed the lives of another 10 people — just 10 — then in five generations — 125 years — the class of 2014 will have changed the lives of 800 million people.”
Recently, McRaven’s quote has stuck with me.
We will each meet 10,000 people in our lives. And McRaven is right — that is a lot of people.
But out of those 10,000 people, how many will we actually impact? How many will we have meaningful relationships with? 10 people, as McRaven suggested? Or, if we’re especially outgoing, maybe 25 people?
It’s odd to think that out of such a large number of people we can only impact a handful. 10 out of 10,000 is .1% — that certainly doesn’t seem very impressive. Couldn’t we change more lives if we really tried?
