The word impact can be intimidating. We often envision the individual creating a foundation, financing an enormous project, or spearheading a movement, transforming the world. However, impact can appear quite different when it happens close to home, to your own community.

Not all impact is loud

Consider exemplary individuals in your community who do little things to improve things. Perhaps it is the educator who remains after school to assist students who are in need. Maybe it is the neighbor who stops by to visit older citizens during the winter. Karen McLeave, Toronto, is proof that impact doesn’t have to bring the headlines, but it transforms lives.

So there is the first fact about impact: impact does not need to be loud or visible to exist; what you do counts, no matter how small. It has ripple effects. You may not necessarily realize them. One little compliment, one open ear, or an added effort can change an entire attitude a person has toward themselves, and the society they live in.

It is a feeling

Ask yourself how you can make an impact, and you might be thinking of doing something flashy. However, impact is not about perfection or knowing it all. It is about connection. Individuals will recall how you made them feel more than what you did on paper.

Have you ever taken a turn to carry groceries to your neighbor, or sat with a friend when he or she needed you to listen? You have a positive impact on someone. It is these experiences that create trust, and trust holds the key to any good community.

It empowers

The other bit of impact that we usually miss is the distinction between assisting and empowering. It may be tempting to play savior and do the fixing on behalf of others. However, that impact is real and lasting when it can open space where people can shape their own futures.

This may be:

• Mentoring someone to gain the confidence they need.
• Supporting a local business to help it flourish.
• Showing up so that other people will know that they are not on their own.

Positive influence makes people more powerful than they ever were before, and does not make them rely dependently on you.

It’s the small changes

You don’t have to wait until there is an appropriate moment to make a difference. Use what you have got. Your talents, your time, your empathy. That is influential.

Perhaps you are an organizer and can assist with a food drive. Perhaps you enjoy reading and are willing to read to children at the library. Maybe you just have an inclination to always be friendly with people you meet. These tiny changes can be summed up, and together, they form a society where individuals are noticed, appreciated, and supported.

Summing up

Impact leaves something better than you found it. It does not count the number of those who know your name, but the number of those who feel your care. It is about how your actions ignite change, hope, or resilience in the lives around you. Whether large or small.