Sometimes Playing Small is the Biggest Thing You Can Do
Sometimes I dream up a new business, juicy idea, or audacious goal, and then I check the news and see the suffering in the world and lose my motivation to build, as all of my thoughts go straight to: Repair. Fix. Change.
Can you relate?
I just got off the phone with my author, Jon Marro. We were talking about the intensity of the fires, hurricanes, and that the president of our country is threatening nuclear war.
It’s real, it’s scary, and we cannot become paralyzed by it—we need to activate.
If I’m going to be honest, I’ve been thinking more about climate change than creating new businesses. Although I am working on a new business centered around supporting the original Gypsies of India, and I’m formulating a new publishing model…I often wonder if any of it is enough?
Are you in the same boat?
Are you feeling small in the face of such enormous problems?
I remember happening upon a clear cut forest as a child in Idaho—just beyond the road, everything was clean shaven and bare. I stopped and stared, my heart sinking and my mind wondering how on earth I could control any of it. The forces are so much bigger than us. The greed, the wounded male ego with its voracious need for power and energy, the silenced women who have been kept quiet by fear.
There is one thing I keep hearing in my heart, and that is:
“Playing small is sometimes the biggest thing you can do.”
Playing small? Doesn’t that go against everything we believe in as entrepreneurs, coaches, writers, and overall badasses? We want to save and change the world, not shrink from it!
But when clarity arrives, it’s not small, it’s infinite. Paring down. Cutting away noise. Pruning thoughts of despair and shifting to possibility in the face of natural disasters is all we can do. We must take a trusting step toward the unknown.
We do what is right in front of us. The right thing that is right in front of us.
What’s in front of us now?
Lending a prayer. Holding a thought. Being mindful with resources. Inviting love back in. Planning that next business as a social enterprise. Loving that child. Holding that space.
Dancing. Forming. Rebuilding. Learning. Being of Beginner’s Mind as we redefine and recreate our world.
I’ve been moved by watching the rescuers, hearing the stories of hope, and experiencing generosity. Have you felt the love? People piling into cars to go help. Communities opening their arms to strangers. Choirs still singing of God’s grace. It’s been remarkable love. Not the kind of big love at first sight love, but the granular love. The love, in detail.
And so the quote that parked itself in my head: “Playing small is the biggest thing you can do” makes sense.
It’s the small acts that pile up. It’s the consistent ones that create a movement. It’s the diamond making its way into the sun.
We are all capable of starting the new business, writing the new book, creating the new product, and finding the right hire.
Should our actions take into consideration the state of our delicate world?
Yes, and as we are starting the next project or building the business we should ask ourselves:
How will this serve the planet?
How will this uplift people?
How will this inspire the souls of others?
Will this produce more hope, love, positivity, kindness?
Through that lens, we continue to build. We rekindle inspired acts of service. We help rebuild someone’s life through our small, daily endeavors.
So, as I move through the days where much is unstable: Refugees, wars, climate change, fires, earthquakes, hurricanes, I see that this time in our world is where civilization has a choice. Build things that matter, deeply matter, or let it go.
This is the time of diamond making. The pressure we are feeling in our world is the birth of a new us. Asking the small daily questions will provide the big next answer. Doing the small kind act will lead to the next big change.
Playing small, going granular, that takes big courage. What small, deliberate, kind next action can you take? What tiny goodness can you consistently offer others today? Share with me what small actions you are taking below, I can’t wait to hear how you are changing the world.
Here’s to Playing Small, in the Biggest Way,
