38. You are impacting someone’s life

I met up with a junior from high school in SF last year. I have not seen him for five years and I got very impressed by the kind of man of great caliber he has become. He was doing a research for Standford, won a Hackathon for Mastercard and helped out for TechCrunch.

What really surprised me was I was one of his main reason for his success. He revealed that he has looked up to me for a while. He stumbled upon my LinkedIn profile and seeing my achievements propelled him to achieve a lot for himself.

I was pretty dumbfounded to hear that. I never knew a mediocre person like me could inspire and make a positive influence in someone else’s life.

On these days amidst the success porn, it’s easy to feel small. To think that you are not worth any good. But from that day onward, I learned that no matter how insignificant you feel, you mean something to someone. You might not notice it but people around us are drawing energy and inspiration from you. It could be your closest friends, parents or even acquaintances.

So do not take your existence lightly. Do not slack off and procrastinate because you think what you do doesn’t matter. People are following what you say and do. Do not let these people down.

P.S. I want to genuinely thank my friend for saying that to me. I think it takes some courage and pride to come to someone and said he’s inspired you. It has inspired me to do more and better for myself, and for the more people I could inspire through my actions. Thank you.