During his father’s final days, a DoorDash driver stepped out of her car at the hospital and handed Scott Curran and his brother their food. She had no idea why they were there, yet in that moment, she offered them kind, comforting words. Years later, Scott still gets choked up telling the story.
I think about that moment because so many of us feel disillusioned right now. The problems facing our world seem too big, and it’s easy to feel like nothing we do matters or will make an impact.
As I shared in my September newsletter, I’ve felt this way myself lately. It’s why I’ve been seeking inspiration for how to move forward in what I now frame as our imperfect world—where there’s a lot of good that carries us forward and, at the same time, forces that pull us back.
Below in the Conscious Ambition Tips, I share lessons from different sources that are staying with me about how social change really happens. The good news is that contributing to movements and progress is more within our reach than we may realize. The realistic news is that big change is rarely immediate and can even take multiple generations to shift.
One of the lessons that has stuck comes from my latest podcast guest, Scott Curran, who I mention above. Scott is a social impact lawyer, former general counsel of the Clinton Foundation, and author of the new book “Better Good: A Simple System for Creating Lasting Impact.”
Scott believes we’re already doing more good than we realize, and that we can do even more with what we have right now, even in small moments, just like that DoorDash driver. We shouldn’t wait to have more resources or the perfect moment. As he said in our interview:
“I believe with every fiber of my being that momentum begets momentum… If we wait for some other set of circumstances or some other resources, we wait too long. But if we take action today, where we are, who we are, with what we have… we will do better tomorrow as a result.”
I keep coming back to this: you can’t do better good waiting for the future, but you can do it in this moment.
In our conversation Scott also shares:
Why we’re wired for good, and how doing good is the antidote to feeling bad
Why making an impact doesn’t necessarily require more time, money, or resources
His simple framework for seeing everything you already bring: profile, platform, passion, time, talent, treasure
How to keep doing good without burning out
🎧 You can listen here.
As we enter the holiday season, we’ll all have more chances to make a difference. Ask yourself: What could “better good” look like in this moment for me?
Here’s to doing better good, right where we are.
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Sustainable Ambition offers a strategic approach for pursuing our professional and personal goals in a way that is motivating, meaningful, and manageable from stage to stage, rather than be all consuming in a way that compromises other important aspects of our lives or sacrifices our well-being.