Huge Ambitions, Tiny Impact

Life is short and we only live once.

At the scale of the human world, the significance of one individual is minimal.

At the scale of human history, the impact of an average individual is insignificant.

At the scale of the history of the planet earth, it’s almost non-existant.

And when compared to the infinity of time and space I am nothing.

At that scale, my life is nothing and my existence is meaningless.

But at a more human scale, I can, if I choose, have a tiny impact.

And impact is what gives me meaning.

The purpose of this blog is to document my journey in the pursue of positive impact in an attempt to give meaning to my insignificant life during this tiny bit of time on this tiny bit of space.

I feel that impact will be my way of leaving a legacy.

In a few months, I will have reached a pretty unique goal. Something that very few people actually manage to pull off.

Me and my wife will become financially free, or financially independent. This means that we will not need to work to cover our costs of living.

From that point onward, the way we spend our time will not be linked to the amount of money it brings us. Or at least we hope it will be less connected.

Ever since I have known it was just a matter of time until we reached that stage, I have been thinking about what I would do next. I have a strong drive to do good. I am normally driven by passion. I want to have a positive impact.

“With great power comes great responsibility.” This is a quote from Spiderman that stuck with me.  This situation gives me great power. The power to choose what I spend my time on. the power to choose what project to work on, regardless of getting compensated for it. This has triggered a big question in me: what is the best use of my time in that case?

In this blog, I would like to explore questions related to having the biggest positive impact possible:

  • How should I prioritize the things I can spend time on?
  • Where can I make the biggest impact?
  • What are the highest priority issues that need attention? What is the one priority issue that I will work on?
  • What are the most important causes? What is the one cause that I will focus on?
  • What competences do I have that I can leverage to have a bigger impact?
  • How does the equation change when all this time becomes available?
  • How to set myself up to best take advantage of this opportunity?
  • Should I jump right into something?
  • Should I analyse all possibilities?
  • Should I take the time to learn a new skill and develop a new career?

I also would like to explore ways people can unlock their potential to be able to have a positive impact. From my perspective this involves:

  1. Establishing a solid financial foundation
  2. Cultivating a healthy body
  3. Understanding and nurturing the mind and emotions

This a pretty ambitious list and I have no doubt it will change, but at least I hope it will give me some direction.

Welcome to Impactivated!

Sebastien Written by:

Founder at Impactivated.com Founder at SimplyFI.org (UAE chapter of ChooseFI and Bogleheads) Aspiring Effective Altruist Former manager in energy management consulting

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