We tend to get caught in extremes.

It’s easier to categorize things that way. It’s easier to say that something is either simply good or bad then to come up with a complicated descriptive term that allows for it to be a little bit of both.

Our natural reaction when something doesn’t work also has a tendency towards extremes. We react to failure by swinging the pendulum in the complete opposite direction.

There are a lot of people (including me) who find themselves in this trap when it comes to how much impact they can have on the world. I find myself swinging back and forth at times between feeling like I can change the world and feeling like I can’t change anything.

But as a wise friend pointed out to me this morning, there is something in the middle.

In between doing nothing and changing the entire world, there is a lot that can be done.

Maybe I can’t change the entire world, but I can make one person’s life better.

It’s a simple thought and certainly not a new one, but it’s something that seems incredibly easy to forget as we all strive to add value to the world.