A Real-Life Lesson: From Struggle to Impact
FROM feeling useless
Three years ago, I was exhausted. Every day I would rush from one person to another, trying to meet one person’s expectations after another. I was desperately trying to make a positive impact on the company, society, and the environment, but I didn’t always see the connection between my day-to-day efforts and my mission. I felt overwhelmed and useless.
I was eager to make a difference without really knowing how to go about it. The challenges facing our planet and society are so immense and complex. I thought I lacked the skills and credibility to turn my ideas into effective action. I felt like a little mouse in an endless tunnel, surrounded by too much turmoil and danger.
This situation was gradually eroding my self-confidence and affecting other areas of my life. Everything was falling apart, and I knew that if I didn't change, I'd lose it all.
via INNER TRANSFORMATION
So I started to take a step back and refocused my attention. I took time to strengthen my connections with the people I cared about and made cultural and intellectual discoveries. I established a routine to nourish my mind, body, and spirit.
I (finally) accepted that the pursuit of perfection is an illusion. Change Management and Sustainability are such vast, fundamental, urgent, complex, ever-evolving, and crucial topics these days that it’s easy to lose oneself while trying to make meaningful contributions—and easy to feel like an imposter.
On a personal level, I decided that if I can’t win the battle against plastic packaging in Japan, I could reduce my impact by using my own bottle and grocery bag, making my own toothpaste and laundry detergent, using a bioplastic toothbrush, and so on.
At work, I strengthened the connection between my purpose and my actions. I explored my personal and professional journey, how those experiences shaped me, and why they influenced my behavior. I defined my dreams and hopes, as well as the values and talents needed to achieve them. I am now confident that—if pushing ourselves is essential for growth—we can leverage our unique strengths, experiences, and passions rather than fixating on our weaknesses. This is why I began to believe in my creativity, my vision, and my leadership to achieve what I am striving for.
TOWARDS IMPACT
Now, I am happily leading a multicultural team of changemakers. Together , we act as catalysts for change. We strive to disrupt the business in a way that benefits both society and the planet.
We have worked to fully embrace our company’s purpose and to clarify our department’s mission in that regard. Most importantly, as we assessed our department’s mission, we evaluated how well it aligned with our individual purposes, and how that alignment would help us use our innate talents to maximize our contribution. The recipe for success? Build a collective strategy that brings all those elements together in an interconnected and meaningful way.
Spoiler alert. I’m not saying that our vision is set in stone, that our impact is a given, or that everything runs smoothly. We know that achieving this ambition is an ongoing process that requires commitment and the collective effort of every stakeholder. What’s different now is that we have complete clarity on what we’re aiming for, how we want to work, and how we’ll engage people to make our shared purpose a reality.
One way to act as a catalyst for change was to organize creative business workshops. One way to act as a catalyst for change is to organize creative business workshops. Every year, we bring together people from across Asia and diverse backgrounds to work on a single operational project. We take the time to learn from business units’ approaches to sustainable development, as well as new corporate tools and insights. Most importantly, we spend time gaining insight into the day-to-day lives of site operators and help them overcome their specific challenges through collective brainstorming. Throughout the year, our sustainability team then follows up with the site to implement the plans that emerged from these broad, innovative, and in-depth exchanges. In doing so, we have supported some sites in expanding a wetland, building an educational center, or even rethinking their carbon footprint analysis.
TIME TO SAVE YOUR ENERGY
Being aligned with our higher purpose helps us make a positive impact and inspire others to act in ways that reflect their own approaches and capabilities.
That is why I have made it my mission to support aspiring changemakers— who work in organizations just like mine—to strive for meaningful impact. By doing so, they feel true to themselves and useful to the society and/or the environment in which they live. I empower them by sharing my experience, strategy planning tools, deep inner work, coaching, and visualization techniques.
If you're curious and interested in this kind of support, feel free to reach out!
If you find all this information compelling but aren't yet sure what specific steps to take, sign up for the newsletter to receive new articles that will hopefully help you refine your ideas!
Meanwhile, in case you're wondering:
Your PURPOSE is the reason you wake up every day. It is the driving force and magical inner power that motivates you to achieve things in life. When you explore your deep purpose, you answer questions such as WHO, WHY, and FOR WHOM.
IMPACT refers to the force with which one thing influences another. An impactful action has a significant or major effect—whether positive or negative—on an audience or a project. It addresses the WHAT, HOW, and WHEN of a plan.
AIMING for an impact that is meaningful to you is the key to a fulfilling success.
To wrap up, let me ask you:
Before reading this, why do you wake up in the morning?
And now, why do you want to wake up in the morning? ;)
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Feel free to share how this article resonates with you—I’d love to hear from you. Also, if you’d like help finding (or refining) your purpose and increasing your impact on society and the planet through your professional activities, feel free to contact me using this form (English / French)
