You can have both. You can do both. But understand the impact and outcomes.
A specific… kindness is easy. A quick choice.
The impact is small. The outcome is small. Both expected.
But the blowback could be big.
I use the phrase “no good deed goes unpunished” a lot.
Kindness at arm’s length tends to avoid this. Kindness one-on-one tends not to.
Why? We don’t know the other person’s intent. We’re guessing. In the moment. Why not? It’s just a small thing to be kind, right?
Alternatively, creating meaningful change is hard. A more difficult choice.
But once made, the journey is almost with it.
The impact could be big. The outcome could be big. Heck, even a failure could be big.
But it is worth doing.
Not because it is easy, but specifically because it is hard.
The trick is to understand when you are being kind and when you are doing meaningful work, and make each decision understanding the potential impact and outcome.
Particularly difficult if you’ve never done the thing before.
Consider that maybe the kind thing to do in the moment may take you further away from the meaningful change you seek to make.
Your turn.
Now go spark that revolution.