#SocialGood #ChangeTheWorld #MakingADifference #YouthActivism #GlobalImpact
Are you a young individual with a burning desire to make a positive impact on the world but feeling lost on where to start? As a 16-year-old student, the urge to contribute to society in a meaningful way can be overwhelming yet exciting. You are not alone in your aspirations – many young people like you are seeking ways to create a better world for all. Here are some practical solutions to help you navigate your path towards impactful change.
1. Identify Your Passion
- Reflect on what moves you: What issues or causes do you feel strongly about?
- Consider your strengths and skills: How can you leverage your talents to make a difference?
- Research various fields: Explore different industries and sectors to find your passion.
2. Educate Yourself
- Stay informed: Follow reputable news sources and organizations related to your interests.
- Seek mentorship: Connect with professionals, activists, or experts in your chosen field.
- Consider volunteering: Hands-on experience can provide valuable insight and perspective.
3. Take Action
- Start small: Make a difference in your local community through volunteer work or fundraising.
- Join youth organizations: Collaborate with like-minded individuals to amplify your impact.
- Utilize social media: Raise awareness about important causes and inspire others to take action.
4. Set Long-Term Goals
- Create a vision board: Visualize your ideal future and set clear objectives to work towards.
- Network with professionals: Build connections that can help you achieve your goals and expand your reach.
- Stay resilient: Embrace challenges as opportunities for growth and learn from setbacks.
Inspiring Examples
Take inspiration from young changemakers like Malala Yousafzai, Greta Thunberg, and Jack Andraka who have made significant contributions to society at a young age. Their dedication and perseverance show that age is not a barrier to creating meaningful change.
Remember, the journey to making a positive impact on the world is a marathon, not a sprint. Stay passionate, stay dedicated, and stay true to yourself. By taking small steps every day, you are already making a difference. Your commitment to change will inspire others to join you on this transformative journey. Together, we can create a world where kindness, empathy, and compassion reign supreme. You have the power to change the world – what will you do with it?
First you need to have a positive mind that sees a doctor or a software engineer as not ordinary people but people who bring a lot of positive impact to the world
Start a non-profit?
Be a teacher it’s that simple
Awesome entrepreneur that makes a real difference with their products and business practices.
I love this question.
I would think small at first. Find a problem you see in the world or in your community and try to get involved to make a positive impact. Volunteering would be a great way to start making a difference now and learning about the types of work you like and don’t like. See if there are opportunities that are manageable and fit in with your schoolwork and other responsibilities and activities.
Also, just talk to people about your desire to make a positive impact in your work. Your teachers, your parents, adults you admire, people in the public eye who you think are making a positive difference. Even your friends or people at school you think exemplify positive impact.
Ask these people about what they do everyday, why they do it, and what they did to get there. And be patient with yourself, these things take time 🙂
Man fuck that, the world is fucked. Find a good girl and start a family. Create a life for THEM. You wanna make a difference then volunteer.
Waiting for his villain arc when he realizes the truth.
As someone who has spent the last decade in non-profits and local politics, the advice I have is two fold:
1. Find a skill you enjoy and are good at. For me, it is writing/comms. Skills are universal and can work in any industry. This is what gets you paid.
2. There are so many ways to make a positive impact – find what you want to work on. Over my career I’ve worked on political campaigns, youth engagement, and now I’m focused on abortion access.
Because I am good at my skill, I can find my place in any space I want and it’s given me the flexibility to move between industries when I need to make more money and when I don’t.
Good luck!
Oh good lord. I swear weekly there is a teen writing this in different ways. Must be just part of development.
What are you currently doing that suggests in say 10 years you personally are going to change the world or impact 100s of thousands?
If you can not think of anything that sets you apart from your peers on a day to day basis, it’s a fantasy.
You could go into medical research and try and develop a new vaccine. I remember there being a cool project where they tried to find dollar for dollar, what type of charity has the most positive effect per dollar: vaccinations won out BIG time.
Sell your kidneys.
I had the same mindset when I was your age, this mindset is just toxic.. all you need to do in your life is to have a positive impact on yourself first then the people around you EVEN IN THE SMALLEST DETAILS it doesn’t have to be something unbelievably amazing
Ah, to be young….
Find something you are good at then look for opportunities to apply it for the greater good. From engineering, to law, to arts, becoming excellent in your field will give you opportunities to make an impact. Your politics and philosophy may change a lot in the next ten years so try not to be too wedded to one belief system at this point.
Go into biomedical, you get to work on cancer and stuff like that
Honestly, a software engineer taking an ethics course on AI could save thousands of lives. Youre underestimating what major impact may look like.
Find something you love to do and figure out how to make it better, safer, and more inclusive. And weave kindness into your approach. It will be world changing, I promise you that.
There is a book called “How to change the world” this book will help you to understand how to recognise a problem and story of people who solved some problems. Best of luck OP.
I don’t think I saw it, but it sounds like you would be a great social worker!
Go vegan to reduce animal suffering and global warming. Get the highest-paying job you possibly can and donate all the income you don’t need to the most useful charities. This is WAY more efficient than, say, working at a low-pay job that helps people in some way.
Love how the two examples you gave are high earners instead of teaching or social work or non profits
If you want to change the world en-masse then studying engineering (not software, a real type) and create a product that improves lives
Find a problem you care about and solve it. Become an advocate for causes you care about.
The best way would be to acquire exorbitant wealth.
This will take some schooling, but psychology is a good field. Counseling, therapy, social work. Addiction counseling can be great. Family counseling. School counseling. Trauma therapy-particularly childhood trauma therapy for adults. Therapy for children and adults with disabilities, like occupational therapy, speech therapy, nutrition therapy, physical therapy, and ABA therapy for people with ASD, just to name a few. For most of these careers you will need a masters degree. For some, you can get a position with a bachelors or even a high school diploma.
Well I have the same sort of goal myself and I’m taking a step towards figuring out what exactly my contribution might be, I have many different ideas and goals and I’m beginning my bachelor’s degree in sustainable interior architecture design and a few other minors thrown in for good measure…..I want to treat mind body and soul because if a person is lacking in one they’re still not 100% whole and complete and I want to be a bringer of light and positivity to everyone I reach so as long as you’re a bringer of light in whatever you do that’s a huge gigantic feat all in itself so I commend you and your aspirations just remember actually as long as you know you’re going to do great things you will do great things you must know you’re doing great things already by just setting your intentions so go far my kindred friend go and be a bringer of light love and truth to the world…..YOU ARE DOING THIS ALREADY by the way keep it up!! Sending light love and positivity always
Don’t feel you have to tackle the world’s biggest problems right off the bat. Feel free to start working on small projects with others – observe, learn from them and build up your knowledge over time. The grand success stories that seemingly happen overnight are usually backed up by years and years of practice and preparation. Good luck!
Psychology or school counselor
be kind
but prepare yourself to be treated unfairly because many ppl take advantage of kind ppl
but being kind is the best way to change the world. just be prepared as as much as being kind may seem easy, continuing to be kind after being mistreated for being kind is burdensome.
so be kind but protect yourself
in terms of making the lives of those around you better, work hard behind the shadows, but again, be prepared to put your ego on hold, as recognition is not a given when sacrificing yourself to make the world a better place
you have to know that what you are doing is right, and worth it, because no one is going to pat your back along the way, and you will feel like giving up everyday of your life
just dont give up, thats how you make the world a better place … DONT GIVE UP
I suggest you to read the book 80000 hours and follow their website, it’s for people finding a career that makes an impact
While your question is very valid and quite needed in today’s world, I can sense sheer arrogance when at 16 you have called out the impact by doctors and engineers as ‘normal’.
Start by getting out of your head and look at the big picture from your own lens. Read more – fiction and non-fiction. Try to understand the world by reading more about the issues and seeing how the past leaders have solved these – whether these are politicians, CEOs, community leaders or freedom fighters. Read facts, and not sensational opinion-based pieces.
As someone else has mentioned, you will have to first think small. Pick a problem in your household and community to see where you can create an impact. It could be a very minor problem like a lack of readers around you – so you can start a free book-sharing library. Or let’s say you see there is lack of recycling awareness in your community, so you can consider educating people via pamphlets or door-to-door chats (without sounding snobbish).
Community action is all you need to consider to finally get to a point where you can impact a larger group of people.
For example, read about Boyan Slat and see his TEDx talk from when he was 18 years old.
Collect inspirations.
Think of things outside of the scope of a job-job. The more you will think of activities as potential “jobs” in your career, the more you will stay away from those.
Most importantly, educate yourself. Refrain from aggressive opinions which tell you to “skip school”. School doesn’t just help you build diverse perspectives but also helps you understand how to work with real people around you.
If you search LinkedIn for #ClimateCareerWeek, you’ll find a ton of resources for green and sustainability jobs. I can think of any career that’ll help more people than saving the planet.
Get into medical research. You won’t be a single doctor in that case. You can contribute to find treatments and cures for illnesses like diabetes and cancer.
Be a first responder and be a man of character and principals that would take care of his future family. That’s what you can do to make a better world
Recycling. There’s two aspects to it: how to continue to package goods with materials that are easy to recycle, and how to recycle everything that we already use. There is a big gap between electronics and their ease of being recycled.
You won’t make a difference. Trust me i once had the same mindset. This world is full of greedy evil senile men that thinks they will live forever.
Go somewhere where you can make the most money and enjoy your life.
There’s a non-profit called 80,000 hours which is about making a significant and meaningful impact with your job, you can book a session with their careers people to suggest potential paths for you to choose.
All roads lead to Rome as they say. You can make a positive contribution in whatever type of life you may lead. Just keep out an eye out for justice and fairness.