Welcome to the Daily Quote, the podcast designed to kickstart your day in a positive way. I'm your host, Andrew McGivern, and this episode is brought to you by the Great News podcast. Because great news should be heard, and the link is right here in the show notes.
Support the show ➡ Buy me a coffee
Today's quote comes from Leo Tolstoy.
Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) was a Russian novelist, moral philosopher, and social reformer, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in world literature. He's best known for his epic novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Later in life, he became increasingly interested in spirituality, ethics, and the role individuals play in creating a better society.
Leo Tolstoy once wrote:
”Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”
Ouch! This one stings a little.
For some reason, it's often easier to come up with a plan to change the world than it is to come up with a plan to change ourselves.
We wish the world was different. We wish our friends were different, our family was different, or the people around us would just think and behave differently.
And we convince ourselves that if only everyone else would change, everything would be fine.
Right?
Well, not quite.
The problem is that we have very little control over the world around us. We can't control what other people think, what they say, or how they behave.
But we do have control over ourselves.We can choose how we respond to the people and circumstances we encounter. We can choose what we say, how we act, and the kind of person we want to be.
And yet, how often do we include ourselves in our grand plans to make the world a better place? Think about it.
If we want more kindness in the world, we can start by being a little kinder ourselves. If we want people to be more patient, we can practice being more patient. And if we want others to be honest, we need to make sure we're being honest, too.
It's easy to point out what other people are doing wrong. It's a lot harder to hold up that mirror and ask whether we're doing everything we could be doing ourselves.
And here's the good news: changing ourselves doesn't have to mean making some monumental transformation overnight.
Small changes count.
A change in attitude. A better habit. A little more patience. A conscious effort to listen instead of react. These small changes can have a ripple effect, influencing the people around us in ways we might not even realize.
And perhaps that's how we begin to change the world. Not by trying to change everyone else, but by taking responsibility for the one person we actually can change.
So here's the question:
Before asking what needs to change in the world, ask yourself: What's one thing I could change about myself that would make the world around me a little better?
Because while changing the world can seem like an overwhelming task, changing ourselves is something we can start doing right now.
And when we change ourselves, we change the world we experience, and perhaps even make it a little better for everyone else.
That's going to do it for today. I'm Andrew McGivern signing off for now, but I'll be back… tomorrow! Same pod time, same pod station with another Daily Quote.
