The Echo Effect
September 26, 2012
We all have a personal echo. It’s the stamp we make on the world, like footprints in concrete. And it reverberates around the planet whether you know it or not.
Some call it the butterfly effect. That is, when a butterfly flaps its wings, it can cause a windstorm on the other side of the world. If you flap yours, who knows what will happen!
Have you ever noticed how one single car can stop traffic for hours, backing up a highway in a matter of minutes? That’s your personal echo at work.
Or the kick-the-dog syndrome, in which one person’s aggression, such as your boss’s, trickles down to you, then you pass it along to your kid, who then gives Fido a swift kick in the behind because of the chain of personal echoes swinging through the air.
Or the warm smile you offer the sales lady who then does something nice for someone else who then extends kindness to a stranger…and so on? Yup. You guessed it. Your personal echo strikes again.
Unlike the echo that haunts a cavern from your voice box to its sound-stung walls, your personal echo leaves a lasting impression. It moves the world. With one small act.
And you do this every day. What you do and who you are really matters.
What effect will your echo have today? Dag, just the thought of it makes me want to dance.