With the state of the world in chaos, a question that often arises is “what can I do?”

This question is often met with a mix of disbelief, fear, or distraught. We tend to set limiting beliefs on our own ability to make an impact because we feel small relative to the world around us, let alone the problems we see. Our perceived lack of control over our surroundings allows us to experience a state of vulnerability. We feel a sense of overwhelm with the amount of negative activity circulating around us, economic stresses, and environmental challenges, where the global landscape doesn’t seem to protect us from joining the chaos.

Producing change doesn’t mean you have to run for office or be a top-level executive at a Fortune 500 company. The decisions you make on a daily basis translate into a vote towards either adding value to the world or not. Mindset is the key to increasing growth and shifting the dial.

If you want to evoke change, start small, with one shift at a time. Build your platform and increase your influence from there. Identify areas you can contribute to and make positive changes in your community or sphere of influence. Your capacity to use your skillset to change culture will let you see the differences you’re contributing to each day. Some of the most influential people of the 21st century started with grassroots efforts, including formal president Barack Obama, civil rights advocate Martin Luther King Jr., and community activist, Saul Alinsky

Here are the five ways you can start creating global change in your life.

Use digital access to your advantage

The abundance of resources and learning platforms online makes growing your footprint easier than ever. Technology as a tool can be used to grow your skill sets and expand your influence online. It allows you to use platforms to engage with different networks or industries, as well as build partnerships with other leaders, giving voice to the solution you bring.

Your desire to make a meaningful impact has to outpace your fear of the unknown. Putting your identity out there in the digital world can be uncomfortable, but is arguably necessary to be able to use your platform . It is why leaders must lead.

Kiri-Maree Moore, the CEO of Decision Velocity Global has used technology to accelerate her bigger vision of building a new approach to leadership across the global landscape. She sees a fundamental difference between what people have access to now than prior to the technological boom. “ You no longer have to take years to learn a skill, data is fairly accessible and anyone can learn anything off Youtube.” 

“For me, it’s inspiring and motivating to see others who have gone and done amazing things, because it gives me the confidence I can achieve things of that caliber and beyond,” she says.

Use every day as an opportunity to shift the dial forward

Making a difference in the world and being willing to be the one percent requires asking different questions, swift decisions, and disrupting your mindset from “I can’t to I can.” 

Rewiring ourselves to see problems as an opportunity to offer a sustainable solution, is how we operate off the path less traveled.

“Any one of us from this moment on can rewire their brain to a different behaviour to shift that dial forward. So growing is a choice,” Kiri-Maree says.

Identify an area where you could see improvement in

If you think hard enough, there’s probably at least one area of interest that you really want to see change. Focus on one thing, do your research, analyze the data, and seek ways you can contribute to solving this issue.

Small or big, learning to come up with a solution pathway to resolve a problem is a valuable skill set that enables one to grow, become more resilient, and be able to narrow the gap from problem to solution.

Early on, Kiri-Maree perceived leadership to  “look like middle-aged white men around a table all saying the same thing.”  She found it extremely unappealing to be identified as a leader because she was so different— but instead of walking away, she decided she needed to be the change. She challenged herself to envision a world where she could be a part of global leadershipand what this could and would look like.

Start paying close attention to patterns

The ability to identify patterns allows us to make better predictions for the future. We can literally change the course of our direction by disrupting outdated patterns to pave space to innovate and create new pathways for success.

Kiri-Maree studies the patterns of leaders from all walks of life to identify what behavours lead to what outcomes. Both the positive and negative ones. This helps us to know what behaviour patterns lead to success, and disrupt the patterns that inhibit us from achieving the outcomes we desire.

Using our decision-making power for a better future

When we make the right decision fast to grow and always apply ourselves to build out a culture that serves the needs of the human race we know this brings hope to the future of leadership.

Imagine if everyone decided to be and do their one percent to be the change. It is through a collective effort of individuals willing to do this that we will move the dial towards a leadership who evolves and produces a domino effect throughout society that transpires to genuine change.