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One man can change the world.

Everyone thinks of changing the world but no one thinks of changing himself.

Leo Tolstoy

One of the most profound quotes of Leo Tolstoy I found while searching for my Formula for Changing the World was, of course, this.

Everyone thinks of changing the world. Who are the ones who’ll actually end up doing it? And how do you change yourself in a way that you as well as others count you as one of those leading change-makers too?

And that’s precisely what we’ll talk about in this blog post: how to change the world?

How to Make A Change?

All the ambitious, dreamy-eyed, young-in-their-hearts kind of people in the world have this big, amazing, glamorous vision that they’ll do something so epic and revolutionary that they’ll end up changing the world.

And then when they’ll attend some mediocre, boring press conference, and the journalist will ask them how the heck did they end up doing something so massive such as changing the world, they’ll say that they never really thought of it in the first place: “I mean, yeah, you know, changing the world was just a by-product. I never really meant to do it. I was just doing something else entirely and then all of a sudden I realized that, oh my, I had just done something so big that got me this interview and so much new spotlight.”

The very big news I’m going to disclose now is that this isn’t going to happen. Not so easily, at least.

I mean, yes, Naval Ravikant did say that young people change the world. They just get credit for it when they’re older.

I agree with that.

But I also agree with the saying that if you want a new idea, you should read an old book. I think that all of us, no matter what generation we categorize ourselves as, have got at least enough knowledge and ideas and creativity to do something to change the world.

If we just put our mind to it.

Everyone Thinks of Changing the World

Everyone among us thinks of changing the world. It’s so—common, you know. So profound. So exciting.

And it gives me so many goosebumps to even think that I might be one among those.

But again, everyone thinks of changing the world.

What can I do, what have I got that will somehow make me special enough to actually carry forward with this dreamy state of mine?

#1 Think Equally From the Left and Right Side of the Brain

I recently issued this book from my school library, and I’m sure many of you have heard of it and even treasure it as one of your favourites, because it seemed amazing. A Whole New Mind, by Daniel H. Pink.

Damn, I didn’t know they kept good books in the school library too. Sifting through this novel, I was deeply moved.

The author presents the real differences between the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere of our brain and explains in what context they are different from each other and how they collaborate in performing the different tasks of our daily-life.

For example, the left hemisphere, the intelligent, analytical, “dominant” side of our brain, deals with the knowledge and the facts, the logic in the things. Needless to say, there was a time when it was preferred over the right hemisphere, which was kinda disregarded by many scientists earlier on because it was termed as the emotional, the inventive, the holistic part of the brain.

When this view came into focus, some people began to say that the right brain was not to be demeaned. No, sir. The right brain, as the creative and expressionist, was supposed to save us.

It was supposed to heal us, help us become better humans and all those things which we consider not logical but emotional. This wasn’t true either, as Daniel Pink went on to explain.

What we had to do was not give excessive importance to just one side of the brain, either the left or the right, and instead balance between the two to make spectacular use of the nature’s gift that had been given to us.

Michio Kaku, a theoretical physicist and scientist, said that the human brain is the most complicated object in the universe. So, obviously, the solution to the most complex problem in the universe lies in our brain itself.

Because we need both the left and right hemisphere of our brain to live our life, we’ll make use of both of them to change the world.

We need to get the facts, and the logic, and knowledge right and updated, and we need to also look at the artistic, the emotional, the underlying sense of things and situations that aren’t so obvious to the eye.

A picture speaks a thousand words.

We need to understand the thousand words, and then also understand the picture. It’s hard work, but well, we’re talking about changing the world, so it’s worth it.

#2 Have a Solid Idea

It is only when you’ll begin thinking with both the sides of your brain equally, you’ll realize that this is what having an idea-generation mindset feels like: thinking rationally from both the sides of your brain so that the solution you find is a the perfect mix of both the logic and analytics, and also the emotions and creative.

Having a good idea is not as easy as it may sound, though.

To make a change in the world for the better is to do what no one else before has ever done, at least, not in the particular field or niche we are entering. Or the world would’ve already been changed and perfect.

This idea can be in any form—it can be a breakthrough or new invention, a solution to an age-old problem or even just a new way of saying something old. It can be expressed through art or through practical use.

The only requirement would be that the idea should spark something inside of you, and the same should gradually happen as more and more people get to know about it, such that they’d want to be a part of the drive too.

The best ideas come in the most unexpected places and times. We should look for these ideas where no one has ever looked so closely before.

Did you know that boredom can generate creativity to an unexpected level, and help you skyrocket your idea-generation machine? This feels illegal to know, but the roots of many good ideas lie in the bored afternoons.

#3 Think Outside the Box

This doesn’t need to be said again.

Any idea that comes from outside the box will only be new and revolutionary in making. When we have thought up the idea, the next step would be then to develop it, like you develop the plot of a story (for those who aren’t writers and who’ve never done that before, I must tell you that it is a very lengthy and tiring process, involves a lot of mental work.)

To develop any idea, we need to think outside the box, get out of the limitations that our society and our history and our own self-doubt has put on us.

We need to think different than what others with similar ideas have thought. That was then and they were earlier, and maybe they changed the world or maybe they didn’t.

But if we hold the great ambition to make a change in the world now, in a bigger sense, then we need to set our processes and build our systems and designs like they’ve never been built before.

I’ve been a great admirer of this quote by Georg S. Patton that says, “If everyone is thinking alike, then someone isn’t thinking.”

What I understand of this quote in this way is that no two people can have the exact same thoughts, ideas and mentalities, at least not two people who think individually and independently.

If everyone thinks of the same thing, then it means that everyone is just a follower of some other bigger person who influences all their thoughts. This is particularly to be kept in mind while developing our ideas.

They’ll be different from all others. They’ll be the genuine reflection of our outlook onto the world. That’s what they’re supposed to be.

#4 Use Art and Expression

Art and expression has always gotten to more people than logic and formulas have.

One man can change the world, that’s true, if he makes art that is epic and revolutionary enough. Further ahead in his book, Daniel Pink talks about how logic and analytics and all the L-Directed Thinking Stuff has brought the world to the threshold of where it is—technologised, informative, modernized.

Everything seems perfect, right?

Every logical problem has an answer.

Every computer knows how to solve anything that’s been thrown at it.

But L-Directed Thinking, though indispensable, is not sufficient now. The world is going to be ruled by the right-brain thinkers, the ones who can think creatively and innovatively with the right sides of their brains, those who create art and craft and give a new way of looking at the same old, same old things.

Everyone thinks of changing the world. But it isn’t possible anymore just with the bookish knowledge and the ability to remember all the facts and phrases.

Now the world is to be changed in a new way, in a way that is unique to everyone and a way which has no replica at all.

If you want to say something, try not to say it in the same old bland way. Instead, say it with a new kind of artful play mixed into it, as if you aren’t saying some boring thing, as if you’re actually letting the audience in on some secret, and the secret in itself is so majestic and profound that they are dying to know about it.

#5 Wake Up Early

Waking up early has always been one of my most cherished habits.

Waking up before the dawn, before the world is up, there’s something really satisfying about it, because you know that you’re out of your comfort zone for some initial days and it’s inevitably going to make you stronger and more determined.

Getting out of bed early every single day without an excuse, or a break is a great motivator and gives us a sense that we are accomplishing the first goal of the day. That’s how discipline is built. Trust me, you will need discipline to make a change for the better.

There are many benefits of waking up early. Surpassing all of them, the one that is the most important in our journey to make a change is that waking up early in the silence and solitude enables us to think up the solution to the problem in a way that we’ve never thought of before.

It provides us with a new insight to look at an old, already acknowledged problem, and who knows, while we are scribbling notes onto post-its and arranging our ideas and designs into logical, sensible sequences, we might come across a big, epic answer.

#6 Educate yourself

To make a change you’ll have to be educated enough to know all the facts and the information and the practical advice and have many experiences. That’s how you change for the better, make a substantial improvement in yourself and that too, in terms of some of the most important aspects of life—education and experience.

I believe in over-educating myself. Not just educating, over-educating. I want to know about things I probably won’t ever come across in life. In fact, I think that’s the case with many of us weird creators. We want to gain knowledge we think we won’t ever use, but still need because…who knows…we might find a reason for it somewhere.

Some of us just want to be prepared. We just like the idea of knowing the answer to everything, or staying updated on all the current affairs, know all the weird facts, all the information about everyone and everything.

We want to educate ourselves in history, psychology, computers, art, geography, business, economics, physics, linguistics and so much more. The list goes on and on.

Learn how to (over) educate yourself, to prepare yourself to make a change for the better, to be that one person who can change the world—by going through this list of seven basic but powerful methods.

1. Read Newspapers. Seriously, stay updated on what is happening in your country, and also on the other side of the world.
2. Read Non-Fiction Books, even if they’re boring, even if they’re autobiographies, even if they’re extremely, painfully, boring autobiographies. As an avid reader, I mean it when I say that non-fiction books have helped me in my blogging as much as fiction books have done so in my storytelling. All my non-fiction books are my treasure.
3. Google everything. Like, that’s how you know things, right? You Google them. You don’t know the meaning of a word, you don’t pull up a dictionary, you Google it (that too rarely, because most of the times I used to ignore a word I didn’t recognize or tried to figure it out from context). Googling everything is a must for gaining extra knowledge over the required subject.
4. Listen to people. Get to know about their different lives. That’s how you stay experienced and know things that you won’t know from anywhere else, by listening to people and watching things happen.
5. Watch documentaries. Since you can’t always read, watch. The world has dozens of amazing documentaries, even ones which aren’t on nature or space or travel or food. They’re a lot a interesting than many TV dramas. (You can start off by watching one that I loved, if you’re a fan of mind-blowing science and logic thrill too: A Trip to Infinity)
6. Listen to podcasts. Since you can’t always watch either, listen. Listen to various podcasts that are educational and entertaining and improve your personality in some way. You can check out this amazing one: Goal Bilionaire. (Spotify) (Apple Podcasts)
7. Use social media wisely. Social media has sometimes been a boon, and sometimes a total curse on humanity. They are accused of having wasted our time and reducing productivity levels and putting us into the “scrolling trap”, where we can’t stop our thumbs from scrolling down the feed, liking posts along the way, commenting and saving them for later. But who are we to blame social media when we ourselves don’t seem to have enough discipline to stay clear of the distracting YouTube videos, or the Insta reels, or the Twitter threads? Social media can be used wisely, and that is by making use of the endless information on it for the very best educational purposes.

#7 Believe

Of course, no preparatiom for any expedition or mission is complete until we make ourselves believe that this is going to happen and we are to achieve something.

To make a change for the better, believe that you will be successful—that you will someday think of something big enough to actually move the world with your idea and philosophy.

It’s really not that hard believing you can.

Gone are the days when you had to spend your youth away in an old, dingy apartment, developing your big idea so that one day you could announce to the world that you existed.

Now what lies ahead is a world powered by technology, and extensive and developed, independent media. Though you still need to grind adequately to achieve the sort of success and greatness you might crave, the world has seen enough examples of these people to make us believe.

We can look at countless examples of great people in history who’ve moved the world with their ideas, and if they can’t motivate us, nothing will.

I personally believe that you will achieve greatness if you deal with patience and perseverance. It’s so basic, the formula of success: you think up an idea, you have a goal, you work hard for it. Failure comes along in the way, eventually, because it’s indispensable, and you battle that failure and rise above it like you’re born for it. And you still keep believing in yourself with all your might because your destination lies there right after you’ve fallen weak and are convinced of giving up.

Right there.

Conclusion.

One man can change the world. Or let’s make it more inclusive for the she and they too. One person can make a change, a change for the better of the world.

This was a part of the blog series My Formula for Changing the World, a very personal and bold venture into the process of what it’s like to make a change in the world, to look at all the bad qualities and the negative traits of this society around us and then build a fleeting hopeful dream of being able to change it.

If you liked this post about how everyone dreams of changing the world and benefitted from all the ways you can make a change too, then maybe you’d like to become a reader of the blog series My Formula for Changing the World. Sign up for our email list to get updates whenever we are back again with a new post.