We released our book, Splash! Increase Your Life’s Impact in July 2014. We did the best we could at the time and it’s really solid. Still, if we had it to do over again, the book would look pretty different.
The thing with writing a book is that it can only be a snapshot of you and your understanding of things at the time. You and your understanding of your specific topic should evolve over time. That’s normal and to be expected. Actually, it’s a good thing. Would you want to be the same person in five or 10 years from now that you are now?
The book does not include anything about my experience of sexual abuse. It does not explain how that experience lit a passion inside me to wake people up to their impact. I had just connected the memory of the abuse with my fierce passion around people being aware of how they are effecting other people. In fact, John had asked me if I wanted to re-write the book to include that revelation, but I wasn’t ready yet to share it with people publicly. So there is some revealing myself and my life experiences in the book, but nothing about what really moves me.
Similarly, there is nothing inn the book about a person potentially having a negative impact on other people. It just wasn’t in my awareness yet, so I didn’t have it available to share.
If we were to write the book today, we would also spend less time in the steps helping people get control of their time, energy and money. The information we provide is really good at helping people have more time, energy and money so they can focus on making a difference in people’s lives. But what we’ve found is that it’s more important for people to adjust their values and priorities, then they will have the resources they need.
I still think that the book is really good . It’s solid with principles, guidelines, steps, stories, mindsets and more. I’m just saying that we have a different perspective now and if we were writing the book now, it’d have some different content.
If you’re wanting to make a difference in people’s lives, know that your understanding on how to do that will evolve over time. It doesn’t matter if it’s a book or blog, public speaking or talking to people one-on-one, volunteering or starting a non-profit, mentoring or working in your career. Experience will teach you new things, which is a good thing. So don’t wait until you think you’ve got it all figured out because that day will never come. Go ahead and start making that positive difference now and know that it will just keep getting better over time.
