You don’t have to believe in karma to understand that there’s value in being an upstanding person. Not only does this make your journey more enjoyable, but more importantly than that, you’ll be steering the world in the right direction. The future’s not set in stone; it is being written right now. If you can have a positive impact, then you’ll be making it more likely that humankind’s future is bright.

Wondering how you can do this? Here are eight (mostly) straightforward tips to get you started. 

1. Focus On Your Own Self-Improvement

The first step towards reducing ugliness in the world is to first reduce it in yourself.

It’s all too easy to look out and blame other people for their shortcomings. It’s more difficult to look at our own shortcomings. However, it’s important that we do so. For one thing, you’ll be able to stop any harmful practices once you know what they are. Second, you’ll feel better. Self-improvement is not a selfish activity. If you feel good within yourself, then you’ll find it much easier to help other people around you. 

2. Foster Respect and Kindness

Somewhere along the way, many of us forgot about respect and kindness. These days, many people reserve their respect and kindness for people who they are sure deserve it. But in reality, everyone deserves your respect and kindness! (At least until they prove themselves unworthy of it.)

This is probably the simplest thing to do on this list, and it doesn’t require much work. All you need to do is remember that everyone has their own lives going on, and does not deserve your disrespect. Don’t underestimate how far kindness can take you!

3. Become a Volunteer

When it comes to how they spend their time, most people focus on their work, hobbies, and socializing. These are all important elements, of course, but there’s also a lot of value in looking at ways to give back to the world, too, such as becoming a volunteer. You won’t need to look very far to find organizations that need help. Could you call one of them up, and offer to lend a hand? It’s a noble thing to do, and it’ll likely only take an hour or two of your time each week. And if you need an extra dose of motivation, just think about this: studies have shown that helping others can have a positive impact on your happiness levels. 

4. Invest in Education

The kids are the future. If youngsters are well-educated, then the future of society will look a lot brighter than if they were lacking in this area. So why not look at investing in children’s education? There are plenty of ways to do so. First of all, you should make sure that your child can prosper in the educational system. Beyond that, you can look at helping local schools by donating cultural teaching resources for use in the classroom. That way, you’ll be ensuring that the teachers and the pupils have the resources they need to learn well. Of course, if you want to have a more direct impact, you could also consider becoming a teacher yourself!

5. Choose A Beneficial Career

Your profession is one of the better ways to make an impact. This is because, for many people, the way that they have the most impact is through their work. It would be difficult to feel like you’re doing good in the world if your work directly conflicted with your morals and values, for example. There are plenty of career options for people who want to make a difference in the world, including, as mentioned, teaching, or healthcare, leadership, public service, etc.

6. Do Random Acts of Kindness

Making a positive impact isn’t just about your career; you can have a positive impact today just by engaging in random acts of kindness! The premise behind this is that you do something good for someone else (including strangers) without any prompting. You could give someone you know a gift for no other reason than you want to see them happy. You could take some toys to a children’s hospital. You could pay for someone’s lunch at a café. Everyone who receives a random act of kindness appreciates it, and then usually does something of their own, too. Just by engaging in the activity, you could be starting a river of positive action, and you never know where that will end. 

7. Take a Health Course 

There are always people in need, but sometimes, there are some people in urgent need. If someone is choking in a restaurant, for example, then they’ll need someone who can help them right there and then. There are a host of health courses that you can take including CPR or a basic first aid course. You could also learn the Heimlich maneuver. . . Hopefully, you’ll never need to use the skills you’ve learned, but if you do, you could have a dramatic impact on a person’s life. 

8. Take a Stand

Finally, take a look at taking a stand when it’s necessary. Many issues won’t impact you directly, but they will impact others, both people that you know and people that you don’t know. Learning about others, seeing perspectives outside of your own, and channeling your decisions, motivation, and passion to support others can make a positive impact!

If there’s an issue that you care about, look at getting involved in any way you can. This could involve educating other people or simply attending a demonstration when it is organized. This is how change happens!