If there's one opinion I've gotten ridiculed for most over the years, it's that I don't like when people say, "I want to change the world." Most people who hear me gripe about this write it off as me just being dismissive of people who dream big. But here I am, a full bouquet of years later, still squirming in my seat every time I hear that phrase, the taste growing even more sour as time passes.
To level set, my issue has absolutely nothing to do with me hating big dreamers or people with ambitious goals. I admire both of those traits and think that chasing even an unreachable goal is valiant if chased passionately.
My issue is that saying you want to "change the world" is completely conflating actions with outcomes. I don't think anybody should set out to "change the world" because, at the end of the day, what does that actually mean? Saying you want to "change the world" tells absolutely nothing about what you're actually trying to accomplish or the cause you're devoted to. In other words, "changing the world" could theoretically be the result of what you're trying to do, but what are you trying to do?
To me, it rings with the same half-baked sincerity as a fifth-grade boy saying he wants to be "rich and famous" when he grows up. Unless your last name is Kardashian or D'Amelio, being "rich and famous" isn't a career. You have to pick a job and work hard enough that perhaps one day that job will lead you to becoming rich and famous.
The same principle applies with "changing the world." Saying you want to "change the world" isn't a goal. You have to pick a cause or a mission that you are passionate about and work hard enough that perhaps one day your work will actually change the world. Conflating the action and the outcome screws up the entire relationship between what you are working on and the impact that work might have, as "changing the world" is the end of the conquest, not the beginning.
I'm not gonna sit here and pretend like using this phrase is the most toxic habit in America today. There are much bigger fish to fry than the verbiage people use to characterize their ambition. But nevertheless it does get under my skin when so many people my age rally behind a tagline that feels so powerful yet means so little. If you want me to think you've got big hopes and dreams for your future, then go ahead: tell me you want to "change the world." I'll finger snap you up with the best of 'em. But if you really want to show me you've got big hopes and dreams for your future, don't tell me you want to "change the world." Just tell me those big hopes and dreams. Talk to me about how you're committed to ending the reign of opioids in rural communities or fighting the exploitative data privacy practices of tech companies or preventing any child in America from spending another day in food insecurity. Tell me what your call-to-action is, not what the outcome may be.
MLK did not set out to "change the world." MLK set out to end the institutionalized discrimination of Blacks in America, and by doing so, he changed the world. Gandhi did not set out to "change the world." Gandhi set out to nonviolently end British rule in India, and by doing so, he changed the world. Susan B. Anthony did not set out to "change the world." Susan B. Anthony set out to get women the voting rights they deserved as citizens of this country, and by doing so, she changed the world. It's more than just a change in semantics; it's a fundamental reorientation of the goal someone is chasing that could just be the difference between those who say they want to change the world and those who actually do.
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