Is Chasing Impact the Goal, or Does Being Our Best Self Create Lasting Change?

We want our work to be meaningful.

As creatives, so many of us deep down want to create an impact. When I travel to different shows across the globe, people always bring this up when I ask, "What is it that inspires you about what you do?" Often, the answer is, "I want to create impact” as part of their list of things they want to do.

Do we actually get to choose when we want to create an impact? How do we decide when that time comes and if it’s happening? Is there a sign when we have arrived at that point? If you think about it, there are so many questions that lead us to wanting to do work that matters to people, whether that’s to our online audience, our families, our friends, or the people who didn’t believe in us. Work that leaves a lasting impression or makes you the best barber in town. Ideally, it’s something we want to say has helped others by providing better results—whether it’s in your city, country, or, if you’re an educator, offering a better understanding or an easier solution to a common problem.

Throughout my education journey, I've interviewed a lot of educators from different backgrounds. Many times, including for myself, creating impact was never a goal in anyone’s journey that I looked up to. People created impact by just doing what they do best and trying their best as every stage. Everyone’s effort comes in different forms. Some people have a higher threshold for pain, while others have a little bit less. I believe that this is a muscle we can strengthen by putting ourselves through challenges and difficult situations. As you go through those experiences, you strengthen your ability to look at things from multiple perspectives, allowing you to overcome the level you're on. On the same timeline, I’ve also met long-time educators with a lot of experience who, at some point, idle at the same level. They become stagnant and soon irrelevant because others enter the field and build up more relevance and demand.

This is a hard pill to swallow for many people, especially those who have a lot of experience in their careers. It’s literally that quote I can’t forget: “evolve or repeat.” When you repeat, you experience the same exact emotions, feelings, and situations. But when you evolve, you allow yourself to go down a new path that teaches you new things and prepares you for the next phase. For many people who want to advance their careers, whether they are new or already 5 to 10 years in, time is forever moving forward, and how we stay current is truly the challenge.

This road to living at a higher potential requires a lot more than being mediocre or average. It’s not to say any certain level is wrong, because at the end of the day we choose what level is enough to make us happy. I bring up this process because I’ve been on the stagnant side of just being OK with regular and just busy at the shop. Stretching myself as thin as possible to be available for all clients during the week…but at some point, I asked myself…there’s gotta be more for me than this. I don’t feel satisfied.

As I continued along the journey, I was inspired by other people's life stories and realized how much power I have within myself to change the outcomes. It’s taught me to reach for a higher potential. What if it could be better? A better version of me that could experience a higher quality of life means that I could take the people I care about through better experiences. Being able to experience higher allows me to teach on a broader spectrum with more potential in mind.

Sometimes that’s all it takes. A change in thought from something or someone can change the trajectory of where you’re heading.

One way I can relate this to barbering is the first time I heard a barber charge $100 back in 2014. When I first heard that, I was like every other negative person online today, thinking, “Wow, taking advantage of people,” “That’s crazy.” But really, it was just something new, and honestly, a little insecurity deep down because I couldn’t figure it out. It stretched my mind beyond what I was used to, making me aware that there was more out there. It helped me change my thinking to, "Well, if someone out there could do it, I could do it too."

Barbers are truly problem solvers. Every single day that you step into the shop and work on each customer, you have to figure out how to blend on a head shape that’s not perfectly round, against a ton of imperfections, and choose the right style, texture, and finish each person should have. Barbers are getting a lot more spotlight, both positive and negative, but sometimes that’s a good thing to hear multiple perspectives on how society views us.

When I think back to 2011 when I became a barber, no one cared about the topic or profession. Hairstylists were the thing people were more interested in. But now it’s so different. It’s crazy what the power of social media can do for an industry like ours. It’s so special because through building this art form, it’s created lanes for so many people. So many opportunities, so many custom lifestyles that we could build and control. It’s taught us to be better entrepreneurs in our own respective lanes.

Even though I don’t necessarily cut behind the chair like I used to, when people ask what I do, I say that I’m a barber. It’s only one of many hats I wear, but that’s the one I lead with because it’s the one thing that has changed my life.

So when we talk about impact, it’s not something we choose or chase. When we get obsessed with the work that we do and prioritize presenting it in the best light possible, that’s what inspires people. Someone wouldn’t have to tell you to do more of something if you’re passionate about that thing. Actions speak louder than words, right?

Impact also comes in many forms, not just online on social media, but in your everyday life with the people you get to meet and transform through hair. That’s where it really starts— also with your daily good deeds. Even if no one sees it, it’s still happening. It’s not always visual or captured on camera. We can’t ever forget that.

People constantly ask me, "How did you make your way as a female barber and create that impact?" I say the same thing every time: it’s not something I looked for. It had nothing to do with how it was going to be received. I just took pride in my work and wanted to make sure it was the best I could do in that moment. A few times doing that effort daily over a couple of years, you’ll realize it compounds to a lot.

Impact is really just the side effect of being the best version of yourself. Being unapologetically you all the way through, online and offline, sharing something real because it’s truly what you’re going through. We never have to chase that result. You just gotta be the best version of you. Don’t get lost in the hamster wheel of chasing things that you’re not ready for or that the universe doesn’t think you’re ready for because I believe in timing. Truly, when you are ready and you’re prepared, the opportunity will hit you when it needs to. It’ll hit you when you’re ready for it, the same way that it happened for me. It’s not something we have to stress about, so we just gotta have fun with what’s in front of us, learn what’s necessary, and look for the challenges in our everyday lives because it’s those things that will propel us forward and lead us to where we need to go next. It’s always all connected.

A quote my gf gave me once that has impacted me over the last few years was, “How you do one thing is how you do everything.” She told me this during a time when I was being very selective in my effort in one trade and slacking in another. Sometimes we really don’t see it, and I’m thankful to have someone as honest as her to tell me when I’m off like that. Because it really mattered to me that I was giving my best, slowly but surely, I was able to apply it throughout my life in different areas. That means as hard as I go for barbering, I need to apply the same effort in the way I edit, take photos, work out, and try to be great or at least 1% better in every area.

I don’t know that I’ve heard that before, but in that moment, it meant a lot because I was finally ready for it. It made me think about learning how to fade and getting comfortable and good at that, so when I was learning something new, I tried to apply the same exact effort. Ever since that quote, whenever I’m learning something new, I just keep thinking about how it all connects.

Many of us have learned a specialty of some sort, and if not, maybe you’re still building, but once you do it one time, it doesn’t have to be particularly a physical task. It could be a mental strength that we’ve been building because of the experiences we’ve had in our lives. But if you really think about how you built and how hard you worked through some of the challenges that you’ve gone through, think about what strength that particular thing gave you, and just apply it to the next thing. Before you know it, you’ll realize you’re checking off new things, you’re building and getting better because you realize that at some point before, you were able to tackle it.

Now, you look at some of those things and think, "I can’t believe I’m here now and it’s not holding me back." Those are the things you have to remember because they remind you to put grit into yourself to build a new muscle that allows you to get through it better.

If you do feel lost, think of it as a point of awareness. I read that in a book, and it’s always helped me when I got to a fork in the road. When we become stagnant, it’s because we’re too comfortable doing the same things. This space allows us to look at our lives, think about why we’re feeling this way, and analyze what needs to change, what needs to pivot, and what things we can give up in our current routine so that we can have something new by doing something different.

Just something to think about as you go through this week.

Have a wonderful week ahead of you!

All love,

Sof!