Time passes so quickly. We spend such a great deal of it running from one place to the next. Even more is spent vacantly staring t the world around us - with technology paving the path to our ever growing capacity somehow convince ourselves we are participating in our own lives, while simply sitting there staring at a screen - or perhaps in a an act of sheer bravado manipulating the figures on the screen with our handheld controls.
I just started reading a synopsis of the European Unions approach to standardizing basic social investment impact measurement standards. While it may appear that these two paragraphs have nothing to do with each other I would argue that they do. Investment is not only cash or cash equivalents. Investment is also measured in time and talent contributions, or as we often refer to it - as sweat equity. And in this global context we are really beginning to look at matrixes that can help define and support methodologies that can provide objective measurements of the results achieved by making these investments. We are not longer tracking the return on investment for just cash, we are tracking the return on investment for time and talent as well - the social return on investment, - we are even beginning to look at the environmental return on investment. - Big concepts, which are starting to shape the way the world is looking at how business is done.
But it got me thinking - that perhaps there is more. Perhaps under all of this is a deeper paradigm shift. Maybe are starting to move toward a more robust view of our lives as humans as a whole. One in which our internal metrics for understanding who we are, for measuring our levels of success, are not measured by cash in the bank and fancy cars in the garage, or how great the score was that we achieved on Call of Duty or Candy Crush Saga. Perhaps we too, as individuals, couples, families and communities will begin to look at the way we choose to spend our time and measure it with regard to the social return on our investment.
Not that we can spend every waking moment attempting to have positive impact on the world around us. But perhaps we can be more deliberate in choosing time to have this impact, within our core relationships, our extended families, our workplace, and our communities. I know that my neighbor, who rescued me from the snow drift last night had a tremendous impact on my life - not just because he helped me out of an inconvenient and very cold situation- (which he did ). But also because without knowing anything about my situation, he saved me from doing more damage to my neck and shoulder which are trying to heal from an unfortunate event at the end of 2013. His act of kindness had much broader impact for me, and I have a feeling that SROI (social return on impact) was something that he took home afterward. His kids watched as he saved the day - and they learned from his efforts too. I will likely bring his family some baked good or another this weekend as a thank you, even though I know I don't need to.
It is a small example, but one none the less - a community connecting -
I think we are well past due for that type of change -
So while the winter blues may have you in their grip - don't forget to make time to invest in those around you - the returns will be well worth the effort........
Let me know if you want a link to the report................
Rock Steady and pay it forward....
