Episode 871 Impact the World - Interview with Orly Wahba – Part 4
[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: [00:00:00] Thanks for joining us on episode 871 of the inspired stewardship podcast.
[00:00:07] Orly Wahba: [00:00:07] I'm Orly Wahba. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent and your treasures to live out. Your calling focus on kindness is a key and one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this.
[00:00:24] The inspired stewardship podcast with my friend, Scott Maderer.
[00:00:29]number one. What is your why do you want to make that impact? Because there's different kinds of impact. I chose this path of let's say of kindness. What impact do you want to bring? Generally the way to find it. Mine came in. This happens for most people. Oftentimes the hardship in your life is the key to how you can bring positive change into the
[00:00:49] Scott Maderer: [00:00:49] world.
[00:00:50] Welcome, and thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcasts. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn [00:01:00] to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling and the inspired stewardship podcast who will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence.
[00:01:12] So that you can impact the world.
[00:01:15]In today's interview with, I asked orally how she sees kindness impacting the world. I also asked her to share her own hope for the impact that she will make an orally. And I also talk with you about what you need to know if you really want to make an impact on the universe. One reason I like to bring you great interviews.
[00:01:36] Like the one you're going to hear today is because of the power in learning from others. Another great way to learn from others is through reading books. But if you're like most people today, you find it hard to find the time to sit down and read. And that's why today's podcast is brought to you by audible.
[00:01:55] Go to inspired stewardship.com/audible to sign up and you can [00:02:00] get a 30 day free trial. There's over 180,000 titles to choose from. And instead of reading, you can listen your way to learn from some of the greatest minds out there. That's inspired stewardship.com/audible to get your free trial and listen to great books the same way you're listening to this podcast.
[00:02:22] Orly Wahba is the founder of the global nonprofit life vest inside a kindness expert, an educator, a bestselling author and entrepreneur, and a keynote speaker who inspires audiences to take action. Her talks and workshops provide the groundwork for lasting change and motivate people to become the best versions of themselves so that they can influence the world for good.
[00:02:48] Orally is also the Arthur of and created the viral video, the kindness, boomerang drawing from her personal journey, groundbreaking science and her signature wit orally inspires [00:03:00] people to tap into the power of kindness, the most underutilized skill in today's world through her talk, Orly demonstrates how kindness and a simple shift in perspective can alter the way a person connects with themselves and connects with the world around them.
[00:03:17] Welcome to the show early.
[00:03:20] Orly Wahba: [00:03:20] Thank you so much, Scott, for having me I'm really honored to be here.
[00:03:24]Scott Maderer: [00:03:24] So over the last few weeks, we've been talking about a lot of different topics, but how do you actually see this kindness idea that the focus that you have on kindness impacting the world?
[00:03:37] Orly Wahba: [00:03:37] That's a great question, Andy. The truth of the matter is as again, the main goal behind life S inside now, yes, our mission is to inspire, empower and educate people of all backgrounds to lead a life of kindness.
[00:03:50] But the essence, the core, the heart is empowerment, empowering people to understand their value, to be able to provide them with the tools, the resources that they need to go out there [00:04:00] and effectuate positive change in their own unique way. And I would say probably the best example of that is one of our leadership training programs that we have.
[00:04:10] And this is how I see it impacting change in the world. Kindness, boomerang, reached hundreds of millions of people around the world. And as a result, I developed amazing friendships. I don't look at these. I don't look at these people as followers or fans. They're really my friends and I love them dearly.
[00:04:27] And so many of them have gone through our leadership training program, which is completely free. It's completely free. Basically what it does is it empowers. And we've had people from age 10 to age 76, go through this program. And the way that it's built is that it helps a person understand how to take something that's really big, maybe bigger than themselves and break it down into its smaller parts.
[00:04:54] Even if they don't have a dollar to their name, how to make something. Happen, how to leave your Mark in the world. Now what's [00:05:00] the purpose of this? I'm sure. Only one person. And here I am in Jerusalem, sitting in my, my home office and I'm working, but there are all these incredible people around the world, living in their cities where kindness means something different everywhere.
[00:05:14] Right? Kindness here will mean something different than kindness in Argentina than in Australia, than in India, than in Singapore. It takes on a different meaning culturally. And so it's not about me. Or life S inside effectuating and fixing the world. But it's about empowering those that are in those locations to be able to bring positive change to their own communities.
[00:05:35]Is my belief that how do we really shift and change the world if every single person, if people, instead of looking out a ways, look simply in. In right there next to them and take care of their own community. The world will take care of itself. We have enough resources and abilities and capabilities in this world to be able to deal with all of the different issues that are taking place in the world.
[00:05:58] We do. We're also [00:06:00] super interconnected and we are gain getting more awareness of our interconnectedness with every passing day and the more that we do and the more that we acknowledge it, the more that we recognize that the action of one person here effects the life of another person there. The more able we're to really help lift each other up, to keep one another afloat in this world.
[00:06:20] So the true goal is to simply empower those ambassadors, those representatives, those kindness ambassadors in all of these different locations, we have over 65 countries around the world. We have ambassadors to, in a sense, become a leader in their own, right. A leader of their life, where they're leading.
[00:06:37]By them leading a life of kindness, they will inspire others in their network. Some of them have gone out and started organizations and are impacting thousands of people. Some of them don't have, you don't have to do that simply if the way in which you engage within with your family members, if it shifts right there, that's a really huge because your family reaches, it's [00:07:00] people that are going to school and going to work and it continues to ripple out.
[00:07:03]We don't need to look so far for change. And if anything COVID has taught us that suddenly we were no longer able to be out there, busy with all these external things that we're usually busy with suddenly we're locked in because we had to look at ourselves in the mirror. We had to do the work of the heart and the work of the heart is the hardest work to do, but it is the most important, this is the true goal of.
[00:07:30] Of life S inside. This is a true goal. This is really just my own personal goal and helping to empower those people through the different tools that we give them, whether it be through education, through inspirational media, through international events, through leadership training programs, through messages of hope.
[00:07:47] There are all of these ways where we can empower someone to see that the greatest change and the greatest gift, their greatest and strongest life vest is right there inside of them all along.
[00:08:01] [00:08:00] Scott Maderer: [00:08:01] So if somebody listening to this really believes that. They want to make a dent in the universe. They want to make an impact on the world.
[00:08:10] What are some of the top ideas or principles that you think they need to focus
[00:08:15] Orly Wahba: [00:08:15] on? I think the first thing to do is if you're looking to make a change or you want to make an impact, you have to understand, okay number one, what is your, why? Why do you want to make that impact? Because there's different kinds of impact.
[00:08:26]I chose this path of let's say of kindness. What impact do you want to bring generally the way to find it. Mine came in. This happens for most people. Oftentimes the hardship in your life is the key to how you can bring positive change into the world. I took my most hardest, most difficult time in my life where I felt alone.
[00:08:47] I felt insecure. I felt just isolated. And from there, my greatest strength came, which was the promise that I made the promise to be there for people the way I wished others would have been there for me to see people the way I wish others would have [00:09:00] seen me when I went through my very severe depression at age 15.
[00:09:03] And that became my why it was. And because it's my why, because it's so strong and it's so personal and connected to me. I know that there are going to be failures along the way. When you try to achieve anything, when you're going to go out there to try to achieve any goal, they're going to be failures.
[00:09:19] That's okay. But if you don't have the prerequisite of believing in yourself and understanding your why, you're more likely to give up before you even get started. So you better make sure that your why is strong enough and oftentimes it's to do with something personal to you. Why do you care about it?
[00:09:36] Why are you starting this initiative? Why do you want to effectuate change in this way or in that way? What is your personal connection to it? It can't be because I'm well, because I just want everyone to see that I'm doing good in the world. No, go deeper. Why do you want to do that? You need to answer that question first and foremost.
[00:09:56] Otherwise when the hardships come, you're going to give up. You won't make it [00:10:00] through your, why has to be so strong has to be personal. It's got to be authentic. It can't be something fake. Otherwise people are going to feel that, so that's, to me that's a number one thing. And I always say you got to dream big, so it's okay to write down your big dream.
[00:10:15]It's great. But you have to think small because if you don't. You're going, it's the gap between where you are and where you want to be is going to be so great that it's going to crush you, which is why so many new year's resolutions never work. We tend to be an all or nothing people. So we call it calm.
[00:10:31] We're very excited. It's new year's and new year's. Yes. I'm going to, I'm going to start, I'm going to go on a diet. I'm doing the diet. It's going to be great. I'm going to be shaped and shaped by the time of the summer. It's gonna be fantastic. Week one, doing all the things on the checklist. Yeah. You're using the app.
[00:10:46] You're doing the thing. Everything is great. Week two. You missed the day. All you missed the day. Oh man, I missed the day. Next day comes up. Yeah. I missed yesterday. I'll just start it. I started after the weekend, I'll start it on Monday. And then eventually you don't even look in the app is [00:11:00] there and you just keep paying for it over and over again, or whatever, maybe that you use your membership gym membership.
[00:11:05] Exactly. As opposed to understanding and recognizing that as human beings, we have ups and we have downs. You can't expect yourself to be perfect. Change lasting change happens slowly over time. It is not instant gratification, but we live in a world of instant gratification. We press a button, something happens.
[00:11:24] You look at your phone and there's the little spinning wheel. All my phone is the worst phone on world. I gotta throw it. I gotta get a new one. Everyone goes. It doesn't instant gratification. Doesn't get us anywhere. Real change is not like the phone. You understand our general ideas that if something is broken, we throw it out.
[00:11:40] We get a new one, but it doesn't work like that it's takes time. So you're going to have the. Phase where you stumble. The real question is, are you going to get up the next day and have that same energy? Because remember every single morning that you wake up is you've got a blank canvas and you have all the colors in your hand.
[00:11:57] And what you're going to do with them is up to you. And it's a [00:12:00] choice. And even if you made a mistake that day, so what you woke up the next morning, that means the universe is betting on you. Whether you want to say the universe, you want to say God, whatever you want to say, I say if that's the case, how should I not be betting on myself?
[00:12:14] Because not everybody has the privilege of waking up in the morning and taking a deep breath in. We know that very much. So if you have air in your lungs, you better bet that there's some reason there's something for you to do today. And yes is mistakes are not you. So let go of the things that don't go right.
[00:12:31] Let go of them and look at each day as another opportunity. Otherwise you're going to crush yourself. You won't be able to make it past the hump
[00:12:39]Scott Maderer: [00:12:39] so early, if you could travel into the far future, maybe a hundred, 150 years, and look back on your own life, what impact do you hope you've had on the world? These are the easy
[00:12:51] Orly Wahba: [00:12:51] questions. Now I'll tell you that my, my greatest hope. I always say for me. And it's my definition of [00:13:00] kindness. That's my definition of a lot of things.
[00:13:02] But for me, if I was able to empower people, to see the beauty in themselves and just recognize how awesome they are men, then I did my job. If I could do that, if I can help that person recognize it and see it so that they can then see it in others, that then I'll be pretty proud.
[00:13:21]Scott Maderer: [00:13:21] So what's coming next for you, as you continue on your own journey to live out this calling that you have and impact the world.
[00:13:30] Orly Wahba: [00:13:30] So I have many different projects and initiatives in the works, of course, continuing with those that we've been already running. Constantly putting out a video productions. A lot of them are digital video collaborations with people from around the world.
[00:13:44]For me, I never, I always say, people say, Oh, the celebrities. I say, I think we're also liberties. I look at every presence of celebrity, every resume celebrity. So it doesn't matter. So for me, continuing to put out inspirational media is a very big thing. I think that film is an amazing, powerful tool and helping people share their own [00:14:00] voice.
[00:14:00]For me also, we have education is a very big part of it. So developing and working on continuing to develop educational curriculum that can be easily implemented into schools. And of course developing further this leadership training program in our inter international worldwide dance for kindness, which we're now coming on our 10th year, I cannot believe it's which has been really, truly incredible.
[00:14:19]I've enjoyed every single moment of it and developing that out further for me, my goal is to. Really put in place this representative program that people that have gone through our leadership training program and have in a sense. Pass those steps can become an official representative.
[00:14:33] We're in a sense that they're big, they're starting their own little branches in their cities where we can provide them with basic resources so that they can start making an impact of kindness when they're within their own communities. This is a very big goal of mine. And we just started a new, we S we started a really fun initiative that came about because of COVID actually this past year, our dance event, generally, it's a global flashmob that happens in over 120 countries around the world.
[00:14:58] 5,000, excuse me, 120 [00:15:00] cities, 50 countries. It's all volunteer run. It's absolutely incredible. But this year, and when you love somebody who had to stay away from him, you couldn't give him a hug. And so we had to make everything digital, which in the beginning I was really worried about, but we ended up having a fantastic digital event and we had, we've joined people together, digitally and dance, and a cool concept came up and they said, cause dance actually also you release endorphins.
[00:15:22] It establishes a sense of community. And so one of the people that was on said, why don't we do this on a monthly basis? Why are we only doing this once a year? Why don't we get together via zoom? Each month and dance. And so I said, amazing. We just had our first one in February, we had our first event in February.
[00:15:37]It was incredible. I did not expect so many people to attend and to show up. And each month we choose a new dance style and everybody learns a dance and we dance together. And then after that, we have a really awesome part. And we had people from, I don't know, I think there was maybe 10 or 15 countries that were, and I think it was, yeah, it was 15 countries that were on the call.
[00:15:58] And after we finished dancing, which [00:16:00] is amazing, we all connect with each other. We have three different acts of kindness that we put up on the screen, all acts that take three minutes or less to complete. And we discussed the first act. And then we have a countdown clock and everyone in that three minutes is actually engaging in that act.
[00:16:18] And we come back and we discuss what the experience was like. Oh, it was so it was absolutely fantastic. And it's very simple for people to sign up for it. It's completely free. They could go to dance for kindness.com and when you go to dance for kind of stock com, you'll see on the home page, the monthly dance party, and you just sign up with your name and email.
[00:16:36] And you'll be part of the following month stands party which is so much fun. And of course, I want to encourage everybody to leave a potentially leave a positive, inspiring message of hope through project hope exchange.
[00:16:49] Scott Maderer: [00:16:49] So you can follow orally on Twitter at life vest inside, or find out more about her on our website at life vest, inside.com.
[00:16:59] She's also active [00:17:00] on Facebook under life vest inside, and you can find out more about the kindness, boomerang and the book over at kindness, boomerang.com. And of course I'll have links to all of that over in the show notes early. Is there anything else that you'd like to share with
[00:17:13] Orly Wahba: [00:17:13] the listener? I would love to actually share the YouTube channel, which is also outline S inside.com.
[00:17:18] To me, that is actually our most engaged channel. We're on YouTube. We're also on Instagram, on YouTube. I put out a weekly video called the kindness kickoff with orderly, where I do a reading from my book a once a week. And I give everybody a kindness challenge to go out there and do. Plus that's where you'll be able to hear about the cool video collaborations we have going on.
[00:17:37] The one that we're up to right now is called a tribute to our elders and we put up all of those videos directly on their channels. So you'll see the kindness boomerang on there as well as loads of other inspirational films that you can use in your own way.
[00:17:49]Scott Maderer: [00:17:49] Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listened, [00:18:00] but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoy this episode please do us a favor. Go over to inspired stewardship.com/itunes rate.
[00:18:16] All one word. ITunes rate, it'll take you through how to leave a rating and review and how to make sure you're subscribed to the podcast so that you can get every episode as it comes out in your feed until next time, invest your time, your talent and your treasures. Develop your influence and impact the world.