“Great question, because we all want our work to have a positive impact on humanity. The work we do as engineers is specifically aimed at making life and lives better. That’s what we do as a profession (which is why I love the profession).  I think the best ways you can position your career and efforts as an engineer to have greater impact are as follows:

1. Live in the moment:

You can’t wait for the next job or promotion to decide to have an impact. If we sit around and wait to be president of the united states to impact lives, it won’t ever happen. Instead, do what you can every day to have a positive impact. Lift others around you up, solve the problems you have in front of you. We don’t all get to cure cancer, but every engineer is doing a job that is designed to help people in some way. Get that job done well in the moment through hard work, knowledge and determination.

2. Embrace the people around you: 

The people you work with, in your neighborhood, your family, etc., all play an important role in the impact you have and will have in your future. Embrace them, get to know them, learn from them, help them achieve their goals and thank them for helping you. This will help you have a positive impact, and help you remain grateful and happy for whatever your path is.  Consider the times you have been helped with one sentence someone says to you, or one meeting you had. Everyone can recall transformative moments in their lives that have helped shape them and improve them.  Strive to provide these moments for others in whatever form they come in. Get your head out of your phone and look around and see how you can help people. That’s a recipe for a life of impact.

3. Dream big and plan:  

You should learn to live in the moment, but you should also be planning for the future. No one ever has told me “I dreamed too big when I was young”.  Imagine your path forward, visualize it, plan it, and then go do things that are consistent with that vision. Work hard at it. Be grateful for what comes your way, because it probably won’t be what you planned but it will be better than if you didn’t work hard or had no dreams.”

“So let say it is [10 years from now]. What does your life look like? What are you doing? Where are you living? Who are you living with? Do you have pets? What kind of house are you in? Is it an apartment, are you in the city, are you in the country? What does your furniture look like? What is your bed like? What are your sheets like? What kind of clothes do you wear? What kind of hair do you have?

Tell me about your pets, tell me about your significant other, do you have children? Do you have a car? Do you have a boat? Talk about your career. What do you want? What are you reading? What are you making? What excites you? What is your health like?

And write this day, this one day ten years from now. …What does your whole day look like? Start from the minute you wake up, brush your teeth, have your coffee or tea, all the way through until minute you tuck yourself in at night. What is that day like for you?

Dream big dreams without any fear. Write it all down. You don’t have to share it with anyone other than yourself. Put your whole heart into it. And write like there is no tomorrow; write like your life depends on it, because it does.

And then read it once a year and see what happens.

It’s magic.”