Change the World.One Circle at a time!
Posted by Raunak Mahajan on September 27, 2012
Fix Your Radius. Draw Your Circle. Own It!
In his book “How Many Friends Does One Person Need“, Robin Dunbar, a British anthropologist, presents a concept of concentric circles to explain how we position our friends around us. These Social Networking circles are similar to the ones we now find on Google+, only that they are not limited to the virtual world. In real life too, we have clearly defined emotional boundaries that define the strength of the emotional bond we share with people in each of the circles. The closer the circle to the center, the stronger the bond.
Now let’s try to extend this proposition to construct a model that will direct our efforts to bring about change in this world.
Along lines similar to social networking circles, every person possesses a range of influence which too can be divided into concentric circles, our level of influence decreasing as we move away from the center. Here, influence refers to the ability to impact thoughts or actions or both of a third person.
The Circles of Influence, have two primary factors governing their strengths; Emotions and Distance. The stronger the emotional bond with a person, the more the probability of having an impact. The more the proximity, the higher the probability of effecting a change. I use the term “probability” because Emotional and Geographical proximity only increase the reach of your message, the conversion of your message into the desired result depends on factors beyond your control.
Many of us have, at some point in our lives expressed the desire to change the world. And a majority of us failed. Why? Our failure was not because the change we wanted to bring about was beyond our capabilities, but it was because we wanted to effect that change over an expanse that was a million times bigger than our Circle of Influence. We wanted to change the world!
So if you wish to contribute to the well being of this world or just have people conform to your thoughts start from the center and move outwards. There are two ways of going about it. One, draw out your Circles of Emotional Influence and decide which concentric circle you will focus your energies on to bring a change. Till which level of Emotional bonding is the probability of you affecting a change high enough to justify your efforts. Fix your radius!
Second, draw out your Circle of Geographic Influence and decide which concentric circle you will focus your energies to bring about a change. Till which level of geographical proximity is the probability of you affecting a change high enough to justify your efforts. This could be your neighborhood, it could be your village, it could be a couple hundred meters from where you live, it could be a mile from where you live, or it could only be your home. Again, fix your radius!
Fix your radius. Define your territory and make that territory the best in the world. Let that territory mean the world to you. Let no wrong or injustice be ever done to anyone in that world. Let equality reign supreme in that circle and let wisdom and virtue constitute its essence. If every individual fixes a radius and defines his or her circle, changing the world will no longer be a dream.
Change the World.One Circle at a time!
doakonsult 
Rishabh Upadhyay said
Tried understanding your concept of drawing the emotional impact circle and geographical impact circle. All is fair and this would mostly cover the real world around us.
Now please correct me if i missed some part, but the post does not take into consideration the web space and the universe reach because of the availability of internet. If the words are strong enough to impress the society people in my neighbor, the same could also impress a guy sitting countries apart reading the article over the net.
I am sure there must be some missing links between what you wanted to convey and what i understood, but somehow i wanted to discuss and understood the guiding principle behind this post.
Raunak said
Rishabh, thanks a lot for reading the post and commenting.
You are absolutely right! I am so glad that you could see that omission.
I too had the virtual world in mind when I was writing the post and was contemplating the consequences of leaving it out. I did not delve into the web space reach because I thought it may be better to keep it a part of the Social Networking Circles.
Another reason for doing this is that a lot of people around me,my parents, a lot of my friends, relatives, acquaintances, in fact a lot of common people in India are not part of the Social Networking Circles.
Also, the change I am referring to is something more tangible, e.g. helping a neighbor in need, helping the domestic help’s children with studies etc.
Social Networking Circles play a very important role and are being utilized very effectively. I wish to focus attention towards the Circles that are not being exploited to their fullest potential.
I hope I have been able to address some of your points.Thanks again for noticing and pointing out the missing link. Appreciate it a lot.
Good Deed said
I don’t agree 100% with you, but many things are true. There are fractions that are interesting and true. In all this is good blog, I’m still waiting for a new post. Cheers!
Raunak said
thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts 🙂 would love to hear the points of disagreement…
soumyav said
A thoughtful post , Raunak!and lot of things here that we all need to introspect! I agree with what you say and it completely depends on us what ,where and how long we want to keep the people in our circles attached and cared for.Iwant go technically,but I believe,It is us to who has the capability to influence the circle . People who are emotionally attached to us need not be our neighbour only or a friend sitting nerarby ,he/she can be a person who is sitting miles away,but a thought and a feeling always get the two connected. Every one cant come in our closed circle of emotional attachment and the ones who enter this area,are always thought of,there is an unknown bond and string that ties . for those friends,family,strangers,we always care and are concerned.
in few words….
In the radius of my love,
I enclosed a few souls,
spreading love and affection,
selflessly with devotion,
I cared for everyone,
many of who realised my bond,
but some of them ignored and left the ground…
for them too i cannot hate,
coz they have been once inside my heart’s gate,
the volition of my good wishes will always be there..
even if not announced in verses.
Raunak said
Soumya, you have put it so beautifully.
The underlying message in my post is that we need to act. We need to go beyond merely discussing issues in the living rooms of our comfortable houses. I experienced a lot of this in India during the recent Anna Hazare agitations. And I started wondering why people did not agitate? When they are so in favor of change, why do they feel helpless.
And when I contemplated, several possible reason came to my mind. One was related to Karma and our belief in Rebirth. This I have conveyed in one of my earlier posts.
The second thing that I could think of, to reason people’s inaction is reflected in this post. I think people set too big a scope for themselves. And the result is that the big scope scares them away from acting or the plans they make become destined to fail. We need to realize that small steps are all it takes to make a difference. The concept of drawing circles to make a change owes its origin to a long discussion with a friend of mine.
thanks again for making this discussion evolve.
soumyav said
welcome Raunak! and its indeed the effort we lack is due to the lacking of self belief and then of a zeal and enthusiasm .Life goes on is the saying for all,nobody tries to put an effort to make it vulnerably strong.lack of dynamism and sincerity to anything results in such lethargy of mind and body.
Raunak said
so true! “effort” is the key. and I think the first step towards motivating people to make the effort and instil self belief in them is, awareness. People need to be made aware of what is wrong, and the power they have in themselves to correct it. Open their eyes!
A lot of this can be instilled in a country through education. Unfortunately in India, the government focuses only on literacy and not on education. I wish philosophical reasoning is introduced in our primary schools.
soumyav said
Very true! Raunak its the awareness…but again awareness cannot only be instilled by education,its the self effort,that which we learn in the due course of life and slowly acknowledge the existence of this self belief.Yes, people should be made aware of such things existing,but these used to happen from homes,which was the beast place for such a type of education. The values ,along with some basic things if right way inculcated in children’s minds,then can we find a whole lot of people having confidence,faith,will , belief will will surely lead to zeal…
Raunak said
true education begins at home…absolutely! great thought Soumya!
soumyav said
Thanks 🙂
adventurousandrea said
You inspired me and I really enjoy your blog, so, consider yourself awarded. 🙂
I was pleasantly surprised to be nominated for a Liebster Award by Louise (http://louiseagnes.com/about/). Well, now, I nominate you!
The Rules:
1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves.
2. Answer the 11 questions the person giving the award has set for you.
3. Create 11 questions for the people you will be giving the award to.
4. Choose 11 people to award and send them a link to your post. Go to their page and tell them.
5. No tag backs.
_________________
1. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
2. Who do you find inspirational?
3. What is one thing you have accomplished on your bucket list?
4. If your life had a theme song, what would it be?
5. What is your favorite thing about yourself?
6. If you could live anywhere for a year, where would it be?
7. If you had a million dollars, what would be the first thing you would do?
8. What is your life motto?
9. What is the number one trait you value in a friend?
10. When was the last time you did something fearless?
11. Why do you blog?
Raunak said
Wow! Thanks you Andrea. Really appreciate the honor 🙂 It is extra special to be admired by an aware and thoughtful person. From the bottom of my heart, a big thank you.
adventurousandrea said
You’re quite welcome! 🙂
Pat Cegan said
When I read the Ringing Cedar series, I loved the idea of creating a Space of Love where we live. We must begin all change we want first with ourselves and then expand out as you so beautifully explained. I also agree that action is an important aspect, talking is not doing. The other factor is to model what we preach. Sometimes our actions speak so loudly that people can not hear our words. Thanks you for sharing this link, as always you write with skill and thought and lots of heart. Gorilla hugs for you today, pat
Raunak said
Thank you so much Pat! Orangutan’s Sunday had just been made 🙂
I truly appreciate you sharing your thoughts. They add so much value to the discussion.
Couldn’t agree more with you, action is so important. And I/me/myself are the places to change first.
thanks again!
mony2flow said
Reblogged this on Jeannie's Changevolution Blog.