How to create your own ripple effect

Are you ready to throw the pebble in the water?

With almost 30 turns around the sun I have seen multiple ripple effects take place in my life. A lot of those created by yours truly. With a career that started almost half my life ago, and I have been solo travelling almost just as long, I have had the pleasure of riding many waves. But there are also times I find myself in calm waters. Those are the moments that I take the time to throw another pebble in the waters. 

Whenever I am on one of my solo travel adventures I always lean towards going to a place with water. Like a lake, river, sea… you name it. Even when I am on a city trip. It feels so peaceful seeing the sun hit the water and dance together with the waves. I can’t imagine a better lightshow. It intrigues me how each wave is different from the other, but together they can change the landscape. This kinda sounds like a metaphor for life. Every decision and choice made or not made has a ripple effect. To myself but also to others around me. 

Small decisions, lots of ripples
This blog is inspired by my dear readers with whom I have lovely chats about following your dreams. Frequently I get questions about how I do certain things and the thing is: it’s nothing special. Boring honestly. I personally don’t believe you should think long about the big decisions in life. Five minutes tops. However, it is the small decisions that will make all the difference. A big decision makes big waves, but never underestimate the small decisions. There are plenty of those, so lots of ripples. 

In my blog “10 years after the biggest ripple effect of my career” I give a small play by play what my time in England brought me. From getting a scholarship to be in England to learning things that I applied to get jobs back in the Netherlands. That made me the money so I could come back to England to meet people who years later ended up changing my career for the better. 

Waves can be scary, cause every wave is different and you simply don’t know how to take it. It makes it easier to look away and pretend the wave never happened. Actually this is one of the reasons I didn’t have data on my phone, only in recent months, cause I didn’t want to miss seeing a wave right in front of me. It honestly excites me to see it all happen and then join the ripple and who knows make a next ripple with it. 

“I should’ve”, “I could’ve” or “I would’ve”
Just throw it. Throw the pebble. Do it even when you don’t feel ready. Cause you might not be ready today, but once that ripple becomes a wave, you are or will be working on it. This can be the momentum you need to meet the right people, gain skills or be there at the right time. There is nothing worse than living with regret of “I should’ve”, “I could’ve” or “I would’ve”. 

How to create your own ripple effect? 

1. Before you throw the pebble, be intentional
What is your idea? Do you have a gameplan or just simply doing it by intuition? Evaluate what is working for you, where you need to adjust (the plan), how to show up as your best self or other areas you want to focus on. Like gaining certain skills and don’t be afraid of learning things that will take years to master. I started studying German years ago just because I like it, nowadays it gives me actually more freelance work. Having a gameplan doesn’t mean you already need to know how the game is solved, it’s by having fun while playing the game.
Here you go, you actually threw multiple pebbles without noticing it. 

2. Be fearless of the monsters, ripples take time to meet you
We are prone to close doors out of fear the monsters come in to hide under our bed and keep us up at night. Some doors should be forever shut, you know which ones. Others? Should be open or atleast crack a window. The thing is, in a society ruled by haste, you can forget that certain things take time. It can feel like too much time to overthink and let self doubt, aka the monsters, in.
Once the pebbles hit the water, it’s time to be fearless. This doesn’t mean you can’t fear. Honestly, it is healthy to question certain choices you make. Like I said before, the small choices you make each day will have the biggest impact. Focus on the small choices and the ripples will meet up with you one day. 

Storytime: Learning German for fun to be one of my worklanguages years later is just one of the many examples I have in regards to this step.
Ten years ago I started working in the marketing field. Even though I liked it, it never felt like endgame to me. Three years ago when I started doing volunteer work I got into Community Management. I LOVED IT! Nowadays I dedicate part of my freelance work week as a Community Consultant.

Fun fact: I just applied for the volunteer work with no idea which role they would assign me to. I just wanted to work for the organisation cause I believe in them, there was nothing that I wanted to personally gain. In the end, I gained so much knowledge by the role they assigned me to. 

3. Waiting is not the same as being lazy, as long as you keep on honing your skills and working towards what your heart desires
This step can be frustrating, but keep on doing and at the same time I also urge you to take time off from time to time. Because when the wave comes you want to get on it well rested. 

Storytime: Let’s stick with the other story time, since we haven’t reached the final page yet. I know as long as I can remember that I wanted an international career. At a certain point it was incredibly hard, especially during and after covid. But guess what, my volunteer work was the key to more than just me switching careers. It was my way to work in an international field, be visible and stay relevant. (My volunteer work is in the UK and I am from and still living in the Netherlands.)
Due to covid my career felt pretty stagnant. My volunteer work changed that, it helped me to learn new things and hone the skills I already have. Waiting isn’t the same as doing nothing, but it just seems sometimes like nothing is happening. However these are the moments that can be the key to success or the ripples that come knocking on your door. In my case? Well, because I stayed relevant, visible and played the international field, I was recently contacted to grow my Community Consulting business. My time to level up! 

4. Dare to let yourself be surprised, the ripples most likely don’t appear the way you thought they would
Sometimes it’s a person you met out on the streets or while travelling that leaves the biggest mark on you. Or like in my storytimes, they happen when you weren’t necessarily working directly towards your goals. The ripple will meet you, so don’t shy away, now is your time.  

5. Check in with yourself, question yourself if that’s your wave
Are you on the right track? Does it feel right? Is this still what you want to accomplish? It’s okay to question yourself and check in with your current mindset. Sometimes an opportunity is not the right one even if it feels good at first. Listen to your body, intuition. It’s okay, if this ripple didn’t work out. And it is also okay to wait for the next ripple. 

Storytime: Around nine years ago this blog had a lot of visitors, so much so that I was considering a management company and also opening up my own YouTube channel. I met with a well known management company that I briefly met at a party I was invited for thanks to my blog. They had an amazing offer for me. One of those “once in a lifetime” offers. It was Friday and I had till Monday to consider their offer. I had one of the worst headaches of my life that weekend. So I declined the offer. As soon as I hit send the headache was gone and I knew I made the right decision. Yes, both my blog and YouTube channel could have been so much bigger, but listening to my body is top priority. The right ripple hasn’t found me yet, and that’s okay. We will meet once the time is right. Or maybe it already had its heyday, nevertheless I keep on going. Just because I love it. 

6. Repeat the process, throw another pebble
Don’t wait till one ribble cycle comes to a conclusion. You can do it whenever. But don’t forget when a cycle does come to a conclusion to take time for yourself. Rest before you throw your next pebble. 

And now you throw that pebble
That’s that. This is how I make my own ripple effects. Daring to put myself in unknown situations. Daring to connect with people who I might find myself to be friends with or work with. Daring to learn from them and be inspired. Daring to wait and hone my skills at the same time. Daring to trust myself and my intuition. Daring to be fearless and still allow myself to fear. Daring to be surprised and roll with the waves if I feel like it. Daring to throw in the next pebble and work until the ripple finds you. 

Love,