June 13, 2022

A story by Chip Gaines …

Our culture has come to quantify influence based on algorithms, not beating hearts.

Impact is estimated by the number of views, likes, or shares a social media post or viral video gets in a day. But rarely do we get to see how far that impact goes, whether it changes a thing for anyone on the receiving end. Besides, these days the stage is already so crowded, and the shouting match already so convoluted, that our world is being overwhelmed with all the noise that comes out day after day. Noise we’ll never fully control, hard as we might try. And it makes me wonder if maybe we’re missing the forest for the trees.

I’m beginning to see how real, lasting impact begins much closer to home. In how I handle the seemingly smaller moments. It’s in how intentional we are about reinforcing goodness within our home, nurturing our values as a family over and over and over again until it takes. And it’s basic stuff - choosing kindness, living by the golden rule, respecting the way we’re each wired - but I’ve witnessed how the way we treat one another under our own roof becomes a standard by which we measure every other encounter when we step out into the world.

Expecting my son to treat his younger brother with respect and kindness becomes the way he interacts with his friends, then our neighbors, and then all the way to the stranger on the street. It sounds simple, but it seems to me that if we can’t figure out kindness and respect among those we live with, then we’ve got no shot at making any sense of how to conduct ourselves beyond our walls.

I believe our homes are where intentions take root. And that on most days my most powerful platform looks an awful lot like our kitchen table and the conversations that happen there. Nurturing the values we want to stand for when there’s no audience so that one day when the world is watching, our actions will speak louder than words ever could.

What values can you nurture at home to create lasting impact?