Although there are a handful of “official” definitions for “Agent of Change”, the one I find most applicable to myself is as follows: “An Agent of Change is someone who intentionally or indirectly causes or accelerates social, cultural or behavioral change”.

I have intentionally changed my own behavior. Now I strive to intentionally work on the cultural and social aspects . . . who knows, perhaps intentionally causing or accelerating these “changes” creates an indirect or viral change in others . . . seems logical.

Focusing on health is a healthy focus.

In the course of my behavioral change, I focused on becoming a healthier individual, and in turn what I focused on became healthier. In fact, I have never felt “clearer”. I strive to be a good husband, father and human being. My social consciousness has evolved and grown.

Each night when I put my 4 ½ year-old son to bed, we do the usual book reading, teeth brushing, talking about his day at school, then I always ask him the following question: “what did you do today to make the world a better place”. His responses vary, but often include items like, “I picked up garbage on the ground, helped Mommy, was nice to a new child in my class or let one of my bugs go back to his family (he is a little entomologist in training) in nature.” The point of this daily exercise is to teach him that he is part of the whole, that everything we do impacts something else. For him, even at a “micro” level, he understands that his pet grasshopper needs to be in the wild, that perhaps he made that new little girl in his class have an easier first day or that that he helped make some parking lot a little cleaner.

However, as I reflect on my own day, I often struggle to find answers to how I myself helped to make the world a better place. I have accomplished a great deal. I have rid myself of some bizarre medical condition, lost weight, become healthier (both physically and mentally), but what am I doing about the “whole”? Until now, my primary focus has been on myself. It’s time to change that . . .

As agreed, I will continue to share the story and specifics of my success; at the same time I am going to start some far more serious training – which I will document in this Blog. Why am I training? I am not quite ready to share all of those details. What I will share at this point, is that I am going to work on intentionally causing social, cultural and behavioral change as mentioned in the definition above. I am going to physically challenge myself in a way I have never done before. I am going to be cycling a whole lot. And, it is going to be for reasons other than myself now. I plan to leverage my success, new found clarity and desire to be able to answer the same question I ask my son each night, “How did you make the world a better place today”. I will soon have those answers . . .

Josh Neimark – Agent of Change