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My Changing Relationship with the Idea of Impact
Why I let it go, and what I’m chasing instead.
IMPACT. The word has had such power over me for over a decade.
I am in the biomedical and healthcare technologies field. For a good chunk of this time, I worked on projects within global health.
For as long as I can remember, I was striving to make an impact.
That’s why I chose biomedical engineering as my major during undergrad, and then again to pursue my Master’s degree, and then again as an innovation fellow developing a low-cost cataract surgical tool.
For me, the desire to make an impact was the desire to do something for someone. To help change lives. It was my reason for being.
But somewhere along the way, wanting to make an impact became a source of pressure rather than one of inspiration.
The issue wasn’t that it fueled my reason for being. It was that it felt like my only reason for being. I know, that sounds dramatic. But the way I was living, how I was making choices in life, and how I approached my career made it feel this way.
I was ultra-focused on the “mission.” Each failed prototype felt like a moral failing. For…
