Season 1. Episode 5. The Yes...And Podcast. The Ripple Effect of One

In this episode of The Yes...And Podcast, Claire Darr explores the importance of embracing courage and purpose in life. She discusses the ripple effect of one person's impact on others, emphasizing the need to simplify life and focus on meaningful connections. Claire shares personal anecdotes and insights on the power of saying no, starting small, and helping one person each day. She encourages listeners to connect with their purpose and create ripples of kindness in their daily lives, ultimately leading to a greater collective impact. The episode concludes with an invitation to join the 21-Day Success Roadmap Challenge, designed to empower individuals on their journey of personal growth and impact.

takeaways

• Embrace courage and purpose in your life.
• The ripple effect shows how one life can impact many.
• Simplifying life can lead to greater impact.
• Start small by helping one person each day.
• Connect with what lights you up inside.
• Every act of kindness creates ripples.
• The compounding effect of impact is significant.
• Model kindness for others, especially children.
• Join the 21-Day Success Roadmap Challenge for personal growth

Your Invitation to Join the 21 Day Success Roadmap Challenge today and Build Micro Habits for Success in just 5-10 mins each day!

https://clairedarr.mykajabi.com/21-day-success-roadmap-challenge

Welcome to The Yes… And Podcast, where we explore what happens when you say yes to life, embrace your purpose, and step into your fullest potential.

Hosted by Claire Darr—former corporate lawyer turned executive coach, wife, mom, and passionate believer in intentional living—this podcast is your guide to creating a life you can’t wait to wake up for.

Each week, we’ll dive into inspiring stories and practical lessons, blending soulful conversations with actionable strategies to help you overcome self-imposed limits, find balance, and build a legacy of joy and fulfillment. From courageous entrepreneurs to everyday heroes, our guests share how they’ve said yes… and to faith, family, career, and the adventures of life.

Whether you’re a busy professional, a working mom, or someone feeling stuck or overwhelmed,The Yes… And Podcast is here to empower you with the tools, mindset, and inspiration to dream big and live boldly.

Life is too short to play small. It’s time to say yes to more—and discover the yes..and life you’ve been longing for.

Subscribe now and join the movement toward a life of peace, purpose, and boundless possibilities.

Follow me on Instagram @iamclairedarr

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https://clairedarr.mykajabi.com/vip-day-experience

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Transcript

Claire Darr 
Well, hi there, hi, hi, hi.

So today I want to talk to you about something that is really close to my heart. It's a principle that I just hold within every part of me. I talk about it a lot. If you're in my world, you know I say this phrase a lot and it's the ripple effect.

specifically it's the ripple effect of one life impacting one life. So today my hope for you is that you discover how when you feel aligned in your purpose and when you show up every day energetically loving your life you can change the world one person at a time. Your impact

daily in your everyday life can start with just one person and have such a huge impact. So please today be inspired by learning how impacting just one person can create such a ripple effect that countless countless lives are impacted and changed for the better. And I want to give you a little bit of history about me. I didn't start out this way.

In fact, a few years ago, I hadn't even dreamed of this being my way of life. I was two law degrees and that's a story for another time. It came up earlier this week when I was on a podcast with some friends of mine. And I reminded them that there were two law degrees in my in my past. But it was two law degrees and a whole life committed to the path that I was on.

And yes, that path led me to making great money. had titles. I had a fancy office. I ate at all the best restaurants. It was the path that I thought I wanted to be on when I was young. But honestly, that path was tortuous. It led me to health issues, depression, less time with my family, guilt, shame, you name it, all the yuck.

And it was the health issue that actually led me to make a decision one day that I had to have been put on this planet for more. And I was going to do all I could to figure out what that thing was. And so I began my rather more fun journey to discover what my purpose was in life and to pursue it. And I journaled, I wrote down

sentences on notecards. I listened to podcasts. I hired coaches. I pursued various kind of relaxation techniques and practices. I did it all.

And I eventually found a system and a practice and a harmony to life and a methodology that worked. And it didn't just work for me. It worked for countless other people who were coming from the life that I had been living, the stressful, high pressure, kind of high stakes, typically big money.

big responsibility, go, go, go, keep it going, keep it going, life. It works for those people. It works for everyone, to be honest, but it worked for those people. And so that's what led me to where I am now as a coach, a teacher, a mentor, and someone who...

her heart in my mission statement for life. And yes, I have my own mission statement. And I'm going to talk about that in another episode, how you can formulate your own mission statement. But for my mission statement to be about impact and something bigger than me, having an impact in this world. And I want to ask you this, what do you naturally think when you hear the word impact?

Think about that for a minute. I immediately think big, big, big, capital B I G big, like the bigger the better. And that's so true. We all typically want the same thing when we are driven by impact. And that's to have the biggest impact possible on this world. Like break the internet. The phone is ringing off the hook. Oprah's calling.

big and and I'll be honest that feels incredible it feels amazing it feels awe-inspiring it feels the sky is the limit and you know the flip side of that coin it might also feel scary and overwhelming and where do I even begin and who am I to are you kidding Oprah's not going to call me I I'm not good enough for this

And so I have another question for you. Have you ever over complicated your life?

Have you ever thought that you like things to be perfect?

Do you own that absolutely beautiful, shiny badge of honor that has in all capital letters on it? I'm so busy. Okay, I can, you're nodding your head. I know you are. I would be too. That was me. I was really good at all of that, at over-complicating, at wanting things to be perfect, at claiming how busy

Slammed was the word we used back in the lawyer days. I was slammed. I was multitasking the heck out of things. I could do it all. And that's true. I was good at all of that until I couldn't keep it up. And I realized if I was going to do this life thing well for a whole lot longer, I had to work smarter, not harder. And that started with me simplifying things.

back to the methodology that I developed and discovered during my pursuit of my purpose and having impact. So if you take nothing else away from today, want you, I want it to be this, I want you to know this one thing. Please strive to keep it simple as much as you can. Let's not deliberately overcomplicate things.

And I had this thought today, actually, this morning, I was at my daughter's school and my oldest daughter is participating in a lot of clubs and activities this quarter. She's gone all in on some really big things that require her to practice or be available or have meetings and do extra work at least three nights of the week after school.

And there was one thing that she is amazing at, like a God given natural talent that happens to coincide with this season too. But it would have required her to have been available two more nights a week, or maybe double up on activities, go from school to one activity to the other activity. And she would have had to be available on weekends and she already has something she loves, loves to do on the weekend.

And, and we had this, this decision to make, and I've obviously would support her through any decision she made, but she came to the decision on her own. I'm really proud of her. Even though this activity is something she is naturally gifted at and succeeded in last year and won a lot of awards. And, I mean, was spectacular, absolutely spectacular. She decided that in this season of her life with

her school studies and the commitments she'd already made that are new, that are fun new things that she wants to explore that she would not commit to this other activity that she did last year. And part of me was honestly a little bit sad. Part of her was a little bit sad, you know.

Here she has something that she knows she's brilliant at, that she's being applauded for and people have told her she's amazing at. And she made a very mature decision. I also want to expand and explore into these other things. And it would be too much. Could we fit it in time-wise? Are there enough hours in the day for us to?

go from one activity, hurtle across town, change clothes in the car, eat something quick and go to the next and get home late and do homework and try to get some good sleep in and then try to catch up on rest and all of it at the weekend. Sure, we could have physically done it. She has the capacity to do it, but what she had that I didn't have for the longest time was the

sense of self and the knowing, the inner knowing and the confidence to say no that's not good for me. This would over complicate the next six weeks of my life and I don't want that. I want to be fully present and enjoy the things that I'm excited about and it's just not the right season for me to do this thing and I couldn't be more proud of her.

and she's not looked back and she's thrown herself into the other activities and there's no regret or could have, should have, would have and there's also no feeling of she hasn't done it all or she's let herself down or she's not doing everything she's capable of because what I see with burned out professionals

And I also am seeing it now with burned out junior high, high school, college kids.

is over committing, over complicating, over filling our lives in an attempt to be everything to everyone, in an attempt to do it all, in an attempt to be a people pleaser or carry that badge of honor and be so busy and say yes to all of the things. And so I couldn't be more proud that my daughter decided not to over.

overcomplicate to keep it simple and fully enjoy and give herself space and time to rest and give herself space to be present and fully enjoy without running around with her hair on fire and

That's beautiful. It's beautiful. And I'm glad she's learning this lesson now and that she's claiming that for herself. Okay, so back to how we can do it. When we think about having an impact in this world, let's think about this. What if you started small?

And let's peel that back a bit. In fact, what if you started a whole lot smaller, like really, really small?

Does that feel better to you, more manageable? Does that feel like something you could do? When I said, let's have a big impact in this world, and then your brain immediately started going into overwhelm and all of the things you're doing and you're already so busy and your plate is already so full, and you couldn't possibly fit one more thing in, but maybe you could, and what does it mean about you if you don't? And all of those things. What if we take all of that pressure off?

and we keep it simple and we start really, really small.

And when I say small, I mean start with like right now today. How about today you think about what your purpose is for being here in this world.

and you think about how you are uniquely situated to help others.

And you might think, I have no idea where to start. I haven't even had time in all of my busy, busy, busy in my multitasking and my being everything to everyone in my racing around. I haven't had time to think about my purpose. I've just been busy doing this life thing. Okay, well, I've got you. I've got your back on this. We can start right now and we can keep it simple and easy. And so if you're sitting somewhere where you can journal,

You can pause this and go get a piece of paper, get your journal and be ready to free flow right on this. If you're in the car or walking, just think about it. Think about what comes to you. And if you're at a place later where you can jot some ideas down, I'll come back and listen to this, come back and listen to it. But just naturally think about what comes to you when I ask these questions. And remember this, no one is going to judge you.

No one is going to hold you to it. This is just for you. Don't judge yourself. Be a very gracious and kind observer of what comes up. Okay. And let's keep this fun and light. All right. So think about this. Remember, keep it fun and light. What lights me up? What lights me up inside? What fires me up inside?

What really gets you lit up and fired up inside?

What ignites a passion in me that feels right? What feels amazing? What feels like me? What feels bloaty and sparkly and fun?

I'm gonna stop you right there. If you're already prejudging and thinking this isn't meaningful enough, this isn't big impact, this isn't gonna change the world, you're prejudging. Just keep flowing with what comes to you.

Okay, keep asking yourself, what am I good at?

What am I uniquely situated to do?

What am I, Kiff?

And then ask yourself, what makes me feel truly alive and joy filled? What am I doing when I feel that way? What have I done in the past when I felt this way? And this is an important point. If you're sitting thinking, I can't even think about that right now. My life is so complicated and so intense and I just don't even have the...

brain space to think about this. Think about back to a time when you did feel all of this when you were lit up when you had a passion about something when you knew you were really good at something when you walked around in life feeling truly alive and joyful. Think about that time. Think about what was I doing? Who was I back then? Okay, and I want you to free right? Free think, let your pen flow, let your brain go.

then I want you to feel into it. Really connect with and feel the emotions that come up for you when you look at the things you wrote down, when you think about the things that mean something to you. And think about how would you feel to be doing these things? If this was your everyday life and you got to do it all,

How would you feel? What would you be feeling? And notice where it comes up in your body. And that's all for now. That's all I want you to do. Nothing else to do.

That's how it starts with you today. By connecting with the things that you love, connecting with the things that bring you joy, connecting with the things that light you up, and feeling into them, and embracing them, and acknowledging them, and seeing them, and connecting.

That's how it starts with you today.

And then, then we can move to you impacting other people.

And when we do, again, we keep it simple. It starts with one person, just one. I want you to think of it this way. Your only job today is to help one person, impact one person. That's all.

And I'm borrowing this from a lady called Jen Gottlieb. She's everywhere all over the internet and Instagram and all of the things. Her mantra that I learned and I love and I've adopted is hope. H-O-P-E. Help one person every day.

hope, help one person every day. And what if that was it? What if all you had to focus on every day was helping one person? What if that was it? And don't overthink who that one person is and don't overthink how you help that one person. What if that was it? All you had to focus on

is helping one person each day. And the reason that that's enough is because helping that one person leads to many.

Helping that one person truly is like dropping a little pebble into a lovely calm lake. The ripples that come from that one little pebble will reach out and out and out.

So if you make a promise to yourself today that you will today and each day keep in mind and strive to help one person, just one, the true impact of that over time is immeasurable. You may never know the reach that you've had.

And I said this to some friends the other day, I've said it many times and I'm going to say it again. I mean this when I say, I hope that we never truly know the reach of the impact that we have had, because if that is true, then that impact is really great. It is astounding. And imagine that. Imagine having such an impact.

that you can't even begin to measure it all. You will never know. I say this, I hope I never know the extent to which I've had an impact in this world because that means it is so great and it's so much bigger than me and it's so much far beyond me. And it all starts today by you helping one person. And then getting up again tomorrow and helping one person.

And then the next day, one person. And then the next day, one person. And that's ripple, ripple, ripple, ripple. Imagine that. Imagine creating those ripples every single day by keeping it simple and helping one person. And I work with a lot of people in numbers, numbers people. So numbers people.

We're talking about compounding, compounding, compounding, compounding, right? Everyday compounding. So if that helps you think about it differently.

Compounding, compounding, ripple, ripple, ripple, ripple.

And I want to take a moment and acknowledge, because this may be coming up for you right now. It's come up for me before. I'll be perfectly honest. Does the thought of even helping one person overwhelm you?

that's the case it's okay. I admit it sometimes on the roughest of days even that seems too much. Even that seems like something that you just don't have the capacity for or the energy for. So when that is the case I've got your back. We're going to simplify it again. We're going to keep this simple. What if it just has to be a kind word to someone?

a kind word to the grocery store person who's checking you out.

Think about that.

Stop. Look at that person's name tag.

Most of them wear name tags and thank them for helping you today and use their name. I did that the other day in a drive-through. It was a drive-through pharmacy and the pharmacist was handing me all my stuff and there's typically a little bit more interaction there because they're asking you questions and date of birth and your address and all of that. And he handed me all my stuff and I looked up and his name was Alan.

And as he's handing me the thing through the window, you know, this the draw and the window and it's all kind of very mechanical. I just shouted over, thanks so much, Alan. I really appreciate it. Have a great day. And he stopped and I swear he could have been like blown over by a feather. He stopped and looked at me and then I got the biggest smile, the biggest smile. And he said, thank you, Claire. Have a great day too. Cause of course he knew my name, right?

because he'd just seen it.

The power of doing that, of using a person's name, you wouldn't believe it. Now, will I tell you for those of you that have teenage children, I'm told I'm a little cringe. I am a little cringe when I do that apparently. Mom, why? Why do you have to say the person's name? It's cringe.

And I'll be honest with you, it paused me a few times because I was like, my daughter's with me, I'm going to embarrass her. But I kept on doing it. You know what I've noticed, right? Our kids watch us, our kids are always watching us. I've started modeling these interactions with people. And she just started naturally doing, she doesn't use their name, but she started naturally chatting to people.

who are helping us in grocery stores and what have you, the gas station. And she started naturally saying, thank you so much. I hope you have a wonderful day to the person. And then as we're walking out, I've lost count now of the number of times she's noticed how happy the person is or how happy it made them. And it's boosting her confidence to talk to people out in the world. And she's seeing the direct result of when she connects with and interacts with another human.

what that does, how it shifts energy. And walking out of a store, having my daughter say to me, that person was so happy and so nice. And wow, isn't that amazing? That makes me feel so good. And I often say to her, and you made them feel good. When we're going about our daily busy on the run lives, taking moments like that, that's where the magic happens in this world. That's magic that we create is in those simple little things.

Other examples. It could be picking up your phone and sending a text to that one person who keeps popping into your mind, but you haven't talked to them in so long.

You haven't you haven't wanted to text them because it's been so long and you're embarrassed. What if all you've thought I don't have time to chat with this person right now. What if it wasn't about time? What if it was just about I'm just going to drop a line and say, hey, I've been thinking about your hi. How's it going? And you don't have to respond right there in the moment. Sometimes you can even say to them, you know, often I feel that way about people who I know are busy or struggling and I don't want to create extra burden on them. So often I'll say hi.

How are doing? No need to respond to me. know you're busy. You know, just want you to know I'm thinking of you. Take the pressure off them. Here's a fun one that I love to do. And this is fun to get your kids involved with too. And I think I'm borrowing this from Jen Gottlieb as well. I think I heard it from her. So the next time you're at like the grocery store or the gas station or whatever, at a checkout somewhere with all the stuff, ask the person,

who's serving you, who's helping you, what their favorite gum is, or what their favorite soda is, or whatever, right? The stuff that's there. And so ask them that, you know, they don't know why you're asking. And then grab one, you know, grab a stick of gum, grab a Dr. Pepper, whatever it is, and pay for it. And then hand it to that person and say, this is for you.

This is for you. Do you know what that could do for someone? Something that's a dollar or less. You taking the time to do that? Do know what it could do for someone?

Ooh, I can't wait to do that today. I cannot wait to do that today. Okay, so for those of you who have clarity around your purpose in life.

Finding ways to impact just one person each day will come to you. And it'll come to you if you get quiet and ask, who needs me today? It's a great practice to get into every morning, asking, who needs me today?

Often the person will show up. You just have to listen. You just have to be aware.

And then because I do love to play big, I love keeping it simple, but I love to play big. Once you get really, really, really, really good at impacting that one person, increase it, go for it. Don't let anything hold you back. We don't have to keep it at just one. Increase your capacity, expand, grow, elevate, keep going.

And while I'm thinking about it.

I want you to start giving yourself permission to say yes to things, to say yes to the opportunity, to say yes to the thing that scares you, to say yes to that thing that you can't get out of your mind. Because when you do, the collective power of us all, that is impact. That is how we change the world. That's my challenge to you. And it all starts with you. It all starts with one person.

creating ripples everywhere you go. So as you get better at this, as you increase your capacity, keep expanding, keep saying yes, keep asking what is the opportunity? What is it that I want to do? What is it that really would light me up?

And as you decide, I hope you do make that commitment to yourself today to get clarity around your purpose and to start acting on it. Please keep it simple. Please keep it fun. Journal on the prompts I've given you. Lean into them. Listen to what's inside you.

And when you do decide to do something, I want to hear about it. Please message me. I'm in the show notes. I'll put every way you can get in touch with me. Please let me know. Please share this with other people. Share this podcast. Share what happens for you. Share the little stories. What happens when you buy the grocery store clerk, the Dr. Pepper, or when you call a person by their name or you on a bigger scale, share, share, Tell me what came from this.

because that's powerful too. And my hope is I've empowered you today to take a step back, take the pressure off a bit, relax into who you are and know, know from within that you showing up as you will impact one person today. And there begins your ripple.

And I really, really hope that you never know just how far that ripple reaches. That's the goal all from just one person. The power we all have here is truly amazing. The energy we have between us all, we can and will have a huge impact in this world.

We can. And please reach out to me if I can help you. I have lots of free resources. I'll put links in the show notes that can help you navigate finding your purpose, your path, setting goals, visioning, getting your energy straight. There's lots of ways you can do that. And there are lots of ways for you to work with me. I also offer free

calls to discover if we should work together if we would be a fit working together. And I can put that link in the show notes as well. And I'm excited at the moment I am offering an opportunity to join something really fun that energizes and creates energy, collective energy every day. And it's a 21 day success.

challenge that I created. I put so much love and energy into it. I think you feel it. It's audios. Just to be clear, it's little audio messages. Again, I'm trying to keep it simple. I'm trying not to add more things to your plate. And for 21 days, and there are more than 21 days because I added little bonus things and I'm probably going to keep adding little bonus things that you get access to once you've joined it.

But for 21 days, you will have me in your ear or your pocket or in your car, wherever. Speaking life into many areas that will expand you, elevate you, increase your capacity, help you establish good habits, help you set boundaries. I talk about boundaries, I talk about habit formation, I talk about energy, I talk about...

identity. I talk about a lot of things in these 21 days. If you do decide to join, you get access to all 21 immediately. You can go back and listen to them all. You can do it consecutively day by day. You can jump around in there. You have full free rein to do whatever you want in there. It's a beautiful space. I also have a free little community for those who are in that to share their experiences to talk about what's come up for them to ask questions.

just to be part of the ongoing collective energy. And once you join it, I do have chances and times to come in there and just share little lessons that I'm learning. you'll have it forever. You can go back and listen to days whenever you want. You can go back and listen to the whole thing. I've had some people who are on the third go of it right now.

And they hear things differently at different points in their life and they layer on and they're continuing to learn and grow So it's a beautiful opportunity It's called the 21 day success roadmap challenge. I will include a link in the show notes If you've got any questions about it message me. It's It's exciting and I even go back and listen to it I go back and learn from myself go. that's right. That's right because

Sometimes whenever I speak, it's kind of this divine inspiration, it's intuition, it just comes from somewhere and I then sleep and forget about it. So I need to learn my own things. So I hope you take a look at it. I hope today has helped you. I hope it's empowered you to start creating your ripples everywhere. And please, please, please share with me what comes from this.

share it with others, share it with your family, model it for your children, model it for your teams, for those around you. And let's all have a beautiful and huge impact in this world, starting now, starting simply, starting today, starting with just one. Have a beautiful, beautiful day.