“We are indeed more interdependent than we realize. We are not alone, tending the gardens of our lives in isolation. We are all connected. What we put out into the world determines what we get back and, ultimately, how we feel inside.” – Joe Kelly, The Gandhiana Jones Project

The Project Change Foundation model helps charities make positive impacts by providing them with proven tools as well as an injection of financial support. With this two-pronged approach, we provide a guiding hand for charities to advance their visions and propel them toward having an even greater impact.

Your acts of solidarity through donations keep us going strong as we celebrate our 10th anniversary as a change agent. To illustrate how your contributions begin the ripple of positive social and environmental change our world needs right now, we want to share with you an excerpt from The Gandhiana Jones Project, written by Project Change Foundation’s founder, Joe Kelly.

In this final month of 2024, we invite you to act through a donation to Project Change Foundation. As a thank you, anyone who donates will receive a digital copy of Joe’s book.

Thanks for being a part of the Project Change Foundation story of action.

The following is an excerpt from the book, The Gandhiana Jones Project:

“Can you name some great change-makers in the world?” I ask my class. I’m standing in front of thirty fresh-faced university students on their first day of the academic year, a whiteboard behind me. Hands begin to raise. I start writing.

“Mother Teresa.”

“Nelson Mandela.”

“Martin Luther King, Jr.”

“Rosa Parks.”

“Mahatma Gandhi.”

It’s a lineup of iconic historical figures that make the list every year when I give the students this exercise.

“These are all people who are remembered because they’ve had a huge impact on the world,” I say. “And I’m sure you could name many more. But now, I want to hear about people you’ve actually met. They don’t have to be well-known, but they’ve made a real difference in their own communities. Regular people.” The list that follows is quite different.

“My Aunt Phyllis started a community garden.”

“A guy in my neighborhood puts on a block party every year that raises money for homeless people.”

“My fifth-grade teacher got our whole class connected to a group of kids in Uganda.”

“These examples,” I say, “are all ordinary people who’ve done extraordinary things. On the surface, they may not seem as great as Gandhi, but everyone on both of these lists has done something to better the world, whether they’re famous or not. So, what qualities do you think they possess that you don’t?” I look out at a sea of furrowed eyebrows. “How did they get to be change-makers?”

It’s a rhetorical question. I know they’re here to find out how. I’ve been teaching the course, called Project Change, for several years now—and it all began in an elevator.

It was 2013, and I had been working as a college professor for some time. My watershed moment came while waiting for the elevator up to my third-floor office. In the past, I’d always grumbled about people who use the elevator to go up just a few floors. Didn’t they see a golden opportunity to get some exercise? But now, I was one of them. I had always thought of myself as an active person and someone who used every moment of my day wisely. When did I stop taking the stairs? I wondered. I couldn’t remember. How did you let this happen? I glanced down at the donut in my hand.

From the outside, taking an elevator may seem inconsequential. But from the inside, it felt much bigger. What I saw in that moment of stark clarity was that I was not living in alignment with my values. One small change in my behavior had impacted my life negatively, in perhaps more than one way. I was slightly overweight and grumpy about it, at the very least. In my head, I heard another question: What if you made just one positive change in your life, right now? I didn’t think twice—I took the stairs.

This incident triggered a thought process that lasted throughout the week. I began to see the larger picture of my life, and I didn’t like what I was seeing. In debt, single, and feeling disconnected from the people around me, I was on autopilot. Something had gone off the rails in my life and it would take conscious effort to put it right.

I continued to take the stairs daily until I was sprinting up them. One morning, as I burst through the door of my office, a saying I’d seen on a bumper sticker popped into my head: “Be the change you want to see in the world.” It was from Mahatma Gandhi.

This gentle man had lived very simply and owned very little, working tirelessly for economic, religious, and gender equality in India and eventually becoming the leader of a political movement that overthrew British rule. His efforts catalyzed the civil rights movements in North America and across the globe that began midway through the 20th century. This was a change-maker the like of which the world had rarely seen. I thought about how he had conducted his life and wondered what lessons I might draw for my own.

I’m not going to lie; having Gandhi as a role model seemed a tall order. He was so selfless and accomplished so much, but—and I don’t mean to sound flippant—did he enjoy himself? I still liked my cappuccinos, steaks, movies, vacations… I found myself wondering if sacrificial duty was a prerequisite to living as a change-maker.

I began to think about other people I’d admired over the course of my life and remembered my very first larger-than-life role model: Indiana Jones. I was nine in 1981 when the film Raiders of the Lost Ark was released, and I can remember breathlessly watching Indiana, the daring archeologist, as he braved unknown worlds, cracked his whip, and saved the world from evil. I idolized him. His combination of smarts, raw courage, passion, humor, and style was incredibly appealing to me. And it still is. If you can do good things and live an adventurous life, then count me in!

At first glance, my two role models couldn’t have had less in common—until I reconsidered the quote, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

Gandhi didn’t set out trying to be an influential leader or attempting to get others to change. He started with himself. He lived in perfect alignment with his values. So did Indy, for that matter. This common ground seemed like a good starting place for me as well.

With Gandhi and Indy as my role models, I decided to embark on a yearlong experiment, determined to make positive and meaningful changes in my life. I would make change, do it authentically, and have fun along the way. Every month, I selected a new challenge for a different area of my life: leadership, service, health, the environment, technology, spirituality, and so on. Being an educator and researcher, I also developed a systematic method by which to measure the results. I couldn’t wait to get started.

One month, I spent an hour in nature every day. Another month, I unplugged from technology. Yet another month, I walked everywhere I needed to go. Before long, I was shedding pounds, paying off my debt, and learning new skills. I felt great. That was to be expected, I suppose, but I hadn’t anticipated that improving my life would lead to others feeling great, too. It was like a positive feedback loop. My positive effects on others enhanced my own happiness and sense of meaning. The behavior changes I was making rippled out into my community and then back to me. And once I began directing my challenges outward, like performing deliberate acts of kindness every day for a month, I found these things had a longer-lasting impact on my own sense of well-being than hitting my target weight or paying off my last outstanding bill. By the end of the year, my experiment with change had revealed a lot.

We are indeed more interdependent than we realize. We are not alone, tending the gardens of our lives in isolation. We are all connected. What we put out into the world determines what we get back and, ultimately, how we feel inside.

Over the years that followed, I continued this journey. I walked a path of self-discovery rich with challenges, triumphs, and revelations, evolving my approach through further experimentation, research, interviews, and writing. I had been teaching at the university for some years now and realized that I might be able to apply my learning to create a roadmap for my students. So, I overhauled one of my courses, and Project Change was born. Which brings me back to the whiteboard…

“So, you admire Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and Rosa Parks, plus the folks in your own lives who’ve all done good in the world. Those are some real change-makers.” The students nod in agreement. “Well, what about someone like Indiana Jones?” I hear a collective pause. I can tell they’re not sure what to think.

“Let me share a secret,” I say conspiratorially. “Being a change-maker isn’t just about sacrifice and martyrdom. You can fill your days with things that bring you happiness and serve others. Pleasure matters. Fun matters. Adventure matters.” Now the students are excited. “What if you could be both—Gandhi and Indiana Jones?”

Although they want to believe it, I can tell they don’t. Yet. But what they discover over the course of the semester is that it is possible. What is important when emulating these figures is not what they achieved, but how they did it. They worked from the inside out. They lived authentically. They lived with purpose and passion and courage. They followed their hearts.

Throughout the semester, my students learned step-by-step how to be the change they wanted to see in the world. They emerged from the course equipped with new tools, resources, and ways of thinking. They learned to identify and apply their personal values, passions, and skills to their acts of service and the results they achieved surpassed everyone’s wildest imaginings. Even mine.

All of this experience eventually made its way into the book you now hold in your hands.

Are you ready to start your own adventure?

Don’t worry if Mahatma Gandhi or Indiana Jones don’t resonate for you. Perhaps your role model mashup would look more like Oprah Winfrey meets Hermione Granger, or The Dalai Lama meets T’Challa, or Marcus Aurelius meets Katniss Everdeen—whatever works for you! As you will see in the coming weeks, the Gandhiana Jones Project is not a cookie-cutter model to apply to your life. You will be challenged to delve deep inside in order to chart your own unique course for change.

My hope is that you will enjoy this process and, as you engage with it, ignite your own sense of purpose, become more aligned with your values and vision, and feel more confident, connected, and fulfilled. I trust you will find inspiration in these pages to spark change in your own life and in the world around you. Let’s go, Gandhiana Jones!

To make a donation to Project Change Foundation, and receive a free digital copy of The Gandhiana Jones Project, please fill out the form here.