Take Control of Your Influence

Hi team, Mary here! Now is the time to take control of your influence. If you have been following us for a while, you know that Brian and I have the philosophy that your influence is your single greatest responsibility as a human being. If you’re new, welcome! We want to help you find your influence, use your influence in a positive way, and develop that which makes you unique. We recognize that each individual has something to offer this world that separates them from the rest, and the world needs your unique, positive influence!

Find Yourself

In order to tap into that which makes you individual, and therefore which makes your influence individual, you must first find yourself. I wish I could tell you there is an easy path to step on for you to do this, but, alas, there is not. I can only offer my wisdom on how you can find yourself. Finding yourself always starts with two things: slowing down and being honest. If you can slow down and be honest with yourself while you are trying to find yourself, down to your very core being, your journey will be easier.

Our first book, Individual Advantages: Find the “I” in Team, takes you on this extensive journey of finding yourself. To keep it concise, for blog purposes, you need to do some self-reflection. Slow down, bring your senses into the present moment, focus on the now, and start to reflect. My hope is that the following list of questions will help you start to ponder who you are as a unique human being. Take the time that you deserve to do this because Brian and I both truly believe that you are doing this world a disservice if you do not choose to influence it with that which makes you wholly individual.

·        Who do you think you are?

·        Who do you want to be?

·        Who do you want to be perceived as?

·        Who do you think you are perceived as now? [MS1] 

Be Yourself

Once you have found yourself, who you are and who you want to be, you finally have the chance to be yourself—to be a positive influence on the world around you. Being a positive influence, even to yourself, doesn’t require you to change anything. It only requires that you think pragmatically, as a leader should, about situations and people. We cover being a positive influence extensively in our second book, Individual Advantages: Be the “I” in Team, due to be released in January 2021.

Being a positive influence means understanding how you communicate and trying to understand how others communicate with you. It means taking the high road, weighing your choices to make decisions, being accountable for those decisions, finding balance and striving to keep that balance, staying humble, and staying positive. This certainly doesn’t exhaust the list, however, being yourself and being a positive influence means looking for ways to stay true to yourself that also benefits as many people as possible.

Your Greatest Responsibility

Your influence is your greatest responsibility. How you choose to treat yourself, the people around you, and your environment all play a pivotal role in your influence. Your influence is comprised of your actions, words, and thoughts. How you treat yourself in your mind influences who you are and how you treat others. As we like to say, “What’s inside influences what’s outside.” Treat yourself kindly and you will be more inclined to treat others kindly. If you can understand your worth and what you can contribute to this world just by being yourself, you will feel the full weight of your responsibility on your shoulders. How you choose to wield that responsibility is yours alone, we hope that we can influence you to choose to use it positively.

   [MS1]Gregg – Can you help me think of any others that could go here?