We hear this trite phrase all the time these days…it is as popular as some of the newest technology releases! Yet a lot of people really do not understand what it means, or at minimum what it means for them. Why is that? I suggest that most people have no problem with the definition of Influencer:
An influencer is someone who has: the power to affect the purchasing or other decisions of others because of his or her authority, knowledge, position, or relationship with his or her audience.
They might stumble with what topic “they choose” to influence others on, but that is a mental search game they can play until they discover “a voice” inside of them that they want to be heard.
What it is they stumble on is the “BEINGNESS” concept. When you examine yourself internally you can uncover a lot of intriguing and insightful things, many of which you don’t know you don’t know. “What is that?” you ask…because it speaks for itself that you don’t know. You see, a big part of our subconscious is guided and directed by emotions, influences, meanings we associated with different experiences we had or different facts in our life as we interpreted them to MEAN something. At 3 years old or 5 years old even 15 or 20, do you think you really had all the insight in the world to attach a correct “meaning” to a given set of facts? Most probably not.
Yet now, choosing to “Being An Influencer” should work for us? I suggest that the first step to be undertaken in accomplishing this endeavor is finding out what really makes you tick. Yes, you heard that right, do some real discovery (Sherlock Holmes type discovery) on yourself. We can instead just pick our topic, read up on it and go out to change the world, attracting a lot of people perhaps just on pure energy and laser thin knowledge and expertise. But if you take that approach, you will either fail or at best, fall far short of what was truly meaningful to you personally versus “what sounded good.” Also, you will never feel very fulfilled if the “beingness” is not right with you. You are unique. So, why not “lay the proper foundation”: do the basic work to lay out the road map for discovery, especially recognizing that each one of us has a deep seated passion on a specific topic or a few topics but always start with one.
Take an hour of your time and just sit still, perhaps with very little if any distractions …at worst some soft, classical music in the background (i.e. not Tchaikovsky’s 12th Overture)! Take a blank sheet of paper and just ask yourself the following question …”What is the change I want to see in this world?”
Record everything that comes up for you in response on that paper until you cannot come up with anything else. Then ask the same question again filling out another paper full of what comes up. Again when all the thoughts dissipate, start one more time…be the scribe to record everything that comes out.
What is that discovery path to uncover our passion(s)? It is where you find your #1 core value…it is the core value that will drive you over the mountain, through blinding snowstorms, through any trepidation of fear and beyond. You will discover perhaps something you never knew deep inside you or a version of an idea or thought that has cropped up from time to time but you never chose to act on. But whatever it is, it will show up.
Next take the papers that you filled with whatever your thoughts revealed, and now make a list of all the items in order with #1 being the one in which you felt you had the greatest emotional response….then #2 and so forth. This might take yet another hour of time, but every moment is worth it. Finally, when you have the list complete, cut each of the numbered items containing the item so that only 1 is on each strip of paper. With a soft music in the background, and a journal in your hand, read them 1 at a time, and after your read 1, focus on it and then drop that piece of paper to the floor. Spend five minutes thinking about that. When the thoughts come in have your journal ready to record the thoughts and no matter how jumbled they may seem, just write them down. Then proceed to #2 and repeat this process until you have dropped the last one to the floor and recorded your response to that one.
Now, your final step here is to take all the paper slips numbered with all the items so critically important to you, and arrange them in their final order notwithstanding what number you originally gave them but based on your journaling. Your new #1 is exactly where YOU want to have the greatest influence! It is the “space” in which you will have the greatest energy, moving through any and all roadblocks that might get in your way!