Are You An Influencer? I Say Yes You Are!

Today I answered an interesting question in a room full of women from all over the world. Yes, it was an online room, on zoom.us there were about 12 of us and the group has been initiated by one of the best influencers I have the pleasure of personally knowing Karyn Ross, who is not just a Shingo Prize winning author, she is most importantly for me a mentor, a coach, one of the most authentic and kindest people I know and also the founder of the https://loveandkindnessproject.org/; Today also happens to be Day 32 of my social media “diet”, to follow Rule #3 in Cal Newport’s book Deep Work , (full disclosure, I never really gave up LinkedIn but I wasn’t very distracted by it either).

So, the question posed to all of us in the room by the brilliant Marianna from Iceland, was to provide an example of we have influenced others already or been influenced by others recently?

It is a brilliant question because regardless of your “social media” presence or your day job, you are always influencing someone, anyone you are interacting with and if you are sitting at home truly alone, you are still influencing the most important person in your life “yourself”; Your thoughts generate emotions, your emotions drive your feelings and your feelings produce certain chemical reactions in your body that you may experience as peace, pleasure or pain. How you feel is directly impacted by how you choose to perceive the world around you, that’s why “influencing” someone can be a touchy subject;

The lovely Leslie (who is my mentor Karyn’s mentor) provided some wise words on influencing, she said the best way to influence someone is to let them come to their own conclusions.

This morning as I listened to the women in the room, I was inspired to write and be truly grateful for all the influencers in my life; Every human is unique and beautiful in their own way and if you simply take the time to be open and curious they may indeed influence you in some of the most amazing ways. So tell me, what do you think about your ability to influence or get influenced by people? Where have you had the most amount of success? Do you think your ability and opportunity to connect with the people who are going to move you closer to your goals are better or worse? I would love to hear your opinion of how you perceive the power of connection in current circumstances.

Even though for me, my connection with my global tribe has deepened, I definitely miss the physical connection; on the other “lack of physical contact” bright side, I can keep my house messy, a rare trip to the local Costco or grocery store definitely feels like an adventure and I am having a pretty amazing time connecting with my new puppy Odin!