What do you really want to achieve in the world? Not just in terms of work, but in your whole life?
As I’ve said before, you really need to think about this first if you are going to be able to start growing your influence effectively.
I have thought about this issue a lot over the years and there are three, central things for me.
1- Be a good person to the people I care most about
I want to be able to feel that I was there for the people who matter most to me- my family and my close friends.
2- Make a small, unique contribution
I want to use the gifts that only I possess (just like each of us has our own gifts) to make a contribution to the world. At the moment and for the foreseeable future- if not for ever- that is through my work as The Influence Expert. I know that I can do good work in this area and help others. All my hard work, my experiences and every conversation I have ever had in my life feeds into my ability to make a positive contribution in this area.
3- Add at least a tiny bit more to the world than I ‘take away’
In some ways this is the most complicated one to explain or to achieve. At this point in my life I still feel I have taken a lot from the world. Someone provided food and shelter for me growing up. Other people’s taxes provided me with education and healthcare. My actions- such as travelling by air- have polluted the environment (I’m not beating myself up about this, travel has made me who I am, it’s just a fact that it has some negative consequences too). During the rest of my life I want to ‘settle my account’ in feeling that I have given something back.
What do you want to achieve and why?
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