Your Sphere

"It's not just for its influence on us, but to know that we can play a part in it, to understand the influence that we have outside our own existence." - Siobhan Davies

A friend of mine, Dean Sweetman was attending a conference some years ago to a world-renowned speaker. As he sat there, he sent out a message on Twitter that read "listening to amazing stories that have impacted church growth world wide." He went on to say, "I feel small."

Dean may have felt small in that moment, yet I can feel small in comparison to Dean's huge sphere of influence. So it isn't about comparisons. It is about our own world and what we can do within it. So as I read his message again, it occurred to me that our own sphere of influence can also be quite large.

I have a rough idea of where my sphere of influence spreads. How my words and motivation reach people in many far reaching places. But more importantly, it starts closest to me both with my own attitude and my family. It then spreads to close friends and those I come in contact with as the circle grows bigger.

Think of the effect a pebble in the water has. The ripples closest to the impact (you) are largest and they smooth out the further away from the epicenter. This sphere of influence can grow and shrink over time.

For me, it grows as more people read my books and read my blog articles. For some, that influence can leap to huge proportions such as when a person like Oprah Winfrey takes notice. But even if it doesn't grow to grand expectations, the influence is just as powerful.

Each of us have levels of influence. It simply starts with the attitude you carry inside. It will impact those around you, your wife, your kids your friends and co-workers.

You carry it with you 24 hours a day each and every day.

You carry it with you at home and wherever you travel.

You carry it inside and in the things you do.

Never feel small because the influence you carry is huge. Your sphere of influence is greater than you think. Make it the right kind of influence and see what great things happen as you impact the lives of other people.

Stay inspired my friends.

Influences

"We perceive and are affected by changes too subtle to be described." -Henry David Thoreau

I hear many times during the work week people talking about the issues they have with their job or life that is going on around them. Listening to them, you would wonder how it is they struggle to even get up in the morning. To face the world must be such a huge problem for them. As I listen to them, it strikes me they have a few things in common.

One is that they have a perpetual wallowing in self doubt and complaint regarding their surroundings. I have wondered why they remain within that constant cycle of complaint. Maybe it would be better to step back, look at life and examine their surroundings. In doing so, maybe they will begin to understand the influences that surround their lives.

Now is the time for you to figure out what is happening in your world that forever holds you back. Now is the time to change things in your life. Maybe a different radio station. Maybe a different route to work. Maybe just a determination to change your own attitude.

The influences that surround your life are very powerful in a subtle way. Do you congregate with friends that are always negative about things? Try meeting more positive people. This does not mean to bring your troubles and pains to them. It means to listen and catch the spirit of their life.

I have repeated to many people an old phrase which says, "tell me your sad story and I will tell you a hundred sadder stories." What happens to you, to me or to others is life. Life itself is an influence on us and how we choose to respond is up to us.

An example of changing up the influences in life is one of music. I have a wide range of musical taste and for a long time listened to rock stations on the way to and from work. With the aggressive music I found myself becoming much more aggressive in my driving habits. I would race to be ahead of the other 20 or 30 thousand cars on the freeway. Driving this way would push me to the point of complete irritation.

I found my work day was starting out in a very bad way and coming home I was wound so tight, the transition to home life was difficult at best. Something had to change, I needed to find a way to relax during the drive. So I found it by switching the radio station to classical music. My drive became filled with the soothing sounds of the great composers. My drive to or from work is now filled with relaxation and not irritation. It certainly helps me stay unwound and better able to focus.

The point being is that I examined one part of my life and made a change. I made the choice to change my life and attitude which in turn effected others around me. By doing so, by examining your surroundings and than making a change in your life, the results can be amazing.

Enjoy the results of change by changing from the wrong influences to the right kind of influences. And most of all, say inspired my friends.

Influencing Yourself

Here we are into the first day of a holiday week here in the U.S. Our independence holiday is on Wednesday, so many people have taken days off and most work schedules are relaxed. There are those of us that are working all week with the holiday itself off. Yet there are many people that will be working on the holiday, as happens around the world on holidays of many kinds. The wheels of business must continue to turn and it takes people to make it happen.

As my week begins, it makes me think of what impact each of us can have upon our own lives as well as others. My friend and pastor, Dean Sweetman recently said, "what you think about is what you are. What you read about is what influences you." Pretty simple logic but it is something we tend to forget.

Everyday we have the ability to influence our own lives by what we choose to read, watch and the people we associate with. Our own lives are ours to choose how to live and to determine those influences. While we have to exist in a world where there are thousands of positive and negative influences, each of us have the power of choice.

I have had people state to me that there is no choice in circumstance. To a degree, circumstance is the unpredictable nature of life itself. But how you react to it, how you position yourself to overcome negative circumstance is the choice you make. You can remain entrenched in negative influences or choose to move out of it.

Placing yourself around other people that are more supportive in nature, changing your reading habits to something more uplifting and choosing positive words will move you towards overcoming the negative. None of this means that you shield yourself from reality or hiding from the bad things. What it means is teaching yourself how to overcome adversity and prevent yourself from being dragged down.

A week like this allows a quieter atmosphere to perform your job and to also take time to think of new ways. The seven minutes of thought for yourself, to develop ways to encourage yourself and to change any negative habits...use those minutes to influence yourself.

Influence Upon Change

“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.” Maya Angelou

There are days when you get bouts of reflection regarding people you know. Family, friends or co-workers. Each of us tend to develop thoughts and beliefs about those people, looking to see what they will become.

It may be a troubled teen that just seems to fight against understanding. Or the co-worker that just doesn't understand the meaning of succeeding in their job. Each of them on a path that you have no control over. As I have written before, you dictate your own attitude and path within life. There will be influences upon your life, but you have choice.

That influence I speak of is also something that each of us possess and on others. You can have positive influences and negatives influences upon others. Choose the positive ones and watch that person change over time. You'll be surprised by all of those changes that it takes to create this new person.

Yet when it happens and you see the grand butterfly of a person's life unfold, it will be due to all of those changes, all of those influences by many others including yourself.

Influence Upon Others

"Your life can and is an influence upon those who need it most." - Joseph Primm

Yes, that is me quoting myself above. I've quoted many a person in my writings and have always felt a privilege to learn from those small bits of wisdom. There have been many times that I have written saying you need to step out in faith.

There will be those times when you simply can not see tomorrow clearly. You have prepared and done things to set yourself up for success. But tomorrow has what I've read is a certain amount of randomness to it. You can only try to prepare yourself to be in as good of a position (economically, socially, physically) to overcome - or take advantage - of what tomorrow brings.

The rest becomes faith in what will happen. Your faith is derived from what ever your philosophical or theological teachings have given you. You believe in yourself and move forward with your own wisdom. I believe my life as is your life can and is an influence upon others. We step out each day knowing that we can contribute to others.

It does not mean that we should force upon others that which we believe. We simply provide influence and example to others. The act of doing will help others to better their own lives should they choose to make a change. Remember that even the most successful among us are not the happiest, nor the poorest the saddest.

Only you can decide what the definition of a 'better life' is for you. And to understand where you are in life, you study the example of others. You learn what ways of living can improve those areas of life that you want to change. So for others, providing example and influence upon others will help get people where they want to be.

The influence you have upon others works in reverse as well. Others have influence upon you as well. The good, the bad - each can push us towards either direction. Exact the good parts of your life around others, learn from the good of others all in a manner that will better your life.

So I've gotten a bit deep and probably not extremely clear in the idea. Simply put, that which you do has influence upon others. Be a good influence to others. Those that need it the most will be enriched the most.

Farming Hearts and Minds

The environment around you regardless of where you are is your field of influence. A field that includes the hearts and minds of other people that enter in, pass through and generally any one that you encounter through out your life. It is a field that you impact by your actions and words.

As a farmer plants seeds and tends to the field, you also have responsibility for the seeds you plant in the hearts and minds of others. You can tend to them over time and watch those people grow and move to greatness. Or you can ignore them and watch them wither. These interactions go on everyday both to you and by you.

You may be 'planting' seeds within the fields of your influence, but others are doing the same as you enter theirs. When two mindful farmers enter each others environment, a wonderful thing happens to both people. The metaphor for tending a field of influence can be difficult to follow in its concept, but the more you think about it, clarity will come to your understanding.

The basic premise for me when it comes to 'farming' your field of influence is this. Do not leave people where you find them. Help them, nurture them and bring them to a higher place. Leave them with hope and understanding that life has much to offer them.

The 'harvest' of a well tended field will yield much to you. Your life will be enriched for the experience and be more bountiful in its rewards. In all that you do, leave that which you enter better then when you found it. Leave the heart and mind of others in a better place.

Your Field

Recently I listened to a speaker talk about your sphere of influence. That area or impact that you can have on those that enter or pass through your life. Taken in its simplest form, as you go about life, your family, friends, co-workers, people at the store you shop in, where you buy your gas, church and everything you do.

During these moments of interaction when you speak, the way you conduct yourself and the way you respond is a chance to impact another life. If you think about it, everywhere you go you create a sphere of influence. As the saying goes, "wherever you go, there you are" and so is your ability to impact people.

What all of this means is that your influence and ability to impact people moves with you. In example, I will be leaving on a business trip to India in the near future. Many would say to me that I'll be out of my comfort zone, out of my environment. But my environment is all around me where ever I go. I carry my own environment and people I come across are coming into my field as it is called.

A field you may wonder? I'll talk more about that next time I write. Just know that as you move about in your daily life, that where ever you go, you can have impact on others. Try not to lose any opportunity to engage and create change.