“Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. How do you gain influence from people? You invest in them. How do you invest in them? It starts with giving them time.”
John C. Maxwell, Leadership Gold
Beyond the Quote (162/365)
Investing time into another person is undoubtedly one of the most powerful ways to influence them. For, time is our most precious resource and when somebody shares their most precious resource with you, it is a clear showing that you are precious to them. If you had a very precious diamond, you wouldn’t just share that with anybody would you? You would only share that with someone precious—someone close.
Time is even more valuable than a precious diamond. Diamonds can be bought, sold, replaced, traded for, discovered—time cannot. Time is only given to you in one single momentary serving at a time—no more and no less. There’s no buying more, selling extra, replacing or trading anything you have for more, and it can’t be discovered. Once you decide how to use that one momentary serving of time that has been given to you, that’s it. It’s spent. Never to be returned. This is why time shared is the ultimate gift.
There are an infinite number of other ways that you might influence somebody else, as we are influencing people every second of every day with every choice we make. The only way to avoid influencing another person is to avoid interaction with other humans altogether—and that’s no way to live. And so, if you want to have a positive influence on others, investments of time is the pinnacle—it’s the direct connection between you and that other person. Next, you might also influence indirectly. Everything from the clothes you wear and your body language, to the things you post on your timeline(s) and what you comment on other people’s timelines, to the work that you do and the pieces of art that you share with the world, are all examples of indirect influences.
Indirect connection is obviously less powerful than direct connections but can still have a powerful effect—especially after a sustained exposure to them. When you think about who has influenced you the most in your life, you’ll realize that it was the people who either had the most direct connection time with you or the people who have had the greatest number of indirect connection influences over you. This is why your mom and dad typically shape who you are the most. This is also why somebody like Gary Vee, who you might never have had even a single moment of direct connection time with, can have such a profound impact on your life. It’s not because of the one thing he said that one time—it’s because it’s the 10,000th time you’ve heard him say something.
The bottom line is that if leadership is influence and influence happens every second of every day based on every choice we make, then we’re all leaders whether we want to be or not. Again, the only way to avoid this is to avoid human interaction altogether—and what’s the point in that? The only difference between those who are deemed “leaders” and those who consider themselves “followers” or “nonleaders” is a varying degree of intensity. Some people live specifically to influence others and some people influence others as they live nonspecifically.
Think about it like this. We will all influence millions and millions of people over the course of our lifetime—how could we not? Every single action we take has a reaction and will more than likely, either directly or indirectly, and either now or later, influence another. The question is, are the actions we’re taking deliberate and pointed or are they vague and nonspecific? Remember, if you want to have a bigger influence on people, focus less on “collecting followers” and focus more on investing time and living a more deliberate and pointed life. The ripples from a life lived with focus and purpose will ripple waves of influence outwards on its own accord—no silly follower gimmicks required.
This is one of the great realizations in life—that we are not alone or separate from the collective web of interactions that make up the human race. We are all so deeply connected and interwoven to one another that it would literally be impossible to trace and sort out the web as a whole. And that’s okay—sorting it all out would be a waste of time anyway because it’s forever changing every second of every day with every action of every person on earth. And so live accordingly. Don’t think for a second that your life doesn’t matter—it absolutely does. You cannot pull even one strand of fabric from the collective that is a blanket without affecting every single other strand that is a part of it. And so it is with you and the human race. So take the time that you’ve been blessed with in this moment and invest. No saving for later and no re-dos. Whatever you choose to do, remember, whether you intend to or not, we will be influenced. It may just feel like a drop in the ocean, but that drop changes the ocean forever.
Read Next: 26 Powerful John C. Maxwell Quotes from Leadership Gold
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