A couple months ago, I received an email from a dear friend of mine from college who said he was in town to speak at Google.
Cool! I said, I'd love to connect. It was my son's birthday. I asked him to meet my kids and I at the farm, where we were celebrating. It was appropriately reminiscent of the rural settings in China where we worked together as part of a student-led micro-lending training program.
As I drove to the farm I reflected on that amazing experience in China, the families and individuals we met who were courageously combating poverty by becoming entrepreneurs and learning self-reliance. I thought about the obstacles we faced, mostly from the government organizations involved. I thought about how things changed after Jia arrived, and the lessons he taught me - that when things got hard, to remember the real reason we were there - to connect with people as individuals. He brought a zest and a fervor to our work. With his help we reached hundreds more people than we might have otherwise. Though we didn't stay connected much after college, I knew he would do great things no matter what he did. I was eager to learn about his path in the years since then.
I knew it would be interesting, but wow!
In the car I shared the whole story with my husband, who responded "Yeah, I've totally heard of him!" Well, I hadn't...where had I been? A little bit holed up, I admit. I'm a busy mom!
We got home and watched the youtube videos, including the Ted Talk. I was amazed. Inspired. Awed. My old buddy Jia! Famous all over the world. How cool is that?!
The more I thought about it, the more I saw an incredibly simple, incredibly powerful example of influence: Seek to turn your weakness into a strength, and share your journey with everyone you can.
The implications are endless.
Pick any dream, any struggle, any weakness or fear. Ideally one that involves or influences others. Determine something you are going to try to do for 100 days to overcome that weakness or fear. And write about it. Document it. Make it something you can do to inspire not only yourself but others. Kind of a built-in incentive to "stick-to-it". Think of all the positive change that would generate.
So, enough philosophizing. Time for some action. For my own part, inspired by my friend Jia, I feel like it is time to take this effort on "Influence" to the next level.
I have been concocting a little plan, not quite ready yet but soon forthcoming. One of my lifelong 'bucket list' dreams is about to begin to be fulfilled!!
