Positive Influence: MADE FOR INFLUENCE
We are all hardwired for influence.
No matter what your personality, background, ethnic makeup, preferences, identity, or anything else one thing remains to be your true self evidently:
YOU ARE AN INFLUENCER.
Read the title of this article one more time. Notice the word “made”? This word also means created. Because you were MADE, that means that you have a MEANING, and if you have a meaning, you have a PURPOSE.
The one who made you made you for a reason.
Yes, that’s right… you have a purpose and a reason behind your life. It’s up to every person to search for this meaning and purpose and to write the manifesto of their lives. That manifesto sometimes looks like a physical anthology, and sometimes it looks like the influence of your character and teaching on the students who have come through your studio in the way they become artists and educators as well.
I want to help you potentially discover some critical components of finding this purpose.
THINK ABOUT IT
Have you ever thought about the power of influence and how it plays out to be true in your own life?
Let’s begin with a few probing questions to ask yourself:
Who has influenced me?
Who am I around right now that I potentially am influencing?
Am I connected to others?
Am I supposed to be connected to others?
What do I do if the other person isn’t safe?
What is my purpose?
Who am I created to be? What am I created to do?
All these questions I hope to address and answer all in a series of articles I am calling Positive Influence. This series comes from a desire to see the 402 Arts Collective and its Artist Members continue to wrestle with and find victory over the hard questions that haunt the heart and mind.
I personally certainly have wrestled and continue to wrestle with these questions to this day. My personal belief is that if someone can face these questions and matters of influence, they can discover true purpose and meaning in their life.
“True purpose is found in positive influence.”
Every single person is hand-crafted to be an influencer to the people around them.
The question is, is it positive or negative?
No matter who you are, the fact remains that you influence those around you right now: in your workplace, in the studio, at your home, at your church, in your community, or friend group. You even influence the members of your own family.
Are you able to identify whether your influence on those people around you is positive or negative?
Maybe before we attempt to answer that question we should start with some basics of influence that have to be talked about:
Are you connected to actual people?
It’s hard to have any influence on anyone if you are not “connected” to others. This means that if you think you are going to influence others while sitting at home all day and night alone watching Netflix and not interacting with the human race you are mistaken.
The events of the past few years have certainly made this more challenging for some. The restrictions of gatherings and social events have limited our ability to get out and build those relationships certainly. But we have to push through this temptation to recede into our dens and come out into the light of day so we can step into our real purpose.
So, right now, take an inventory of your life and think about this first important step in finding purpose and what you can do today to take at least one step closer to other people around you.
Now that we’ve talked about the fact that other people are a critical component of influence, let’s talk about what kind of influence you are having on them.
Influence can be categorized into two options: Positive or Negative.
The true purpose is not found in negative influence.
My hope and prayer for you are that you would truly find encouragement today in my words to truly give over your life to the work of positive influence of others.
This is what the 402 Arts Collective is all about and promotes in everything we do.
We hope to impact the culture, community, and lives of every person we come in contact with through any of our programs. We impact lives through the arts. We strive to make sure that we make a POSITIVE IMPACT through all that we do, as a collective, as individuals, and as people MADE FOR INFLUENCE.
