Before you start your day, take a moment and walk with me… a quick, figurative one. I know you are busy and you have a lot to do today. Just a few minutes, is all I ask.
Pause for a moment, and think about your life, and your journey to get where you are right now. Think about all the stops and starts, wins and losses, and turns you have lived through. You with me? OK… hold onto your memory of that fascinating journey for a few moments.
We all have a unique origin story of how we ended up where we are. But as unique as each of our journeys undoubtedly is, all of our journeys have a few things in common. And the most common characteristic is certainly this: all of our journeys were significantly impacted at a few critical moments by people who took an interest in us and believed in us.
Do you remember a moment when someone entered your life and believed in you? And perhaps more importantly, encouraged you to believe in yourself?
Perhaps it was the teacher who was the first person who took you seriously.
Perhaps it was the colleague who gave you opportunities no one else thought you could handle.
Perhaps it was the friend who always accepted you for who and what you are, no matter what.
Or perhaps it was someone else who just helped you look differently at the person in the mirror. We all have those people in our past who took a chance on us, and helped us think differently about ourselves and the opportunities in front of us.
Now shift your focus away from your own journey, for a moment. I know its hard… each of us is the star of our own play, after all. And that’s certainly fun to think about. But we all also play a critical supporting role in the plays of countless other people. And as we start to think about the journeys of others, ask yourself this… what is your role in their play?
Think about the impact that those critical few people had on your journey. And think about how you can provide that sort of impact for others. Look around you. Do you see someone who could use a little lift? Do you see someone who is having trouble seeing what they can be? Maybe that is a supporting role that is tailor made for you.
My suggestion for you today is this… You are strong, you have skills and influence, and have achieved a certain amount of success. So, use it. Help someone else find their voice, discover their path, and believe in themselves, the same way others have done for you. There is literally no greater gift you can give to another human being.
In this blog, we write about communication in very tangible ways. That’s our goal here at The Latimer Group… to help you be the best communicator possible. But once we have the skills, we need to spend some time thinking about the ways in which we will use our communication skills. That is the point of today’s conversation.
How will you use your voice? I hope you will use it to advocate for yourself, your ideas, your project or your company. But I also hope you will use it to advocate for someone else whose voice is not as well developed as yours. Use your voice to help someone else develop theirs. Powerful stuff…
Onward… have a great day.
Does your team:
– Take too long to make decision?
– Fail to ask for what it wants or needs from you?
– Make things too complicated?
– Deliver unconvincing or disorganized presentations?
– Have new hires who are unprepared to communicate in the workplace?
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