Would you rather have, status or influence?
While it’s tempting to use these terms interchangeably, they are actually quite different.
Status is more concerned with our standing compared to others and how they might see us.
Influence is less concerned with what others think of us and more focused on developing our capacity to have a positive effect on others.
When status is our goal, we learn to compare ourselves to others to determine whether they are better than us or less than us.
Our sense of self worth becomes dependent upon gaining the approval of others.
When we reject status, we are released from the bondage of caring what others think about us.
This, in turn, greatly enhances our capacity to have a positive impact on others because we aren’t wasting our time seeking their validation.
We can focus on the message we wish to deliver instead of obsessing over how others see us.
Influence is more concerned with sharing light with others while status, too often, becomes an excuse to blow out someone else’s candle.
Throughout our lives, each of us has the opportunity to share a message that someone desperately needs to hear.
Our status is less likely to create the kind moments of clarity that accompany lasting change in our lives or the lives of others.
Our influence, on the other hand, can be precisely the tool to open hearts and minds, now and even long after we are gone.
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