How to Become an Influencer,
Step One
You can get hundreds, even thousands, of people to give you their attention, trust you and follow your advice. You become their influencer and succeed.
You start by creating an inner circle of influence that includes everyone around you.
How?
Use this simple, but powerful method from L. Ron Hubbard:
“Just figure out how you would want people to treat you.
“You would possibly, first of all, want to be treated justly: you wouldn’t want people lying about you or falsely or harshly condemning you. Right?
“You would probably want your friends and companions to be loyal: you would not want them to betray you.”
“You would want people to be fair in their dealings with you.
“You would want them to be honest with you and not cheat you. Correct?
“You might want to be treated kindly and without cruelty.”
“You would probably prefer to be given respect, not insulted.
“Possibly you would want others to be polite to you and also treat you with dignity. Right?
“You might like people to admire you.
“When you did something for them you would possibly like people to appreciate you. Correct?
“You would probably like others to be friendly toward you.
“From some you might want love.
“And above all, you wouldn’t want these people just pretending these things, you would want them to be quite real in their attitudes and to be acting with integrity*.”
“It requires no great stretch of imagination for one to recognize that if he were to be treated that way regularly by others around him, his life would exist on a pleasant level.” — L. Ron Hubbard, The Way to Happiness (*integrity: honesty, truthful)
You can apply this method in two different ways:
Application #1: Influence Your Inner Circle
1. Make a list of each person you wish to influence: spouse, children, friends, bosses, co-workers, colleagues, employees and so on.
2. Next to each name, write how you want each person to treat YOU.
3. Finally, write how you should treat that person, in that same way.
4. Take action. Treat that person in the way you wrote down.
You might be amazed at how quickly this works. Be prepared to persist for a long time, so don’t give up!
Example
You want your boss to actually listen to your ideas, for a change.
You say to yourself, “Can I listen to her ideas more carefully?”
You realize you don’t listen to her ideas very well.
“I’ve been pretending to listen while thinking of reasons she is wrong. I think of my own, much better ideas. I think of ways to change her mind.”
So you apply this method and carefully listen to her.
You think, “Oh! Her ideas actually make sense. I’ll do what she wants. This will be good.”
Suddenly, you hear the words you love to hear. “So, what do you think?”
It works!
You then use this method to:
- Get your daughter to appreciate you . . . by appreciating her.
- Get your neighbor to be patient with your dog . . . by being patient with his motorcycle.
- Get your mom to not annoy you with her political views . . . by not annoying her with your complaints.
- Get a coworker to be kind and give you rides . . . by being kind and buying him breakfasts.
You use this method every day and your circle of influence steadily grows.
Application #2: Upgrade Your Entire Personality
You can become an influencer and a leader with these steps.
1. List all the ways you need or want others to treat you. List every quality you can think of. Examples:
- Honest
- Good-natured
- Fair
- Discreet
- Considerate
- Compassionate
- Self-controlled
- Tolerant
- Forgiving
- Benevolent
- Generous
- Respectful
- Polite
- Appreciative
- Friendly
- Self-confident
- Focused
- Cheerful
- Intelligent
- Organized
- Responsible
- Committed
- Fun
- Enthusiastic
- Positive
- Disciplined
- Team-player
- Sincere
- Courageous
- Caring
- Dependable
- Humble
- Proud
- Hard working
- Motivated
- Accessible
- Confident
- Assertive
- Protective
- Humorous
- Self-starter
- Extra-miler
- Encouraging
- Optimistic
- Realistic
- Good Listener
- Persistent
- Reliable
- Helpful
- Patient
- Ethical
- Good sport
- Mature
- Open
- Resourceful
- Peaceful
- Prompt
- Grateful
- Loyal
- Calming
- Decisive
- Balanced
- Curious
- Energetic
- Willing
- Outgoing
- Perceptive
- Inspirational
- Imaginative
- Interested
- Accurate
- Communicative
- Affectionate
- Agreeable
- Understanding
- Understandable
- Kind
- Tough
- Persuasive
- Thrifty
- Loving
- Causative
- Smart
- Passionate
- Motivational
2. Next to each quality, rate yourself on a scale of 1-10 with 1 meaning you do not have this quality and 10 meaning you do have the quality.
3. Write Action Steps to improve your weakest personality points. Constantly work on improving these qualities until you bring them up to a 10.
As a result, people listen to you, learn from you and want to be like you.
You give them advice that helps them succeed.
Because of your new level of influence, your own success explodes!