There is a whole lot that can be achieved if one can have influence on other people. The ability to influence people is one thing that differentiates successful persons from unsuccessful ones. There are so many ways to influence others and it makes one person more effective in his or her endeavors than another. Whatever it is that you do in life, you need to get assistance from people. No one lives in isolation. We always need people to do one thing or the other for us and for themselves. Most influential people know this. However, finding a way to get them to comply seems to be a more complicated issue than most people can handle. There are of course several ways to influence others and make them act or get them to do something. We could use force, threaten, or simply ask but the most glorious way to get a man or woman to do anything is to influence positively. To get them to the point where they actually want to do what you expect them to. That will have a lot more impact on you and on them than when they are forced to go against their own will.
There are certain qualities that give men the power to influence others. When we remember men like Nelson Mandela, Abraham Lincoln and all those whose names still echo through time, and consider the influence they had on their world, it becomes clearer what one can achieve by possessing the ability to influence others. There are certain qualities that made these men influential. Giving them the power to transform their world through the influence they had on people. So let’s look into those qualities that made men like the ones just mentioned influential.
Start by believing in yourself
No man can make impact or influence other people until they are able to believe in themselves. This is a necessary requirement for becoming an influential person. For a person to be influenced by you, that person needs to believe in you. As a matter of fact, the more an individual or group of people believe in you, the more influence you can have on them. So belief if a necessity for one to have influence and for people to be influenced. At the same time, you must realize that people are not going to believe in you until you believe in yourself. The influence you seek to have over people must start from yourself. No one can successfully influence others without the ability to influence himself. It therefore follows that the first requirement to influence other people is to strongly believe in you.
This requires that you have a keen knowledge of who you are, what you can do and where you are headed in life. An influential person must first be clear on these things. Seek clarity concerning your personality. Know what your aspirations are. Understand the things that influence you and why they do. Have a clear understanding of where you are headed. That is to say you must be a man with a vision and a dream. Know where you are going even if you do not understand how you are going to get there. These are the first stages of developing one’s personality and success in this stage sets the foundation for a life of influence.
There are so many people in the world who know little or nothing about themselves. They are not clear about their identity. Others do not really know what things they are good at. Such people are simply floating through time. They hardly believe in themselves since they have not even discovered their personality. Therefore, it is difficult for them to have influence on people. Sensible people only allow themselves to be influenced by those who have some level of clarity concerning their identity and where they are going in life. And it is difficult to be influential when people do not believe in yourself. So if you look forward to some day becoming an influential person, start with self-discovery and allow that revelation of yourself to develop self-confidence. Most influential people are so clear on their personality that it is difficult to even deviate them.
Add value to your life and those of others
The second thing most influential people possess is value. What you are worth to others determines your ability to influence them. Therefore, if you seek to be more influential, start adding value to your life today. Valuable people are irresistible people. It is difficult for men and women of value to be ignored. People know what they are worth and that quality not only draws people to them but also gives them the ability to influence those people. Value determines influence, therefore adding value to yourself is one of the most important ways to influence others. Make up your mind to be worth more to people than you are now and you will find it easier to influence them. There are a couple of things you need to do so that you can be worth more than you are now to the people you seek to influence.
Get knowledge about your field; Whatever it is that you do in life, make sure that with every passing day you know more. Don’t just depend on what you once learned in school. It may not be necessary for becoming an influential person today. Time changes and things change with it. whatever you learned two years ago may not be relevant for today’s situations and challenges. That is why you need to be the kind of person who is always learning. Get updated books, read article, learn from those who know more than you do or who are more experienced in your field than you are. To be influential is to be relevant and when you stop learning you start becoming irrelevant to people. If that happens you have little or no chances of influencing them. Still with regards to this, people allow themselves to be influenced by those who know more than they do. You have to be ahead of those you seek to influence and the best way to stay ahead is to always strive to know more.
Acquire more Skill; Men and women who are skillful at what they do are those who have more influence in their areas of expertise. For example, a medical doctor who wants to influence other doctors and even nurses must endeavor to become more skillful at what he or she does. One way to acquire skill is to practice. Put to work that which you have been able to learn. Whatever knowledge you have acquired has to be acted upon for it to be transformed to skill. It is like converting one form of energy to another. For example, just like a solar panel transforms solar energy to electrical energy, practice transforms knowledge to skill. Strive to be more skillful by putting to practice what you learn and you will be able to influence more people and to do so effectively.
Get better at communicating effectively
The most influential people are usually the most effective communicators. Communication is one of the most efficient ways to influence others. Therefore, if you cannot communicate effectively, you can as well forget about becoming an influential person. At best, the level of influence you have over people will be greatly limited. There are several things associated with communicating effectively. You can actually learn how to communicate effectively if it is your desire to have more influence on people.
First you need to be a good listener to be an effective communicator. So many people have the impression that communication starts with talking. But they are mistaken. You must first learn to listen before you can talk reasonably. And again, listening is not what some think it is. The first requirement for listening is paying attention. You cannot listen to someone if that person does not have your attention. And this is important for those who desire to influence others. When someone is talking to you, even if you know all what they are going to say, just listen to them like you know nothing at all. Pay attention and let them know you are listening by maintaining eye contact and nodding when necessary.
Secondly make sure you master the primary language you communicate with. This is also related to knowledge acquisition. One experiences difficulties when trying to communicate effectively in a language he or she does not properly understand. Learn how words are pronounced and pronounce them rightly.
Lastly, let your choice of words and tone of voice always be appropriate. Adjust these two aspects of your communication to suit the situation you are in.
Watch your dressing and the way you present yourself
The way you dress says a lot about your personality and so it also has the power to misrepresent you or to give people the wrong impression about your personality. Dress the way you will like to be addressed. Dress to look appealing to others. This is a key help by most influential people. We don’t just put on dresses to cover our nakedness. Dressing has the power to increase the level of influence we have over people. Dress responsibly and you will be perceived as such. Dress like a rascal and people would do everything they can to resist or ignore you. so when next you go shopping, remember the people you will like to influence and let the thought of them help you determine what to buy.
The way you present yourself starts from the way you dress but goes further than that. Self-presentation is much like marketing. How do you walk, how do you talk, how do you sit when you are around people? These are connected to body language and psychologists tell us that body language, aside from serving as a means of communication is a tremendously powerful way to influence people. When a person walks into a room full of other people, he or she has the power to change the mood of the whole place with the way they carry themselves. This is especially so if the other people present are expecting to hear something from that person. This is one reason why those who do any form of presentation on stages or in front of people are usually very conscious of how they carry themselves about on the stage.
In addition, you need to watch how you present yourself to people. What do you say about yourself? How do you say it? There are people who cannot even get others to believe in their own testimonies of themselves because they hardly portray any form of confidence when they speak. Be firm and confident when you are called upon to present yourself somewhere. Those who dress properly for every occasion and present themselves the right way are usually more influential than those who do not. Look out for this tip. It is vital for becoming an influential person.
Become excellent at what you do best
Everyone can be successful at anything. But excellence is something very few people possess. It is far more important that you have a mindset of excellence, not one of success. All excellent people are successful but most successful people hardly attain excellence. For one thing, people have a way of becoming content once they are successful. The motivation to go on and desire more is one thing that separates the successful people from the excellent ones. Many people even make success their limit or aim in life. They cannot see beyond success so they cannot go beyond it. But if you will be influential, you cannot end at being successful. You have to be a man or woman of excellence. Excellence must be your target. Look at all those who have made tremendous impact in the world and influenced people even while they are long gone. We are talking about men and women like Einstein, Mother Theresa, martin Luther King and the rest. They were people who sort for excellence and attained it. In whatever area of life they found their passion, excelling was their main agenda and of course we know and understand what tremendous influence they still have on people till date.
Learn to be a consistent person
Consistency is one of the most necessary demands for excellence and it is an absolute necessity for influencing people. Inconsistent people cannot have consistent influence. The influence they have on others is short lived and often ineffective. Whatever you do, discipline yourself to do it consistently or look for some other thing you can be consistent with. One reason why you need to be consistent to influence people is that consistency sponsors skill and helps you stay at the forefront. You can influence people as a follower but the most effective influencers are leaders. People look up to leaders. They follow leaders and easily allow themselves to be influenced by those who lead. But again for you to lead, you have to consistently be on the move. Consistently learning, consistently acting. There are some vital tips that can help anyone become consistent at what he or she does.
Set tasks for yourself, no matter how little or insignificant they may be. It will help you keep your focus on the things you have to be doing consistently. In turn that plan and consistency will increase your value. If it is a job, train yourself to finish certain tasks within a particular time frame. Make it your aim to accomplish little tasks that you set for yourself and within particular time frames. If it helps, you should make use of reminders to make keeping track of your tasks easier.
To accomplish those tasks and remain consistent, you need to be self-disciplined. No one can be consistent or even accomplish set tasks without practicing discipline. Discipline is the mark of consistency. The most disciplined men are the most consistent and consistent people have a great advantage at influencing people no matter their field. Consequently, if you seek to be influential, you need to hold on to the qualities of consistency, self-discipline and accomplishment of set tasks. It is indeed one of the best ways to influence others.
Value your word and never say more than you are willing to do
This is one other area you must take special note of. It will determine to a great extent how influential you are going to be. Be a man or woman of your word. Never talk before you think and never make promises or commitments by words which you are not willing to make good on. Doing that makes people loose trust in you and makes it difficult for you to influence them. It is not always easy to hold back your words especially when you are emotional. That is why influential man and women are people who have great control over their emotions. They understand that in a state of emotion, if one is not careful, they are going to say things they did not really mean and what better way to lose credibility than to say something before deciding you did not really mean to say it. It will take time and practice but if you are willing to put those two in, then you will definitely learn to control your words and the way you speak.
Then when you can help it, make sure you always make good on your words even if you did let them go by mistake. If for example you told someone you will be at their birthday party and did not really think before saying it, or had not checked your schedule before making the promise, you can at least try to show up just so you can learn to think next time before talking. Supposing you promise to buy something for someone and later discovered that thing is way more expensive than you thought, make the tough decision to still buy it. That is the price influential people have to pay very often. They value their words dearly and are willing to make good on their promises even when it will cost them something at the end.
Have genuine respect for people
To be influential is to be respected by those you influence. As a matter of fact, it is near impossible to influence people who do not respect you. Like they say, respect is reciprocal. If you want it, you must be willing and ready to give it. High minded and proud people often fail to get the respect of lowly men or to influence them because they find it hard to respect those people. You can force or threaten someone who is less than you in social standing but you cannot influence that person without showing genuine respect for his or her personality. So if you are going to influence anybody, no matter how lowly the person is, you have to show respect for them. for their personality, for their time and even for their efforts.
Show Appreciation
Why would anyone desire to influence others unless he or she wants those people to act in a certain way or to do something. The purpose of seeking influence over others is so that you can drive them to or from certain actions. The boss of a company will desire to influence his workers so that they can be more committed at work or his customers so that they can remain loyal. He surely knows how important this is to becoming an influential person. But people often miss a vital ingredient here. Appreciating people is the magic that make it easy to influence them and helps you keep them under your influence. When you genuinely appreciate people, they will want to do more and will definitely love to always stay around you.