4 ways to make a positive influence in your community

Today we saw a friend and neighbor running down the street. Spontaneously, my 13 and 14-year-old daughters began shouting and cheering him on as he ran by our house.

At that moment I was further reminded of the critical part we play in the relationships with the people who live and work and play in our spaces and places of influence.

Remember today that your community matters and you play an important part in the temperature of that community.

With your words and actions, you will either generate positive, the forward movement for the better OR by your words and actions you will generate negative, obstacles that interfere with the best possible outcome.

Here are 4 suggestions for making a positive impact in your community.

1- Think before you speak or act. – literally, take a breath and pause before you respond to a question or a situation.

2- Speak the truth in love toward those around you.

3- Maintain high positive regard for the people you interact with, and when you can’t, be sure your words are motivated by a desire to do good and not evil.

4- Cheer your neighbors on as they run past your house!

Your community matters and you have influence there.
How will you use it today?

Better leaders, better community, better world.

If you work on leadership skills, your family and your neighborhood get better, right?! Then if your family and your neighborhood get better, your area; your town/city gets better, the local coffee shop, the board of education improves, your entire community improves.

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Everything rises and falls on leadership

John C. Maxwell

Now I don’t mean to throw a statement at you like that as soon as you jump on. But I want to say it every day because every day I’m believing this more and more. The better the leadership the better the world. I know this sounds wild, and I realize that this sounds idealistic. I continue to see as I get older and live more of my life, I see the impact that leadership has on homes, on families, and in communities around those homes, and in spaces when you go to the store Target/Walmart, you see the impact of leadership in these people lives, and I just want to say this week that your personal leadership matters.

Your leadership matters right where you’re at. You have the potential, this sounds insane I know, but you have the potential to impact the world from where you live. If your leadership impacts your home for the better, that will impact your neighborhood for the better, even in the relationship with your neighbors and the people you interact with every day. Communication gets better, teamwork gets better, as you work on your own leadership, your fitness gets better, your thinking gets better. If you work on leadership skills, your family and your neighborhood get better, right?! Then if your family and your neighborhood get better, your area; your town/city gets better, the board of education improves, the township improves. When you walk into your local coffee shop with clarity and confidence to talk to the barista with compassion and intention you will improve the environment. Local people get helped by your improved leadership competency; by your increased abilities to make people feel safe to carry on conversations that are meaningful, and so it goes on from your neighborhood then your city and then to the county and people you interact with and the influence you have.

You’ve all heard stories about how a smile begets a smile. I just want to tell you your leadership matters. I am committed to improving my own leadership with you, to help people’s leadership get better together. Not just in their home, not just with their family, but in their work. Because if we help each other get better, with our leadership personally and professionally the world is a better place. John Maxwell said it well: “Everything rises and falls on leadership”. your community rises and falls on the leadership within it or lack thereof. Will you be part of raising it up or letting it fall?

Let’s go together to a place where our leadership is improving, and we’re seeing real change in our family, in our neighborhood, and as a result, in the growing community around us because everything improves when the leader gets better. There is no doubt about that.

I’m in love with the idea that you guys are desiring to be great leaders!

Use the comments below to share one area of leadership you are looking to improve on.

Maybe you’re a student-athlete, maybe you’re a professional business leader, and you’re trying to improve your leadership but stuck somewhere, I’m curious what kind of roadblocks are there that you need to overcome?