I hope you’re hungry because I have a lot of food for thought right now.
I was talking with someone who is super spiritually aware and always sees things at their foundation recently and they got me thinking. They view life as something to be dissected and enjoyed. And one of the crazy thoughts he had was the differences between impact and influence. This is gonna be choppy and all over the place but it really got me thinking. Its important to realize that both are great and both are extremely needed in our lives. We need to be pursing to give and receive both of these things. To be influential and get influenced. To provide the impact and be impacted.
There are people in our lives who are always there right. Sometimes it can be our parents, spouse, best friend, siblings, etc. Most of us, have that one person who is always there. But in our lives we also have those people who are there for a season. Who are there at precisely the right moment and save us from something that could have happened or comfort us when it hits the fan. Those people who arrive just when the need to, but sadly they leave. The people who’s relationships turn into the good ol’ days vs the relationship that turn into a good ol’ life together. Both are super necessary and both are desperately needed.
Here’s where it might get confusing, or it might not so here ya go. We talked about impact vs influence. And how they are so different. Someone who is there at the right time can make an impact but someone who is always there is influencing. We can infer that influence lasts longer then an impact, while an impact can have a greater impact in a shorter span of time. Influence spreads out over time, while an impact is done in just moments. I like to think about it like driving a car. If you get hit that is both literally and theoretically you bracing for impact. You get hit, people can see how your car has changed in the form of scratches, dings, dents etc. personifying that example, its the scars we have on our bodies and in our hearts. They are all evidence of an impact that happened. They can be bad times in our lives but they don’t have to be! There are numerous examples in our lives where we have been impacted by kindness and love. Just think about you life’s Top Ten Moments and I guarantee you were impacted because of those moments.
So that is being hit by the car, you get impacted. Hopefully your still following my thoughts here. Influencing would be the fact that your seat belt is on, you are obeying the speed limit, following traffic laws, have a license in the first place, working wind shield wipers, air in the tires, and gas in the tank. All of those things. Influence is so necessary to actually getting the car to move, but now that the car is moving its able to make an impact. Now that the person is motivated and ready, they can make an impact because they are influenced to do so. Impact is something that you can brace for. You know…”brace for impact”. But you can never brace for influence. Because sometimes you can’t tell that you are being influenced until its already happening. Until someone points it out that your different, or until you see that the car is moving. You can feel the wind passing though the open windows kinda thing.
I am still trying to process how this transfers to what I want to blog about. Blog about the analogy or blog about the concept? Neither? Both? For what this is, I am still working out the kinks and extracting more things from the conversation. I hope that this provokes a conversation or thought that is fruitful.
