influence

Couple with a dog laughing

Love Is Intentional

, , 93

There are new relationships of all kind being established every day. From meeting that special someone in hopes of spending the rest of your life with, to acquiring that new client you hope to keep as a lifetime customer. We enter these relationships with great hopes for the future and we become so excited about where we believe the relationship is going. In the beginning, we have such a clear vision of what the end would be like but unfortunately, too many of our relationships fail just as fast as they begin. One day a couple gets married with such great hopes for a family future and then a year later they’re divorced. Or for that businessman or entrepreneur with a great plan and customer base, one day finds himself wondering what happened. We’ve all witnessed too many great relationships start well but end up in the gutter over trivial or unexplainable things.

If there is one thing that I could get across to the world, it would be this. ‘Love doesn’t just happen.’ Meaning, successful relationships are not going to just fall from the sky and then we live happily ever after, but they require work. If we care to be honest with ourselves, one of the main reasons relationships go south is because people are not willing to put forth an effort to maintain and cultivate the type of relationships they desire.

Amazing, long-term relationships are obtainable but we must first know and understand that love is intentional. If you want to grow any type of relationship, you must love on purpose. You must have a purposeful, genuine care for those in a relationship with you. It is a choice we make to develop a long-lasting bond with those we are close to or desire to have in our circle of influence. We all at times find ourselves in difficult seasons in our relationships but if we want the type of relationships that thrive and become envied by others; we must be intentional about growing them to be fulfilling relationships.

Understand this, that love by nature is intentional. It naturally wants to see every relationship do well. So when we walk in love, we decide to do whatever it takes to make that relationship work. The true love of God (agape) wants to see people fulfilled and because it is the most powerful force ever, it can’t fail. I believe God IS love and when we walk in love, we walk in God and because He can’t fail, love can’t fail, therefore love is success.

Walking in this kind of love that moves us to victory and success starts with the right mindset. Intentional love requires intentional thinking. We would all agree that actions are directly dictated by thoughts and if that’s true, we must commit to having the right mindset in relationships.

What are your thoughts right now towards your loved one or your clients or those you serve? Are you intentionally having positive, loving thoughts or ideas of adding value to your relationships? Or are you constantly replaying all the negative things that you’ve experienced or currently experiencing? Many people fail to understand that negative thoughts create a just as clear vision as positive thoughts, and that vision creates passion and energy to fulfill itself.

Too many people are creating negative realities they don’t want and end up wondering why they are where they are. It’s just the creative power of thought. It’s time to get rid of those negative thoughts or visions and begin to intentionally meditate on what YOU want to do in your relationships to make them successful. Then, let’s act on those thoughts. Do something big to get the momentum going and with intentional thoughts, keep moving forward.

You have amazing relationships waiting to be established and everyone around you is in the market for the love you have. It is a human need but it’s up to you to find out how you’re going to intentionally fulfill those needs and add value to them through love.

Love Is Success

skye-studios-465231-unsplash

Love Is Influence

, 7

Have you ever had someone in your life that could really use some help and you thought to yourself “I really want to help them.” Maybe it was obvious that they were making some bad decisions and you thought “Man, if I can just get them to hear me out, I could be a huge help.”

The first thing many people want to do is get aggressive and try to force change to happen. “I’m going to make you act right” but just end up pushing them away and utterly destroy the relationship. Or maybe, you’re an entrepreneur or business owner with a product or service that could improve your client’s situation or life. The last thing you want to do is push them away and lose someone that could really use your product or service and on top of that you lose out on a sale.

Regardless of the scenario you find yourself in, what you need at this point is influence.

Influence is the capacity to have an affect on the character or behavior of someone or something. It’s simply the ability to persuade.

You see, that’s the beauty of love. It is influence. Think about it. What happens when you are convinced that a person is really for you and genuinely care about your wellbeing and there’s no selfish agenda? Think about the access you give them. They are the ones you let in close and they are the ones that you listen to when they speak. They have a position in your life with the privilege to speak over you, when others can’t. They have influence.

Have you ever watched a negotiator successfully stop someone from committing suicide or killing people? What is it that persuaded the person to give in? They became convinced that someone truly cared about them. Love persuaded their decision and altered their life.

It’s the same way in all other areas of life where people are concerned. It could be with your business clients, your boss on the job or just people in passing. It doesn’t matter what the relationship is. One of the greatest needs of mankind is having significance. Showing people that they matter, they are needed and wanted. Making them feel that they’re an important piece to the puzzle. When they are convinced that you are genuinely concerned about them and that you have their best interest at heart, you will have amazing influence in their life. Yes, even your boss!!!

See, because love is selfless, it chooses to leave its own world, its comforts and entitlements to penetrate someone else’s world to influence it and make it beautiful. It’s sacrificial and all about adding value to someone else’s life in some kind of way.

Who do you know that can use some loving influence?

Is it a sibling, client, friend or spouse? What about that person you pass by every day that could use a little love to get them on the right path?

Dive in

Remember, go into their world and explore it with a genuine interest. Find out what it is that they like to do. For example, you may not know anything about video games but develop an interest for the sake of your relationship with that teenager that’s having problems. It’s an open door.

Once you make a person feel significant, you will automatically become significant to them. Now that person or group needs you and thus you now have influence.

Love Is Success