Mallets, balls and influence

Forget any thoughts of a placid game played by refined gentlemen and ladies on a leisurely afternoon, croquet is a violent, vindictive sport that brings out the worst in people. Alright, so I lost; twice. Seeing the ball that you have toiled hard to work around the course smashed into oblivion by another player is about as disheartening as opening a carton of sour icecream. Enough on croquet...

Been thinking, yes it’s a dangerous pastime (but safer than running around a field of crazy mallet wielders). Been thinking about influence. Why do we place hit counters and comment pages on our web sites-for feedback, to know we are influencing others. It seems to me hard to measure the influence one may have in a lifetime, in that to measure who and by how much is really hard. Some can use book sales, students taught, patients treated, lives saved, but for the most part there is so much you can’t tell. I had a client this week-he’s 72 and more computer literate than most 14 year olds, and he isn’t in the IT business. He inspired me to keep up with technology and not fall ‘behind the times’. He influenced me and will probably never know it unless I tell him.

Your feedback and gratitude may be the only measure of influence someone else receives, so find someone this week who has influenced you and tell them. It may be a parent or a mentor, or something as simple as thanking the cashier who smiled at you and brightened your day