Influences

What makes You? Okay, it's a funny question (or phrasing) or is it? Besides family and your gene pool, what has made you the person you are today?

In my perspective, there are three major influencers.

1. The people you have met in your life (that is, spent considerable time with)
2. The books that you have read
3. The places that you have visited

On #1, I have been lucky to have spent time with some very special people. They may have been work colleagues or friends (or many that happen to be both). It seems these influencers were more important to me when things were not going well and there was a need to pull together to get through a difficult time (including building a new business). The interaction with these people had a profound impact on how I am today as a person.

On #2, You are what you read. If you read the USA Today, that says something about you versus reading the Wall Street Journal. Think about your favourite book, did it have an impact on your life in someway? Several of my favourite books have inspired me to achieve goals in my personal and work that I do not think I would have otherwise have achieved. (no, the books were not written by Zig Ziglar).

On #3, The more places you visit and spend time, you will change in some subtle ways. I have had the "luxury" (although at the time it sure did not seem like it) of moving almost every three years in my life. I lived in the UK and Germany among locals when I was very young. I have lived in most of the regions of the USA. I lived in Geneva Switzerland for five years, returning to the USA just last year. All of these impacted me in many different ways. I would say living in Geneva had impacted me the most and made me a much better person than I would have been.

Bottom line: It is the experiences that you have that make you who you are today(people, places, books). So, get out . . . go out and meet new people in different places in the world (that trip you always wanted to take but felt you did not have time to do it, do it now), and while you are traveling to those new locations to meet new people, bring a few classic books. You will be a different (and hopefully) better person than you are today. I am ready to go, I leave in less than two months.