Today I want to make things simple for you around creating the impact you desire with your audience.
Audience impact can sometimes feel like a crazy complicated formula where you are juggling social media trends, algorithms, different performance and presentation techniques, and branding advice.
It can feel overwhelming! And I think we can all agree, NONE of us need that right now.
So, I want to drill it down to a simple foundational teaching direct from one of my most beloved Qi Gong teachers, the radiant Daisy Lee, and then I’m going to apply this to your career. She recently said,
“We must do for ourselves that which we wish to extend to others.”
It’s very easy to get into a loop of feeling like you have to constantly produce, show up, and give to your audience. And while it is important to know your audience, and understand what it is they actually love about your work, there needs to be a balance. Otherwise you can easily fall into a dysfunctional relationship with your audience where you are constantly seeking approval from them. You may put your audience up on a pedestal and unconsciously or consciously believe your self worth is dictated by their reactions, likes, and shares. And the constant checking of stats, feedback, and numbers may just leave you feeling like you are chasing after them.
The way to create this balance? It’s by doing for yourself exactly what you want your audience to do. Or another way to look at it is, creating the feeling within yourself you wish your audience to feel.
Here are two examples.
- Let’s say you are writing a song or book about recovering from heartbreak. You want your words to inspire your audience to heal and know they are worthy of love. You want them to feel inspired to pick themselves up and reconnect with their vision for a lasting relationship. Before you can write these words that will truly have an impact to inspire others to move forward, you need to do this work yourself first. That means, you have taken the time to fully heal from YOUR heartbreak. You have processed your rage, your devastation, and your sadness and truly believe in your heart that YOU are worthy of love. And you have created some kind of loving daily practice that keeps you connected to your vision.
Because you have done the work to recover from heartbreak yourself, your audience will feel that, and will trust you. You are taking care of yourself, and believe love is possible.
- Let’s say you have an online platform about healthy living. You want more than anything to inspire your audience to make healthy choices that affirm their life, improve their energy, and allow them to see how miraculous the human body is. You want your audience to feel motivated to create change and a life they love living. Before you create any content, whether that is a newsletter or social media, you have been on your own healing journey. You have transformed your life from one of hating your body and constantly trashing it, to becoming clear on what actually helps your body to thrive. You have adopted clean living choices and have people and practices in your life that support you daily.
Because you have done the work to create healthy living for yourself, your audience will feel that, and will trust you. You are taking care of yourself, and believe healthy living is possible.
In both instances, you are practicing what you preach, and you are cultivating those feelings in yourself that you wish your audience to feel. You want your audience to feel inspired? You create inspiration for yourself. You want your audience to feel motivated? You create motivation within yourself.
You do for yourself FIRST what you wish to extend to others. And the order of this is vital. We need to put the oxygen mask on ourselves first in order to give our beautiful breath of life to the world.
Let’s break this down into three easy steps:
1) First take a moment and journal or write out the answer to this question: what is it you wish to extend to others?
What do you want your audience to feel? Do you want them to feel touched, inspired, energized, concerned, or longing?
What do you want your audience to do after hearing you? Is there some action you want them to take? Do you want them to be kind to strangers, start donating to a charity, or throw out their ex lover’s things?
2) Now look at your answers from the first question and see where you are creating this feeling within yourself and check in if you are taking the same actions you want your audience to take. An example may be if you want your audience to feel energized but are finding most days, you are exhausted, then stop and see where your own energy leaks may be. Prioritize self care, sleep, and creating boundaries. If you want your audience to throw out their ex’s things, check in if you have done this. Is there something still lingering, or do you feel complete around the ending of the relationship? This can be a beautiful opportunity to cut cords, or have some kind of releasing ritual, by yourself or with the help of a healer.
3) Lastly, and most importantly, recognize this is all a process. Create support around you that reminds you of your own inner power and capability. This may be a coach, mentor, or an accountability partner. It will also be all the loving self care practices you make a part of your daily life.
You will have days when you feel SUPER inspired and others where you want to throw in the towel. Some days your audience will clamor for your words, and other days you will hear crickets. That’s normal. Life ebbs and flows. This isn’t about perfection. But placing the attention on ourselves first does create an incredible window of where you are at any given moment. When you are grounded, in your body, and connected to your Powerful Presence, that is when your greatest impact will occur. So, when you feel out of sorts, allow it to just be a loving signal to come back into balance, and to call upon your support. You are not alone.
For me, doing for myself means I meditate daily, practice Qi Gong, get quality sleep, and practice gratitude. Why? Because I am teaching you about Powerful Presence. I teach about transformation, so I make sure to have these practices in my life and surround myself with an amazing support team that values these same things and teaches them to me.
I do this for myself so that I can extend it to you.
Because, the truth is, I care deeply about you.
Keep it simple and drop all the complicated formulas. Impacting your audience always begins with you.
That’s your beautiful power.