You should live your life knowing that your influence on the people around you can have the power to change the trajectory of their lives, for better or worse.

By working on yourself and living as best as you can, you might possibly change to course of someone else’s life forever. Sometimes all it takes is one person being a good influence, a strong role model, and it can change your life forever.

My sensei did that for me. Who knows where I would be now if I hadn’t walked into his class all those years ago? Not where I am today, that’s certain.

The mindset that my sensei taught me molded me into the person I am today. He inspired me in so many ways, and he taught me the importance of being strong both mentally and physically. I carried his lessons in my heart all of these years later, and I did better for my life than I would’ve done without them.

You have that same power. When I became ruthless about my self-improvement, I inspired my friends to work on themselves. Your influence causes ripples, and sometimes the affect is significant, especially when a person is stagnant, like a still body of water, and that ripple is all that is needed to cause a change.

My improvement and dedication to my art inspired my best friend to finally pursue his passion for film. When I got my own house in order, I inspired my roommate to do the same and both of our lives improved. Even if the emotion you inspire is envy, it can be exactly what someone needs to want to be more than what they are at the time.

Every interaction is an opportunity to change the trajectory of someone’s life. You have more influence than you probably realize. Something a stranger said to you can stick to you for years, influencing your thoughts and producing actions that over time can steer you on an alternate course.

The affect is even more powerful when the influence comes from someone you love. There’s danger in that too. What may seem small can build up day to day until it compounds into knocking your trajectory down a dark path.

It could be not being present with your children when they tell you about how things went at school after you had a bad day. Do it enough and they’ll start to believe you don’t care enough to listen. That compounding effect can take the form of saying something negative or insulting to a person who is carrying more stress and baggage than you could imagine and that one thing you said or did could push them to the edge.

Sometimes the small things are like fine adjustments to a sniper’s rifle. You can slowly adjust it back on target with a bit of positive encouragement. Sometimes the small things are like the small rock that shifts on a cliff and causes a landslide when applied in a negative way.

Sometimes having a positive attitude at work can raise the spirits of your peers and maybe that’s all one person needed to not do something detrimental to themselves. Sometimes taking charge of your own life and being better is all that person who is at the edge needs to see to ignite that fire to keep on going and want better.

Sometimes letting bad thoughts or negative emotions ruin your mood can cause you to treat others without compassion and if it happens enough times, then it can ruin your relationships and the ability of your loved ones to form healthy relationships in the future.

The point is you never know for certain what outcome your influence will have, but the probability that the result of your influence will be a good one correlates directly with your ability to be a positive influence.

Be kind. You don’t always know what people are going through although you may assume that you do. You would be surprised by what a person can be carrying and not show signs of being one bad day away from a disaster. Perhaps you know the feeling.

Be the best you can be. You never know if you were exactly what someone needed to change their life for the better. Use your influence to promote a better world with better people living in it. Remember that even the small and seemingly unimportant things can compound and grow into substantial changes, for better or for worse.

Be the person you needed. Remember the people who changed your trajectory for the better and honor what they did for you by doing the same for others. Remember the people who changed your trajectory for the worse and do your best to prevent that negative influence from continuing to spread like a disease.

Take a little trip down memory lane. Haven’t you met a person who you were inspired by, and they left you feeling uplifted and optimistic about the future? Be that guy. Haven’t you met someone that left you feeling terrible inside, that shook you up for a few days and you wanted so strongly to shake that feeling off? Don’t be that guy.

Think back on the positive influences on your life. What made them positive? What did they bring to your life that made it better? Can you do the same for others? Apply the same line of thinking to those negative influences and ask if you can prevent doing the same to others.

You are powerful; act like it. Use your influence for good and send others on a better trajectory. Propel them towards prosperity by creating it in your life and sharing it with others.