How many of us say we are going to do something and actually follow through with it?
How many of us believe others when they say they are going to do something, and then feign surprise when the person actually goes ahead and does it?
I would hazard a guess that the majority of people find it difficult to trust people at their word these days.
We are lied to by parents and teachers from a young age, with employers and colleagues, romantic partners and friends continuing the trend as life progresses.
Add into this already heady mix of white lies (apparently the good lies – if a lie can be good at all) and the not so white lies from the media, government and ‘the system’, is there any wonder many of us have trust issues?
Over the last couple of years, I’d been saying I was leaving Facebook and Instagram. I told everyone on those platforms that if they wanted to stay in touch with me, and to keep reading my articles and updates, then they needed to sign up to my email list. Many did, and some didn’t.
Now, after having left those platforms a few months ago, I am getting emails and messages from people through my website contact form wondering where I have gone and asking why I have left.
This shows they were not reading what I was writing, and were not paying attention to who I am as a person. They were simply commenting on the photo with “Oh you are so beautiful” and “You are so lucky” – living precariously through my digital nomad lifestyle.
I may be beautiful, and yet luck doesn’t come into any of it, because as the saying goes “The harder (and smarter) I work, the luckier I get”.
‘Luck’ comes from making informed choices and taking action towards the goals you want to acheive in life, so you can actually live the life you say you wish to live.
For those who truly knew me well, they would know that Fakebook and InstaFake were fast becoming out of alignment with who I am. The number of human rights violations going on with those platforms just made me feel drained, not to mention the lack of inspiration I felt.
The amount of ‘experts‘ who knew diddly squat about situations going on around the world, but professed to be ‘oh so knowledgable’, or the ‘leading influencer’, whilst only looking at the various subjects from their own, often limited, viewpoint also made me distrust them, wanting to put more and more distance between us.
For people to speak on subjects they know nothing about, spreading lies in the process, is dangerous and deceitful on many levels, hence why I surround myself with so many open minded, highly intelligent and well informed people.
It never ceases to amaze me why don’t people just admit they don’t know something, gifting themselves the opportunity to go and research it.
I know it is because of fear of looking bad or stupid – a wound from their childhood more than likely created by a parent, class teacher or fellow pupil, but as we get older surely we get to a point where being informed rather than looking good is the order of day?
As adults we don’t have to live with our childhood wounds any longer. We can simply make a choice to let it go. Yes, we have to understand the wound is there in the first place, and so deeply buried we are blind to them and the damage they do in each area of our life, but really?
The next question we need to ask ourselves is how much ego do we have to have as individuals to restrict our own learnings (and earnings) by pretending to know everything about everything. Always best to admit we don’t know about something then talk about stuff we don’t know.
Which reminds of a quote:
“There’s the stuff I know I know, and there’s the stuff I know I don’t know, but the gold is within the stuff I don’t know I don’t know”
Or words to that effect.
Many people know surface level ‘stuff’ about a lot of things, but they don’t really know the how, why or when things happened to get us to where we are today, and they don’t cross reference the information with conflicting sources either – which is always a good idea.
Geeks like myself trust books and research more than we do the ‘Fakebook experts’ or ‘Instafake influenzers’ (yes, influenzers – those that get it will get it) because we are prepared to read the white papers, dissect the ‘complicated content’ to get to the core of a subject, whilst tracing the timelines back through history.
We connect the dots of presumably unrelated subjects (as is intended by the governements and education systems), as one of my recent articles on LinkedIn showcased. It caused quite a stir – of course it did, wouldn’t be one of my articles if it didn’t – apparently.
The article ‘And the difference is?’ showcased a series of events through the last century which has led us to where we are today; and as recently discussed on a House of Preeminence Posse PowWOW with Jenni P, Gina Lazenby and Allison Stillman many people are ‘grieving for humanity at the moment’.
As I mentioned during the show, I don’t feel that way. I am not at all surprised at what is going on in the world at the moment; in fact I predicted something like this would happen well over a decade ago. Read ‘And the difference is’ and you will understand why I am not surprised.
Drinking tea with Alice and the Caterpillar cross referencing, checking, double checking, triple checking information is vital if we are to make informed decisions. Regurgitating other people’s quotes, content and rhetoric isn’t adding anything of increased value to the world, just more of the same old same old.
It doesn’t make us a real influencer either. Take away other people’s content and quotes, and what do most of these influencer folks have? Nada! Absolutely nada!
Take away the hot topic of today and what will these people have to talk about? Very little, if anything at all, which is really sad, because I am sure before this came along they had a lot to say and talk aboout. Many have been so consumed by the subject it is disturbing on many levels.
One of the biggest mistakes authors make is not writing original content, whether that is in their own book or in articles or blogs.
How can any potential reader know whether they are going to enjoy our writing if we do not write?
How do potential readers know how to find our books if we do not promote them? And if we do not promote ourselves and our book(s) then how are we going to make any money from book sales, speaking gigs and clients?
(Mine are here for those wanting a great collection of epic reads over the holidays – and they are available in bulk order with discounts if you message me directly! )
Authors who are looking for a quick fix and hefty royalty cheque without putting in the leg work, and preparing for the long game, are often sadly disappointed.
Original content is key for any kind of sustainability moving forward. It shows we have read, reflected and internalised, choosing to deepen our knowledge and blend it with other aspects of our learning, delivering a whole new perspective on the world and possible solutions for others to discover.
Creating original content comes down to the belief in ourselves, belief that we don’t need to be like everyone else, or doing what everyone else is doing.
If people choose not to read our content, or trust us when we say we are going to do something, then they are the ones who lose out on us. Their own actions will determine for them whether they are our people or not.
All we have to do is focus on ourselves, what makes us happy and what feels right for us, and those who say we are important to them, those who say they enjoy our company and content won’t rely on the easy, quick fix route.
They will make the effort to be in our lives, because let’s face it, anything worth having always takes some effort. People are not that hard to find these days… especially those of us with influence,
So BE YOU!
BE REAL!
BE ORIGINAL!
And BE TRUE!
Until the next time my lovelies,
Dawn x
P.S. All those wanting to grow in confidence with the authoring, marketing and publishing of their book in the genres of human rights and social justice, send me a message and let’s see how we get on. Your book maybe the book someone needs to read – WRITE NOW!