“I expect this young man will someday be President of the United States.”

Those words were spoken about me a little over fifteen years ago by my junior high civics teacher during the end-of-year awards assembly.

With the 2008 election closing in on us you may have guessed: I never became President. But I never forgot those words.

They have inspired me throughout my life. I have absolutely no political aspirations, yet the words still motivate me today. They challenge and inspire me to be more tomorrow than I am today.

While those words will most likely not change the world, they forever changed my world.

The fact is our reality is often shaped by the words spoken into our lives. While a positive word can transform someone, a negative word can bring a life to ruins.

How many of us have been told by someone we perceived as having a worthy opinion, “You can’t”, “You’re not good enough!”, or simply, “Give up!” These influencers became dream-stealers: folks who couldn’t attain their dreams so they attempted to dash your aspirations as well. Remember the old truism: misery loves company.

In 1952, Norman Vincent Peale wrote one of the most influential books on the process of thought as it relates to our daily living and interactions. In The Power of Positive Thinking Peale outlined his premise that we are responsible for our thoughts.

This should drive us to a point of action: thinking and speaking positively do not create reality, but they sure make life a lot more livable! While we cannot control our critics we can control how we respond to them.

In the Old Testament book of Nehemiah we find a leader casting a vision of rebuilding his destroyed hometown which lay in ruins. He had dotted all the i’s and crossed all the t’s. He followed all the proper social processes and courtesies. But a real jerk, Sanballat, approached Nehemiah with some cronies and mocked the work he and his people were attempting.

Nehemiah stood firm to his conviction, he chose to think and act positively: “I gave them this reply, “The God of heaven is the One who will grant us success.” Nehemiah 2:20 CSB

I find that Nehemiah reinforces two qualities of a person of influence:

1) THINKING OF OTHERS FIRST
How will what I say today affect those to whom I’m speaking tomorrow? The dream-stealer thinks of himself first and others a distant second.

2) SPEAKING WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT
Despite the dream-stealers, Nehemiah chose his words carefully, encouraged the workers regularly, and saw the project through to completion.

Mr. Grissom probably never realized the life-long impact he would make in my life with just a few words. Are you ready to become a person of influence? Begin to use the power of encouragement in the people you will interact with today – I dare you to change the world – one positive word at a time!