The Currency of Trust
Hey Friend
This has been an active week. My lovely bride and I went to two different hockey games of kids who are in her class or were in her class. It's not quite as violent at that age, but is thrilling to see the constant motion of trying to keep up with the puck. I suspect they all have Olympic aspirations after this years big win.
I also locked in dates and contracts for two upcoming events. I'm excited about both of them for different reasons. One is through a speaker bureau I haven't been booked through before. The other was a referral, with a second referral, that secured the event in less than a week. The value of a trusted recommendation is the ultimate advertising for me. I'm incredibly grateful.
It feels really good too. Having people in our life who advocate for us is humbling and emboldening. It deposits courage and simultaneously exposes our dependency. It also makes you want to be a proponent for others. How cool that our belief in someone can open doors for them.
The transferability of trust is fascinating. We know how important it is between two people. We know how essential it is for teams. We know how fragile it becomes when broken. Yet when it's a conduit for new connections it's incredibly robust. If I trust you and you trust someone else and you ask me to trust them, I do it wholeheartedly, based entirely on you.
CURRENCY
The currency of trust is an absolute premium! Both as in a denominator of value and a flow of energy. Yet, I imagine very few of us are mining it like bitcoin. Do we wake up in the morning and think "How can I be more trustworthy today?" or "Who could I thicken up trust with this week?" It's a ridiculously valuable resource that seems to be left in the consequence bin. As if it only appears as a result of some other intended effort.
Is growing trustworthiness with intentional care an actual pursuit? Or by it's nature is it simply a fruit of other specific attributes? Character, integrity, consistency, reliability, excellence, commitment and so forth... and when we demonstrate them, we become trusted?
MINDSHIFT
What would it look like if you made "becoming more trustworthy" one of your weekly goals?
FLOW
I suspect if we thought that way, we may start noticing aspects about ourselves that diminished our trustworthiness. We also may find really small practices that produce really big results. Heck, we may even notice the friction between us and others as less of an indicator of their wretched personalities and more of a gaugerevealing the level of trust between us.
Once again, the flow of ease between you, me and others is indicative of the trust between us. Attaining fiber-optic-like connection requires genuine thick trust, which seems to make it a worthy pursuit. What can I do to cause you to trust me more? What are you willing to do to grow trust with me? Ask your spouse, kids, friends, colleagues, boss and subordinates to get a clue.
MINDSHIFT
What if this week you found reasons to trust those around you more? How would you act? How would they act? Find out.
GAP
One of my favorite questions to ask audiences when I talk about trust is "Why wouldn't someone trust you?" We all think we're highly trustworthy and have a lot of backing evidence. The gap exists because we lack understanding about the impact we have on others. The classic mantra holds true:
We judge ourselves by our intent and others by their actions.
To have gained a level of trust that others put their own reputation on the line for me in business, is killer. Even more fulfilling is when we achieve that same level personally - where others recommend us for our insight, wisdom, compassion and care to a fellow human in need. It's worth growing our currency of trust for those moments.
SHIFTING
I hope this week you find ways to advocate for someone you trust. Also, I dare you to make "growing trust" a primary focus instead of a secondary consequence and see what you discover about yourself and those close to you. #ShiftAway
