Last night I attended the Entrepreneurial Mashup hosted by Silicon Flatirons.  It was an event honoring the biggest entrepreneurs in Boulder.

It’s quite amazing to be in a room with 150 fun, successful, optimistic dreamers committed to building a better future.

As you’d imagine, it’s the opposite feeling of hanging out with people who follow every tidbit in the news about how the world is falling apart.  (Garbage in, garbage out.  Turn off the corporate news and go make your own news.)

The other wonderful aspect of this is that Silicon Flatirons is a center for law, technology, and entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado.  The university and state government actively participate in supporting the visionaries, investors and advisors who are creating the next generation of meaningful companies to impact local, national and international concerns.

I spoke with a 23 year old entrepreneur who is getting free legal help through the university and other free assistance from advisors, investors and older successful entrepreneurs.  These are the kinds of things happening right now that aren’t in the news.

I’m sharing this with you as an invitation to look at the power of your own attitude and the attitude of the people you choose to surround yourself with.  By hanging out with smart, fun visionary people I’m constantly in creative conversations with people taking action to build a better future.

When those people are venture capitalists, tech geeks and entrepreneurs, it’s all about building community and  companies that are creating the architecture of our new societal systems.

After these conversations everyone in them leaves inspired, excited, connected to new great people, turned on to make great things happen and to give back to the community.

They’re also in action, not just talking about what they’re going to do ‘someday’ (have you noticed that ‘someday’ never actually comes?)

When I’m around people who are not in those circles I hear conversations about how horrible everything is.  These people are hanging way too much hope on the government and people outside themselves to solve our problems.  They are also notably in depressing moods most of the time because their minds are living in a victim mentality with a dark perception of current affairs.

Yes, the old status quo systems that have been corrupt and debilitated for 30 to 50 years are dying.  This is great because now we’re forced to create new and better systems.  Most people do not change unless they are forced to.  Now we all have to swim in new, better and more inclusive uncharted waters.

If you find yourself surrounded mostly by the Cathy and Ken Complainers of the world, then how about searching out the folks who are so busy creating great futures that they don’t have time to whine?

You can have the attitude of an entrepreneur even if you’re an employee.  Simply take responsibility for whatever is in front of you and start making something greater out of whatever opportunities and materials you have.

Ignore figuring out how to do it; that only comes by taking action. So do something now.  Make it happen.

Commit to the brighter future you know you deserve and get on with it before you waste any more time and miss out on more happiness.

The people in your life, the thoughts in your head and the actions you do or don’t take will either take you up or down.  You won’t be in the same place in one, five, ten or twenty years.  Which way do you want to go and what are you going to do today to create a better tomorrow?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Influence is all around us and most of us are blind to it.  Hence, the title of this blog.

In reflecting on this I was amazed to see how far reaching influence is in our lives.  With the boom in social media this is becoming more and more obvious as people who were “nobodies” yesterday are using tools to influence, and be influenced by, thousands or tens of thousands of others from around the globe.  Learning and growing together and from each other is a beautiful thing.

On Twitter I am following people varying in age from 12 to over 70 who live small towns in America and cosmopolitan cities in Australia with a wide range in between.  I learn amazing, entertaining and helpful things from them all.

But to back up a minute from the new-fangled online world of communication tools and kick it back old school to mother nature, lets see how there’s nothing new in this.

I’m on my annual holiday family visit right now.  At my brothers house he has a 7 year old dog, Jake, that’s wonderful and has always been a little bit excitable and strong willed at doing his own thing.  This year he’s a different dog.

What changed?  He now has a little brother to influence.  After growing up with 3 boys this shouldn’t matter.  But, since this new brother is Gunner, a Golden Retriever 8 month old puppy it seems to matter a lot.

It’s amazing to watch how better behaved Jake is as he’s become a leader and an influencer to a puppy looking up to him for cues on what to do and how to behave.

We do the same thing.  We find deeper and more powerful aspects of ourselves the more we share ourselves and spread our influence.

In many spiritual texts the remedy given to someone feeling depressed is “Go do something helpful for someone else.”  At first this is counter-intuitive because if you’re depressed you think you need someone to pick up your spirits.  But it’s not.

Think about why people love being parents and owning animals and giving to causes.  It’s because they are extending themselves to contribute to someone beyond themselves or a cause greater than themselves.  A great example of how big this can be is the Global Hug Tour.

Have you given of yourself to someone and not felt better afterwords?  Probably not.  The phrase, “The more you give, the more you get” is a truism.

This is a great time of year to be aware of how influential you are.  I invite you to look for opportunities to extend yourself, your knowledge, your talents and gifts to influence others.  Not in an arrogant way, but in a humble and helpful way. ‘Tis the season, you’ll make someone else happy and you may even feel a little more expansive and joyful yourself.