In order to be incredible, you first have to credible - to have people who trust you and your ability.
The winner of the 2007 TED Prize was awarded $100 000 for his wish of creating a world-class health system in Rwanda. He wrote the following to TED:
I wish you to help create a better future for Rwanda by assisting my foundation, in partnership with the Rwandan Government, to build a sustainable, high quality rural health system for the whole country.
Sounds incredible, doesn’t it?
But what if I told you the winner was Bill Clinton, ex-Commander in Chief of the United States of America? That’s credible.
When Richard Branson was in talks to sell Student Magazine to IPC Magazine, he shared his ideas for extending Student into a travel agency, bank, nightclub, hotel, train service, and airline with the board of directors. They thought his dreams were incredible and immediately backed out of the deal to buy his magazine. They didn’t want a loony guy running one of their magazine subsidiaries!
Now, over forty-years and eight billion-dollar companies built from scratch in eight different industries later, when Richard Branson speaks and outlines his plans for the future, people sit up and listen. Richard Branson is credible.
How credible are you to achieve your incredible goals? Work on your credibility, and you will achieve the incredible.
Go. Do it. Make a wish. Be wild! Be wise! Be audacious!
How much does your wish cost?
Can you afford it?
Then pay and do it.
You can’t?
Calculate how much you’ll need to achieve it, then pay and do it.
It’s free?
Go and do it!
If you tell people you are going to be at X location at X time, people take your word for that. If you’re not there, they decide that next time, you’re not reliable for being where you say you’ll be. If you tell people you’ll do something, people expect you to have done it by when you say you’ll do it. If you don’t, people rely on you less the next time around. If you give your word to things offhandedly, and then don’t fulfil on it. People see you as someone who throws your word around, but doesn’t get stuff done.
If you want to be seen as trustworthy, credible, reliable and powerful, it’s simple.
Be your word. Do what you say you’ll do by when you’ll say you’ll do it. Furthermore, deliver on the intention of what you say- do things wholly, completely and with integrity. That way, people will be able to relate to you powerfully, and your word will be powerful.
What is power? Power is being able to say whatever you want to say, whatever the situation.
If you don’t keep your word, don’t make yourself wrong. All there is to do, is to clean it up, so that your word may be powerful again. To clean up with people you first have to think about what you will put in place so that what you did doesn’t happen again. How will you do it differently next time? What’s going to make the difference? Once you’ve figured that out (and don’t take too long - life’s short) you say to them what you gave your word to, you say what you did, and then you tell them the structures you’ve put in place such that it’ll never happen again. If they get your commitment behind what you’re saying then they will forgive you and relate to your word powerfully again. If they don’t, don’t stress. Keep your word again and again and again and again and again… and show them!
Forbes named me a world's top 50 woman in tech & 30 Under 30. I founded Robogals and Aipoly and was Young Australian of the Year 2012. Currently working on robotics company Aubot. I'm the youngest Member of the Order of Australia (AM) and I give speeches around the world.
I tweet @maritacheng and I'm on Facebook.
After months of careful, hard work by the team, we have launched a new Aubot website! Have a look at our new website here! In addition to that -...
You’ve brainstormed and tried all the keywords that you could think of in Google, you’ve asked Jeeves, you’ve spoken to your lecturers and you’ve...
The recurring problem with malaria is that mosquitoes have evolved to be immune to every vaccination ever invented against them. Humans too are...
I was named an Asian Society Game Changer Award winner alongside architect IM Pei (Lifetime Achievement Award), movie director Zhang Yimou, and the...
Do you ever think to yourself that you can’t do this? That you’re not smart enough? That you haven’t practised enough? That you’re not ready? That...
I've been named the ambassador for a Victorian Government education initiative called Tech Schools! Tech Schools are shared learning centres...
Whenever I read a business book, I always think I've got the general gist of it and put it down sometime through. Otherwise, I read it...
When you do something, do it whole and completely so that it's done to the best of your ability, then ship. Your attention to detail shows that you...
When you learn something for the first time, everything is new to you. So you explore, you try different things, you fall down, you fail, you fail, and...
Spending long, snug evenings with your significant other. Making time to look after your family. Jesting, gabbing and chilling with friends. Building...