Labels

We all use labels to define the people we interact with in our environment. He’s a liberal, she’s a conservative, that person over there is a slob, on and on we label throughout the day. It’s a natural thing to do. Part of our nature I guess. It helps us understand our surroundings by tucking people we meet or see into nice little cubby-holes for future reference. Sometimes we update these judgments with new information as it comes to us but often as not we hold the same opinions of others that we established when we first met them. Remember first impressions are usually right or at least we’ve been told.

Believe me I label as much as anyone. It’s not going to stop with one blog or a thousand blogs by me or anyone else. It’s just a fact, we in the human condition, label. Plain and simple, we label and that’s the end of it. Or is it?

Even though we may label one another as individuals or in groups doesn’t mean we can’t actually use it to our advantage both personally and as a way to change our society. Labeling actually can be a good thing. Studies have shown that when a child is labeled, whether negatively or positively, they usually live up to that expectation. Barring learning disabilities and other emotional problems, when a child is told they are smart and intelligent they usually rise to the occasion and deliver. Maybe not to a genius level but they do better in school and in society as a whole. Tell them either verbally or through other messages that they are worthless they become worthless. Both to themselves and society.

Let’s all begin labeling for the good. Right now our society needs good labeling. We need to stop using labels to tear down and begin to use them to build up. What our country needs now more than ever are the labels innovator, mentor, problem solver, creative thinker, inventor, visionary, and leader. We need to not only start labeling our children with such labels to give the future hope, but also give those labels to each other and ourselves.

We need inventors, that’s a wonderful positive label. We need men like Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Alexander Graham Bell. Men like these didn’t invent in a corporate lab off somewhere in a huge corporate complex. These men and many like them invented in their humble homes and small workshops with little or no resources. They invented things that changed the world without huge budgets and lots of fancy equipment. Yet they persevered because they believed in their ideas. We need these kind of people now. Inventing new products that will sustain our economy for years to come. Just as Steve Jobs and Bill Gates did so many years ago in their garages. Hewlett-Packard started that way as well.

It not just inventors we need. We need leaders, creative thinkers, and problem solvers in all sorts of realms. Leaders that will stand up for good ideas and see them through. Creative thinkers and problem solvers who will blaze the trail for the rest of us and give us hope for solutions to our problems. No longer do we need wet blankets or people who only know the word no.

We need people with good judgment, good morals, and good ethics to help us fix what’s so badly broken…our nations spirit. We need compassionate people to heal the wounds of those who are hurting the most. We need good upstanding Americans to stop being negative and start seeing themselves and those around them positively.

This is how positive labeling works. Look at your neighbor, find a positive label for him or her and apply it to them every time you think about them or interact with them. See how your attitude changes about them. Now do it with all of those you interact with. Do it with your boss, your clients, your teachers, your wife and/or children. Do it with everyone you meet. Watch how things change not just for you but watch how those you come in contact with begin to blossom as people.

You see if we try hard enough we can always find one positive label for anybody. If we emphasize that instead of the negatives we might see we begin to see a world of possibilities instead of obstacles. As we begin to do this we can all label ourselves visionaries because that’s what we need now more than ever…visionaries. Heed the call, be a visionary, change the world. It starts with you.

If I can be of any help to any visionary small business owner struggling to tell her or his story please contact me at mirvin1129@yahoo.com or give me a call at 913-677-7060.