In my last article about finding your voice, I discussed what is meant by finding your voice.  Your voice is the complete embodiment, and the expression of, everything that makes up ‘you.’  Today, let’s talk about why finding your voice is so important to you, but also why it’s important to others as well.

The Importance of your Voice to YOU

Understand that, without a voice, you are merely hiding.  Finding your voice will benefit you in many ways.  These ways can be broken into three pieces:  how you feel, where you are, and where you want to be.

First, how does your voice affect the way you feel?  When you are not able to communicate with your voice, you will feel a level of incongruence in everything that you do.  The reason for this is that you feel inauthentic because your actions do not always match who you believe that you are.  Speaking in your voice (or writing, painting, etc.) can help put you at ease and help you find flow.

Next, the very process of finding your voice forces you to delve deeply into who you are today.  Probably, this is why so few people attempt to develop their voice.  As you develop your voice, you are forced to look at your values, what is important to you, and what is not.  Knowing who you are will allow you to do the things in life that make the most sense for you.

Lastly, knowing where you are and what you believe in gives you all of the tools you need to decide where you want to be in life.  Many times, where we want to be in the future requires us to change.  But, change can only come from knowing yourself in the first place, as well as being comfortable with the need for change.

The Importance of YOUR Voice to Others

Often times, you actually benefit less from your own voice than do other people.  The biggest reason for this is that most people fear finding their OWN voices (more on this in our next article).  A powerful voice, such as from a great leader (HINT: You can be a great leader of you choose to be), can have the power to inspire and provide guidance.

People today are begging for inspiration and motivation, even if they don’t tell you.  The reason for this is that we as a society have molded ourselves into our habits and routines and we don’t know how to escape the drudgery of it all.  Because habit is so powerful, we tend to wait until something, or more often, someone, comes along and challenges what we have been doing.

An authentic voice is a powerful source of inspiration.  It has the ability to shake us awake and out of our habits.  It can cause us to take a look at our own lives and force us to ask ourselves why we do the things that we do.  It can also persuade us to change for the better and to seek our own greatness.

Beyond a source of inspiration, a strong voice can provide solutions and strategies to the problems that haunt us every day.  And, if the voice is strong, we will listen to and follow those strategies.  But, you can only help others change if your voice is strong, authentic, and caring.

I can’t stress the importance of having a strong voice.  The benefits to you and to others is almost immeasurable.  There are few things that exist today with more power to change the world than that of developing your voice.  Join us next time to find out why so few people take the time to find their voices.

Be exceptional,

JIM