The importance of feeling important

Why are people so obsessed over how many likes their Instagram post receives? how many people viewed their story today? How many people liked their Facebook post? Do we just crave attention that bad? Are we trying to compensate for something? Is it because everyones doing it? Are we trying to outcompete one another? The answer is simple. We want to feel important.

I have been a board member for over a dozen organizations and have experienced dealing with a variety of attitudes and personalities. Why did we join? Some want power, influence, knowledge, experience while others want to make the world a better place where giant rainbows appear from the north to south pole and unicorns frolic over green pastures. People don't listen anymore. They just wait for their next turn to talk. This is a fatal mistake because humans can perceive when someone's genuinely paying attention to you and when someone's not. Might as well look at your phone while they talk. "Uhuh. Keep talking. I'm listening." The point is not whether you are listening or not. The point is I want you to pay attention to me and understand what I am trying to tell you, not for you to be looking at your phone. Whether or not I agree or disagree with someone, I will let them finish talking. I enjoy listening to others' ideas. You can take the best ones, combine them, wrap them with some nice wrapping paper and present them. That's where a lot of my success came from. I listened to people. I paid attention to what others were saying. I did research.

During the years between 2007 and 2009 I was a door to door salesman. One of the easiest ways I would get sales would be from people who had bad service in the past. During my tenure I discovered that people won't congratulate you when you do a good job but sure know how to complain when someone's done a bad job. The reason why I had such an easy time selling to them was because I would listen to them vent and whine, I would make notes on how their service can be improved and I would give them a money back guarantee if they were not happy. It was rare for me to have someone cancel the service. There goes my commission. It was possibly a blessing because once you start losing money, I guarantee you will try not to make the same mistake again.

In my current profession, I deal with clients who are multi millionaires. Take the money away and they are humans like the rest of us. Not much changes. Like Ice Cube says, "every hood's the same." They want to feel important like the rest of us. As a designer, I will work with clients to make their vision become a reality. One of my favorite things to do is to listen to them as they describe in detail what they envision. Others see an empty lot and see it for what it is. An open vacant piece of land. When I start talking to the clients I get "We will put a mansion here. We can put the road to go through here. We can put a fountain here in front of the house. A pool in the back." Once this picture has been shared with me, the objective is simple. Make it work. These individuals will spend years envisioning the finished product and are looking for someone to listen. Why can't that be me? Why can't that be you for somebody else?

People want to feel important. That is why you have a child that seeks attention. That is why athletes want to be the star. That is why we compete against one another.

Sources:
https:// orig00.deviantart.net/b4cf/f/2015/041/7/3/i_m_an_important_person_by_hillarywhiterabbit-d8hi6pc.jpg
http:// www.acorninfluence.com/wp-content/uploads/Social-Media-Updates-2.png
http:// marketstart.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/o-MOM-TEXTING-facebook.jpg
http:// etaarifa.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Male-customer-complaining-about-his-food-1024x857-765x510.jpg
https:// www.billboard.com/files/styles/900_wide/public/media/victory-2017-billboard-1548.jpg