First, a quick definition of game changer. According to the dictionary, it is

A newly introduced element or factor that changes an existing situation or activity in a significant way.

So if you want to be a game changer in the lives of others, you have to be that “element” that will change their life situation in a significant way.

To keep things simple, let us assume that significant way is something positive and one way to do that is by expanding the space of possibilities for that person in consideration.

Here is a model to consider:

1. Yearn:

It starts with a yearning to make a difference in someone’s life. You can’t fake this as and the difference between being genuinely yearning to make a difference and pretending-to-want-to-make-a-difference is like the difference between black and white.

If your heart is not here, skip the rest of the article as it will be a waste of your time.

2. Learn:

The next step is to learn what matters most to the person. There is a simple trick to learn what matters most. It is to listen way more than you talk. If you listen to anyone sooner than later he or she will talk about what matters most. However, if you talk more than you listen, you will scare them away from your network sooner than later.

3. Earn:

You need to earn the trust of the person in consideration that you have valuable help to offer. How do you do it?
* You start by accumulating relevant accomplishments in public and build a personal brand that matters.
* You continue by privately caring for what matters most to them. The combination of public accomplishments and private caring is generally powerful and brings credibility + specificity to the task at hand.
* You walk the extra mile by providing value without expecting anything in return. This is also important to eliminate the free riders as there will be a vast majority of them.

Without trust, you need to sell twice. Once you have to sell yourself and next you have to sell whatever else you are selling (in that sequence)

4. Adorn:

Adorn is to make something more attractive. In this case, you bring everything you have got to bear to enrich the life of the person in consideration. To set the stage to make this happen, you should have completed the first three steps – you need the yearning to make a difference, you need to have learned what matters most and you should have earned the trust of the other person that you have “significant help” to provide to them.

There are many ways to move forward with this step but really at the heart of it, there is only one step:

It is to use your intelligently configure and leverage your available assets to move the needle in a meaningful way for the person in consideration.

Your assets can be your network, your unique knowledge that will help with the current situation, your personal brand to amplify their causes, your ideas and insights to provide them an advantage and so on. It need not be very complex – it could start off with an article or a video that can make a difference now and in the future.

This requires deep thinking because of the two keywords above – configure and leverage. For instance, if you want to connect “someone in your network to this person,” your first job is to THINK and see how can you make this a win-win situation for both parties. It won’t happen magically unless you are making a conscious effort to make it relevant to both parties NOW.

The magic is in your ability to find the right puzzle piece to solve a puzzle in their life.

5. Turn:

Nothing in life is static, not your life and not their life. It changes all the time and what matters most to them today. When you truly care, you will turn to the “new” what matters most so you are tracking them to help them along the way. In fact, if you play your part well, you will be right beside them as they turn new chapters in their life. You will be part of their extended family.

6. Upturn:

If you are passionately engaged in all the above steps, there is no other outcome possible except a measurable upturn in the life of the person in consideration. It is not a notional upturn but something that can be seen and measured. It is the only way you get real feedback on whether what you are doing is working or not.

How do you know whether there was a measurable upturn? For one, they will see an increase in capacity to get things done that matter most to them.

7. Burn:

This is where you burn the midnight oil to keep ensuring that you are a better YOU as compared to yesterday. If you are not growing, you can’t be helping others to grow. Even if you are doing very well today, you will slide down without continuous investment in yourself.

Honestly, if you want to be a game changer in the lives of people, it will have to start with changing the game of your own life for the better.

Two parting thoughts:

1. If you are not acting as a game changer in the lives of those you care, it is not too late to start.

2. If you are not thanking those game changers in your life, it is not too late for that either.