Do You Have The Magic Touch?

We’re half way through 2015.

Are you having your best year ever? I was asked that question by Lorna Caldwell, the general manager of the Toronto Athletic Club.

On a scale of 1-10, if 1=crappy and 10=my-best-year-ever, how would you rate 2015 so far? Lorna and I rate it a ten. How about you? What criteria would you even use to rate 2015 so far?

Now would be a great time to take stock of how far you’ve come and how far you want to go in 2015. The second half of any game is always decisive. Your immediate future is a function of what you do right now to change it. And by right now, I mean this moment.

I’m creating this message. I’m formulating the best strategy for me to succeed while I coach thousands of others to win as well. I’m making a public declaration of my discovery that will enable you to make a difference with the maximum number of people. It’s fantastic. It’s simple. It’s proven. It’s irresistible.

I have discovered the Magic Touch. Now I’m going to develop it by applying it as often as I can. In fact, I’m going to invent opportunities to use it – just like I’m doing now.

So what is the Magic Touch? The Magic Touch is one’s unique ability to thrill people by doing something remarkably well. Let me repeat that: The Magic Touch is one’s unique ability to thrill people by doing something remarkably well.  The impact is what counts. What really matters is the way you make others feel. That’s how The Magic Touch creates Magic Moments. A Magic Moment is that WOW instant when you make someone happy, excited, passionate, enthusiastic, ecstatic, courageous, fulfilled, joyous, or powerful.

I going to go Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel on you here. The Magic Touch is when you close the gap between what is and what can be. Your touch is what puts people in touch with their potential. And they are inspired to touch it forward. It becomes a neverending chain of divine consequences. Just remember, one sentence from you can be a life sentence for someone else. Your words don’t just describe reality, they create the reality that they describe. Every action is a cause set in motion.

In all our research, I have discovered that 100% of people want to be happy. 100% of people hate to be disappointed. 100% of people want to be admired. 100% of people hate being taken for granted. 100% of people want to feel safe. A smile is the most important thing that we want to receive and it’s the most important thing we want to give.

The highest expression of appreciation is when someone tells you, “I’m deeply touched”. It’s when they feel your contribution at a heart level. It’s when they show it’s a joy to receive you joy. It’s when your inspiration inspires them. It’s when you demonstrate in the crucial moments that it’s all about them.

When The Magic Touch creates a Magic Moment, it’s always an Unforgettable Moment for the person experiencing it, especially when the rest of their life is full of humdrum, mediocre and stressful moments. The Magic Touch is the difference between a smile that lights someone up from the inside and a shrug that weighs them down even further.

In the age of the machine, The Magic Touch is even more powerful because it can only be delivered by a human being.  It is augmented by machines but it cannot be automated by machines. As the most recent issue of the Harvard Business Review states, “Automation starts with a baseline of what people do in a given job and subtracts from that. It deploys computers to chip away at the tasks humans perform as soon as those tasks can be codified. Augmentation, in contrast, means starting with what humans do today and figuring out how that work could be deepened rather than diminished by a greater use of machines.”

The magazine goes on to say, “This era will be better for the simple reason that, thanks to digital technologies, we’ll be able to produce more: more health care, more education, more entertainment, and more of all the other material goods and services we value. And we’ll be able to extend this bounty to more and more people around the world while treading lightly on the planet’s resources. “

According to Erik Brynjolfsson, faculty member at MIT Sloan School of Management, “this is an opportunity for entrepreneurs to think of ways of using humans in new applications, combining them with technology. We call that racing with machines as opposed to racing against them.” That’s what we’re doing right here. We’re racing with machine to distribute this message as fast and far as we can. We’re scaling the Magic Touch to enable thousands to reach out and up – including you.

The ultimate question raised by Brynjolsson is, “How can I have this machine and this human work together to do something never done before and create something that will be more valuable in the marketplace?”

That’s my challenge to you: what can you do today with your technology to do something never done before and create something that will be more valuable in the marketplace? That’s a goal worth striving for, right?

The Magic Touch is at your finger tips but there are so many things getting in the way. And they’re all in your head. They’re called distraction, anxiety, fatigue, fear, procrastination, diffidence, and ignorance. They’re powerful detractors but they can be defeated and I’ll show you how.

Start small. Think Big.  Act Now.

Here are the Three Steps To Apply Your Magic Touch:

1. Discover your Magic Touch. In my case it’s inspiring people to take ambitious action.
2. Invent opportunities to test your Magic Touch. In my case, it’s making conversation, making presentations and making videos like this one.
3. Develop your Touch-ability. Focus on your impact. Adapt your style. Encourage feedback. Let go of what doesn’t work. The only thing that matters is how happy you make others.

I want to conclude by sharing some people who have made me happy through their Magic Touch:

The folks at Scallywags Bar who always get my beers just right and whose smiles light me up for the rest of the week.

My wife whose physical and emotional touch instill a deep sense of well being.

The writers and readers of all the books I listen to on Audible.com. They immerse me in great conversation wherever I go.

My colleagues at Environics who stretch me to think further and reach for the next big idea.

The people at Toronto Athletic Club and GoodLife Fitness who facilitate my sweat and enable my post-workout highs.

My clients like Kim Yost, Lorenzo Santini, Dave Oneal, Lee Cooper, Joe Danis, Allison Rosenthal, Micheal Tremblay, Christian Roy, Martin Perlmutter, Kelly Macdonald, Bryce Moloney, Sundance Filardi, Isabelle Turcotte, Glenn Block, Cathy Hirst, Tony Garcia, Shannon Macdonald, Karen Werger, Steve Ruskin, and Rohan Kohli, just to name a few.

I look forward to hearing about the impact of your Magic Touch. Contact me at mike.lipkin@environics.ca or call me at 416-917-6007. In the meantime, Let’s transform the world together one Magic Touch at a time.