Look at the great innovations, revolutionary ideas or talent from our history and you will find one commonality: they were all discouraged or ridiculed in some form or another before they became a success. Not one had the red carpet rolled out for them with a parade of fans encouraging them to go on. They all faced opposition and were often attacked. (Ask any entrepreneur, they all have their “you’ll never be able to” story.) Why do people do this? Fear. Fear of uncertainty. Fear of change. Fear of the unknown. Fear of a shift in power or relationships with insecurities. Fear.
Get used to it. People will fear our genius. Those who are our world’s creators, that bring forth new ideas and push the envelope with their talents or ideas need to realize that society fears them. Why? In my opinion, because they were too weak or mediocre to pursue their own talents. So they attack others in this messed up sense of justification to make them feel better about themselves.
The sad truth is that many walk away from ideas or talents simply because others have discouraged it. They are not strong enough in their own convictions to see the fear behind the discouragement. They can’t see the underlying envy and jealousy. Why would you walk away because of a silly reason like a little discouragement? If you succeed, that changes things with those around you. They either can change with it or stay the same. The balance of power changes, then in order to justify it in their own minds that they are ok where they are, they attack others. Whether they admit it or not, they downplay other’s talent because of their own selfish reasons.
Don’t sacrifice your talents and dreams simply because someone (who was mediocre in their own pursuits) disagreed with you or discouraged your passion. Do you think our history’s greats were worried about opinions of mediocre minds or efforts? No they were too concerned with what did matter: their creations on their path to greatness. Are you afraid of looking like a fool? What will really make you look foolish is if you become one of the attackers and start justifying yourself for where you are.
If we all waited around to get approval from people in life, nothing would ever get done. Unknown
“Some people are leaders vs. followers, some hunters vs. farmers, some creators vs. users. If you want to be a leader, hunter, creator, you must learn to be an individual. Let the followers, farmers and users join the collective.” MQ
A friend of mine sent me this picture. This bathroom is so interesting, it’s hard not to talk about it. Thats how your business needs to be. What can you do to make your business so exciting, people can’t help but talk about it?
What people had to say!