Ignore the naysayers
There are two kinds of people in life, those who build you up and encourage you, and those who try to keep you grounded with their healthy dose of reality. They may tell you that “you can’t do _____,” out of fear of your failure rather than the desire to see you not succeed, but the effect is the same. No matter who you are or what you’re trying to accomplish, people will try to tell you that it is impossible, that you can’t do it and it would be better to save your efforts and resources for something else. One thing worth considering, at least for me, is that when I started a business, I put everything into it. I didn’t need to be reminded that I might, fail, I knew it was possible. Imagine, if some of our greatest models and inspirations like Elon Musk had listened to the naysayers, where would he be now? Some of his greatest innovations came in spite of those who chose to doubt rather than encourage him. What about Arnold Schwarzenegger, who moved to this country and worked hard to gain the prestige and honors he has now?
It’s important to remember that you are capable of doing great things, no matter how many people tell you it can’t be done. Sacrifice and perspiration are necessary to accomplish anything great in life, but your true merit comes how you succeed in the face of adversity. The most important thing you can do is hold fast to the relationships that build you up and encourage you, foster those friends and work hard. Nothing deters discouragement more successfully than a strong work ethic. When you keep your shoes shined and your shoulders high, no one can tell you that you won’t succeed because you aren’t trying. The only way to fail is when you stop trying.
Teddy Roosevelt once put it so eloquently, “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or how the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena”
If you view life as a challenge, where you face down your foe, be it whatever obstacle, your mindset changes to reflect the atmosphere of your challenge, and you see the need to succeed as a point of accomplishment and proving the naysayers wrong.
