Laiba Shahzad
You run an idea by a family member or a friend and immediately, you are told to your face. You’re crazy, you should not do it, and you will fail. The person would go at length in draining your passionate energy and try to prove their point, “you can’t do it”
How do you deal with naysayers and negative people?
There are people who constantly tell us, that’s stupid, we are destined to fail if we do it or we will burn our hard-earned money. Sometimes it’s the voice inside your head and sometimes people keep telling you not to go for it.
You will also have people in your life who would tell you, you are sane enough, visionary to see the future and you are a thought leader so follow your heart.
Question is, how do you figure out the balance and follow your own path by doing what you are supposed to do?
The first counter-question you need to ask yourself is, who is this naysayer?
Why do they matter, do they really matter?
It depends on you who to let in and who you don’t let in.
Is the person worth paying attention to?
Also, you need to ask, why are they saying it? Are they judgmental or they have actually done the things which you are trying to do and failed?
That’s the cut you have to figure out if you are open to buying their narrative.
The people who you should really listen to and respect their opinion should be your close circle of friends whom you trust and also your mentors.
Personal development and self-growth are not for everybody and not everybody would value that. You need to discount family members showing their wisdom towards your growth. Sadly, it hardly happens unless it’s a closed blood relation.
Another filtering process is, you need to identify, is the person jealous of you.
Do they want you to fail and they don’t want you to flourish in life?
Then, there are experts, domain experts whose opinions are valued a lot. Since they are experienced, they want to save you from harming yourself, and wasting your time and money and their opinion matters a lot. It truly is worth paying attention to since they have been in that spot themselves and perhaps have failed. The reason for the failure must be accounted for and paid attention to. If the reasons are avoidable, a calculated risk could be taken.
Sometimes we spend our energies on things that were not worth spending energy on.
This is where you need to ask an expert and seek their opinion. It’s important to be curious and ask questions, why the expert is asking you to refrain from making a decision?
Sometimes you are backed up by data.
Despite the close group of friends and family discouraging you to do something, you have to make a decision based on the facts. In such circumstances, it’s better to take action and do something extraordinary and change your life.
Don’t be led by fear, instead, be proactive, reject naysayers, go all heart out, and succeed.
When you succeed, all naysayers will take your side.
They will be surprised and most importantly, since you have succeeded, your action proves their assumption wrong and also becomes a reason for others to follow your path in the future.
Be a trendsetter, and show the world how a dream can be achieved by not paying heed to the advice of naysayers. Be the Jack Ma in the world of Amazon and eBay who was financially broke and rejected but was determined to live a dream.
Remember, Fearless, Optimistic People Create The Brightest Future.
