This is part 6 of a 12 part series that I call the 12 X’s of Leadership
If you have been following this series of blogs (Hi mom and dad), you know that two of the first 5 X’s we have discussed include Extracting a Dream and Expressing Your Vision to Others. Both sound reasonable, make sense, and you may even be tempted to try them out. But this X provides a warning…sometimes when you do have a dream, goal, or target and you share it with others—let’s just say they are not as excited about it as you.
Have you ever noticed how some people are dream destroyers or target trashers?
I’m not sure they do it on purpose, but nonetheless they seem to have a way of taking all the air out of your balloon before you even have a chance to let it fly.
Now, while you may not be able to identify them by sight, you have certainly heard their discouraging words:
“Oh, good luck getting somebody to hire you with your experience.”
“Why bother even trying, you don’t have a shot at that opportunity.”
“You think you have a chance to get on that team…what have you been smoking?”
When you have a goal, dream, or target and you share it, you open yourself up to ridicule and criticism. You see there are a lot of cynics out there who do not have goals…they are content just coasting along taking the path of least resistance taking pot shots at others. They are comfortable with mediocrity.
Let me tell you about mediocrity…
It recognizes greatness.
It resents it.
And it seeks to pull it down.
These folks like to try and build themselves up, not by improving themselves but, by pulling you down.
Cynicism is cancer of the attitude.
So what do you do when someone tries to cut down your dream, your idea, your goal? Write them off. Like water off a duck’s back, let their words just fall off you. Don’t even allow them to hang out in your head for a moment.
Trust me. You will almost always encounter opposition in this life. Now, if you know this is the truth…don’t let it throw you off your game. Be prepared for it. And in the immortal words of Winston Churchill, “Never give up. Never give up. Never give up.”