subject: All I Every Really Needed to Know About Naysayers I Learned in High School [print this page] All I Every Really Needed to Know About Naysayers I Learned in High School
As I look back on my high school years I see a lot of wasted time and energy. However there were a couple learning lessons, which continue teaching me to this day. Two small, experiences, which to my friends and fellow classmates were probably insignificant, taught me the importance of not listening to naysayers. I still use these lessons as motivation whenever I'm having second thoughts of doing something or saying something that may make me stand out from the crowd.
When I was in high school my friends and I used to come back from our lunch break and listen to music in my buddy's car. On one occasion someone put in an Adam Sandler cd. One track on the cd was called "Oh Mom." It featured a mother whose response to any question posed by her kids was always the same"No!" "They're All Gonna Laugh At You! They're All Gonna Laugh at You! They're All Gonna Laugh at You!"
I laughed so hard I started to cry because it reminded me so much of people in my family who were deathly afraid that their loved ones were going to be ridiculed for not following the crowd.
There is fear inside of some people that keeps them from wanting to stand out and hold their ideas and actions open to possible ridicule. Unfortunately, this fear of not wanting to stand out for fear of ridicule holds people back from great success.
Robert Kiyosaki says that whenever you take a stand and tell people what you believe, it forces others to look inside themselves and examine what they believe. This process is of self examination is not always a comfortable one so many people would rather not go through it. It's easier to just belittle someone and their ideas.
Another learning moment for me was when my high school English teacher taught us not to let others keep us down.
My ninth grade English teacher was a man named Ken Hunt. Mr. Hunt was 6'5" and 350 pounds. He pitched for the Cincinnati Reds during the 1961 World Series. He could turn a piece of chalk into a poof of chalk dust by throwing it at the chalkboard from the back of the classroom. Needless to say, I never goofed-off in his class.
Mr. Hunt had a favorite analogy that he would teach to his incoming freshmen students. He would explain that crab fishermen never had to worry about freshly caught crabs escaping from a bucket. Each crab individually had the ability to pull themselves out of the bucket, but couldn't because the crabs at the bottom of the bucket would always pull them down.
All successful people had naysayers telling them that what they were trying to achieve was impossible. Only successful people who dream big will have Nay Sayers. Had the successful person tried to accomplish something very small and insignificant then no one would tell them that it couldn't be done.
A Yale professor told Fred Smith founder of Fed Ex that the success of an overnight deliver business was improbable. Walt Disney was fired from a newspaper because "he lacked imagination and had no good ideas."
When you encounter a naysayers along your journey to achieving success welcome them, knowing that you are now part of an exclusive club. This club's membership roll contains Walt Disney, Fred Smith and hundreds of other ultra-successful people.
Regarding naysayers and disappointments Robert Kiyosaki says, "The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire; the size of your dream; and how you handle disappointment along the way."
Never let the fear of being ridiculed by the crabs at the bottom of the bucket stop you from achieving success.
