Do you know someone that everyone loves? I mean 100% of people they know? There are always haters, critics and cynics. The more success you experience, the more you will see people that just will not like you.
The problem is not the reality that you likely have people that dislike you. The real issue is when such a minority keeps you from putting yourself out there and getting your work in front of people. When you are on display, you have your audience as well as the haters. There’s no parsing it. Trying to get 100% popularity would be the vain attempt to eradicate jealousy and the envy in people’s hearts and minds. It’s not going to happen.
When I watch people hesitate to put their work out there, it usually is because they are stuck. Their belief system is weak. They need approval from everyone rather than rely on their convictions.
This is why leadership is not for everyone. And it is about leadership, ultimately, if you want to reap the rewards as a frontrunner.
So, if you find a communication that goes out and a thousand people keep engaged but five give you negative comments, do you falter on your next ones? Do you soften things to serve the ridiculous minority?
Or do you ignore them and keep going? If you are going to err, try the latter. You will have to trust yourself on the journey.
If you put out your art – music, film, software, spreadsheets, content – that decision to keep going, decipher what is valuable input and what is just hate, and committing to improving will always be there.
But I say, be determined and take on the challenge to please yourself and ignore everybody else. That’s how you build your belief system and keep from that fear and paralysis that overcomes weaker hearts and minds that are still looking for approval from the high school crowd.