Meditations Pt. 1
1. People will always root against you. Think of life as a race–do you stop and decipher the cheering? Or do you run through it, and let the noise blur into a solid wall of sound? If you can hear their discouragement, if you are resting long enough for someone to say “I don’t think you can finish,” then you are to blame, not them. Faster, faster, and focus. That is all you have.
Ryan Holiday is the bestselling author of Trust Me, I’m Lying, The Obstacle Is The Way, Ego Is The Enemy, and other books about marketing, culture, and the human condition. His work has been translated into thirty languages and has appeared everywhere from the Columbia Journalism Review to Fast Company. His company, Brass Check, has advised companies such as Google, TASER, and Complex, as well as Grammy Award winning musicians and some of the biggest authors in the world. He lives in Austin, Texas.
I don’t agree.
Within the wall of noise you may find warnings or other words of worth. And it does not take much effort to dismiss people’s discouragement.
One post says call me out and another one says don’t listen to your detractors. Which is it?
Being held to your word isn’t listening to detractors–it’s called being accountable.
How do you know you’re running for the right reasons if you don’t listen to outside opinion? Let the noise blur into a solid wall of sound? No. Take criticism for what it’s worth. Utilize the constructive, disregard the destructive. But in order to do this, you have to interpret the sounds in the first place.
Have you people ever actually been in a race? Good lord, I run track myself at UNC Wilmington and he’s making a fantastic analogy. Yes, everything becomes a wall of sound but you don’t lose the information. I can pick out the voice of my coach, teammates, and family while racing. Their cheering and encouragement drives me harder. My coaches instruction, I follow.
In reality its the same. You can pick out the constructive criticism, but the destructive you just let go of.
If you start a race without knowing your reason your a fool. Its to win!