Regardless of how hard you try, you can’t please everyone. You cannot control what others think about you. Let me tell you a story…
A few years ago, I was in charge of scheduling speakers for a group. After every speaker, a few participants would walk up to and tell me how much they hated the speaker and a few would walk up and tell me how much they loved the speaker. Both groups saw the same speaker.
Every time someone would criticize the speaker I brought I would get annoyed, and in some cases angry. Didn’t these people realize how hard it is to find quality speakers on a limited budget? Didn’t they realize how much hard work goes into putting together a quality program?
Soon I started to agonize about the speakers I was booking. Then it occurred to me that there was no way I can make everyone happy. So, I started bringing in speakers that I believed were interesting. The results were the same; some people loved them and some people hated them, surprisingly in almost the same ratios.
I learned that people will react the way they want to. That could be because of the type of day they were having, or a particular disposition toward the topic or speaker, or maybe they did not like the speaker’s shoes. All things beyond my control. All I could do was put my best foot forward and give it my best effort.
Worrying about what others think about you will only cause one person to suffer: you.
“Never seek to please anyone. Seek to evolve thyself.” —Lailah Gifty Akita, Pearls of Wisdom: Great Mind
Have a great weekend.
—Vijay
About Friday Food for Thought (FFfT)
I frequently attend conferences and retreats on entrepreneurship and leadership and while I am away, the J2 team picks up the slack, allowing me to learn to be better at what I do. I wanted to share what I was learning with my team, so I created the weekly FFfT emails in November of 2015 and have been writing them ever since.
Before long, the J2 staff began sharing the FFfT emails with their friends and family and now other leaders have asked to be included, which led to the creation of this newsletter. I hope you enjoy!