Setting a goal is the easy part. Staying focused is when the challenges kick in. And perhaps one of the biggest distractions on the path to achieving a goal is when others question your goal.
Recently I coordinated a TEDx event. One of the speakers, a successful English Channel swimmer noted the feedback she often got/gets in regards to such an accomplishment is negative feedback. You see people tend to belittle or deconstruct your goals, for reasons that have nothing to do with you. Bottom line, if you succeed in doing whatever amazing, juicy, courageous thing you’ve set out to do, it reminds others that setting and reaching goals is possible.
Expect a direct correlation between the size of your goal and the negative pushback you receive, the greater the goal, the greater the pushback. Expect it, but do not accept or internalize it. Other people’s criticism most of the time, close to all of the time, has nothing to do with you and everything to do with them.
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