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From the Ballpark to the Boardroom: Lessons in Handling Haters
Drawing inspiration from Jackie Robinson and Matt Higgins on dealing with criticism and negativity
What stops people from pursuing their dreams?
Lack of social proof.
I experienced that often in life, especially when I looked at the kids in my environment.
Kids are pure. They try new things without hesitation, not overthinking, and don’t care about how it looks what they do. And yet, they have an innate drive to improve, to get better.
Without having read the Book Atomic Habit, they strive to get better:
1% at the time.
Once they believe they have accomplished something worthwhile, they turn to people they trust and show them their results.
What is the worst thing that people can do at this moment?
Probably it is saying:
“What is this? It is rubbish.”
When you want to increase the pain, let them explain what they did and then say.
“It is rubbish. You have no talent for that.”
You can observe their hearts break, and their emotions sink.
Congratulations on making a child miserable.
It is a lesson they’ll never forget, and it is the first building block to the wall they built around them.
The names wall?
Resistance.
Do it long enough, and the kids will never try something new. Keep it up for their entire childhood; some will turn to alcohol, others to drugs in their teen years.
On social media, and everybody who wants to execute contrarian ideas will for sure invite a lot of haters like described above. Haters who want to put them back into the places they belong.
The odd thing is it seems to be a social dynamic that is practiced all over the world in all societies.
Whether we like it or not, hatred is part of life.
