Have you ever had a great idea, only to have it opposed by others? Or worst, come up with an idea only to slowly start to doubt your dreams and abilities, before you’ve even tried for success? Lately, I’ve been doing some self-evaluation and come to realize that some of the greatest ideas I’ve had have faced some resistance in the early stages (sometimes more that “some”).
Why is it that people (whether others or yourself) shy away from something that’s out of the norm? Maybe the idea involves extra work, and people don’t want to disrupt their normal schedule to add anything else into the mix. Maybe it’s better to live life mediocrely/comfortably in order to avoid facing any challenges/failures? Whatever the reason may be, I say – get over it!
Ignore the doubt! If you do happen to listen to it (again, whether self-inflicted or not), eventually your self-confidence or desire to actually do the thing you set out to do will win – resistance is futile!
For me, most of the time having someone say “no” or “that’s not really a good idea” is enough to make me try harder… just to prove them wrong. Now of course, there are some ideas that are probably not the best, but if you don’t try – how will you ever find out? What didn’t work for one person may still work for you.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying to try every idea that comes to your head (remember: you can do anything you want, just not everything you want). But for those special ideas, you know, the ones you think about more than once, the ones you dream about late at night, the ones you can actually see yourself doing (and doing well) – this is where you should focus your energy. Start slowly and draft a plan of how you’ll start this goal and make sure to give yourself a timeline.
Of course, you’ll still have people around you that will doubt your ideas and ability to succeed (at least compared to their measurement of success); but as long as you can pinpoint the thoughts and times that you start to self-doubt yourself, and then slowly remove them from your mind one by one, you’ll have a clearer mind to actually accomplish your goals!
Besides, if you could measure thoughts quantitatively; wouldn’t you rather have 10 good, positive thoughts helping you move towards your goals, rather than 2 good ones, 3 bad, 4 good, 1 bad, etc. (like some sort of negative bunny hop or something!).
So again: ignore the doubt, sooner or later your idea will come to fruition, might as well make it happen earlier… resistance is futile!