Naysayers, Fear and Discouragement

An excerpt from Sean's upcoming book: "The Way of the Harvest: 15 Lessons on Reaping a Life of Abundance"

No matter what your dreams are, the minute you take that first active step toward them you’ll encounter stiff resistance. Often, it comes from those closest to us. With the best of intentions they say things to discourage us. Really, it’s their own fear compelling them to try to stop us. They worry that we’ll embarrass ourselves or that we’ll fail. In addition to these folks, there will be an array of naysayers, of whom you may have never heard, who will try and tear you down, perhaps out of their own sense of limitation (particularly pervasive in the online world). Finally, we’ll experience self-doubt, born out of fear. That self-doubt will push us hard to give up, to throw in the towel before and after that first step. Despite all of this, you must move forward anyway.

Those closest to us whom we love can deliver the fiercest, most sinister forms of resistance. That first step forward suddenly makes our ambition real. It’s at this point that they’re forced to take us seriously. All the fear and anxiety that we’ve already worked through is placed on them by proxy as soon as they learn of our efforts. It’s this fear that compels them to try to protect us, protect us from the heartache of failure or rejection or embarrassment.

As good as their intentions are, the results can be destructive, for these are people we trust and admire. Their fears and doubts can be massively discouraging, forcing us to question what we’re even doing. Once their doubts are expressed, we immediately feel extraordinary apprehension and fear of our own. The negative voices in our head that we had managed to silence return with a vengeance, casting a dark shadow of anxiety over us. Who are we to take on such an endeavor?

This is who you are: You are a creator. You possess within yourself the innate skill, desire, and ability to meet the demands that reaching your goal require. Those voices in your head, stirred to life by mistaken but well-meaning loved ones, are lying to you. They are resistance, and you have power and authority over them. Though they will always be there, ready to pounce during a moment of weakness, you can silence them with more action. Press on.

As we progress, the naysayers come along. These are people, often hiding behind the anonymity of a computer screen, whose sole purpose seems to be to tear down anyone unwilling to settle for mediocrity. I suspect the reason could be jealousy, propagated out of dissatisfaction with their own circumstances, blended with their unwillingness to take action. Their reasons don’t matter, but the effects of their words on us do. They can be just as discouraging as the well intentioned words of our loved ones. And often, they’re delivered with such malice that we can’t help but feel unworthy of the goal we’ve set out to achieve.

I unequivocally tell you now, the naysayers are wrong. They don’t know the strength of your resolve and your willingness to pay the price for your success. Like a world champion boxer, taking a barrage of punches in order to win the title, we pay a price just to be in the ring. The naysayers are simply sitting in the audience, unwilling to take the action that we are willing to take in order to achieve great things. After the fight, they’re more than happy to tell us everything we did wrong and how stupid we looked. But we’re in the ring. Absent action, they will lead lives of quiet mediocrity while we go on to achieve great things. Over time, as we experience greater success, our story and example will allow us to empower and encourage others to overcome their own resistance.

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