How to Deal with Haters

There are some people that can never be happy seeing someone else succeed. They believe someone else’s success makes them something less. It makes them jealous. They don’t believe that someone else deserves a success that they themselves don’t already have.

They mock those that try. They hate.

Some people will judge you based on their own self-imposed limitations, and they will mock and criticize you for pursuing greatness. They believe that others should be forced to accept the limitations that they have placed upon themselves, even if it would make that someone less than they might be.

They are puny people, and they believe that you must be puny with them.

There are some who will try to tear you down as a way to not feel inferior. They will do this so that they don’t have to feel bad about themselves. In their little minds, you are stupid for putting forth the effort required to succeed, you are stupid for trying so hard, and you are stupid for drinking the Kool-Aid. You are stupid, and they are smart for being able to see what you have missed.

Many haters are too lazy to pursue their own ambition. Many more are too afraid of being criticized the same way that they criticize others. Because they never try, they have no idea that their supportive tribe is ready and waiting for them. Because they would never open themselves up to being criticized by their small-minded and feeble friends, they never know greatness. They instead know only hate.

You don’t do what you do to please the haters. You don’t do what you do to win them over. Everything that you do is for the people that need what it is that you do, the people that gain from it, the people that appreciate it. Your tribe wants you—needs you—to lead it.

You deal with the haters by not dealing with the haters. You ignore them. You turn their already too small, too rotten, and too vile voices down to a level that is imperceptible. It will drive them crazy, and their voices will get louder and shriller—for a time. Then their voices will disappear into oblivion as you move past them, as you move forward, as you become bigger.

So, you make the effort. You try. You pursue greatness. You reach your full potential, and you ignore those that hope for your failure. Their hope is all for naught anyway. The haters can’t stop you from succeeding . . . unless you join them.