The Most Important Lesson From the Sporting World Today
Late on Sunday afternoon people all across America tuned into a football game hoping to see one of two things. On one hand, millions of people hoped to watch a young man fail. On the other, millions more wished to see this young man, Tim Tebow, succeed in another near-miraculous comeback to help his team win.
ETR Publisher Matt Smith was in the crowed on that cold, dark Denver afternoon. Tebow’s team, the Denver Broncos, was down by ten points with only a few minutes remaining in the game. For the first three quarters of the game the Broncos hadn’t managed even a single point, yet the crowd had not given up hope, for Tebow had rallied his team from similar deficits in the previous three weeks.
In fact, Matt was amazed by the confidence in which the Broncos had even as valuable seconds ticked away with still no points on the board for Tebow’s team.
“You could see that the players believed they had a chance,” Matt said, “And in football – as in life – believing you can win is one of the most powerful attitudes. What’s that worth? It’s the most important feeling you can have.”
Sure enough, as though a sentimental Hollywood screenwriter had written the plot, Tebow’s team not only tied the game and sent it to overtime, but eventually prevailed when it looked like all hope was lost. The Denver Broncos went on to their seventh straight victory with Tebow as quarterback.
But why, aside from being a fan of the losing team, would anyone dislike this young man, as I described earlier? He’s polite, gracious in winning, doesn’t curse, drink, boast or have run-ins with law between games. He is, as Matt described, “The type of young man you’d be happy for your daughter to date.”
Yet this young man, Tim Tebow, is hated, persecuted, called names, and ridiculed simply because of his harmless actions of thanking God for his victories while still on the sidelines of the field.
Watching him succeed drives millions to mock Tebow, quite simply out of jealousy, one must suspect. His detractors deride his beliefs and anonymously criticize him on the Internet and radio call-in shows. Of course, the truth is that almost every single one of these critics would change their tune if they ever had the chance to meet Tebow. They’d brag for the rest of their life about the fact.
To Tebow’s credit he has not let the critics change him one bit. He continues to persevere on the football field and lead his team to action. He believes that what he is doing is right. He believes in his mission and vision. There’s a lot to learn from Tebow’s attitude.
Hopefully by now you’ve realized this article is NOT about football, nor is it about faith, but instead it’s about overcoming the fear of criticism that paralyzes so many good people and condemns them to the modern equivalent of the salt mines – breaking their back and working hard to make someone else rich, rather than heading out on their own as an entrepreneur.
The evidence is clear. No matter how many people you help, no matter how honorable your intentions, no matter what you do, there will be someone out there who is bitter, angry, and jealous about your actions and will speak negatively of you.
Criticism is easier than ever these days thanks to the Internet. No longer is idle gossip and talking behind your back relegated to the local pub or restaurant. We now have the pleasure of being ridiculed wherever people can get online.
No one is immune. A Google search of “Mother Theresa + fraud” will bring up website after website devoted to discrediting the good works of this woman, with many sites full of hatred. And if people hate Mother Theresa, just imagine how they feel about you. (That’s meant to be a little joke, by the way.)
You can’t let the critics stop you. You can’t let their jealousy paralyze you from taking action. You can’t let fear of failure stifle your dreams for a better tomorrow. You can’t let anyone getting in the way of taking control of your financial independence.
The fact is that people will criticize you no matter what you do.
The fact is that people are already criticizing you right now.
Yes, dear reader, it’s a cruel, cruel world isn’t it? Imagine, someone out there, right now, doesn’t like little old you. How can this be?
It’s human nature.
And if you’re letting it stop you from taking action, improving your life, helping others, and making a dramatic, positive impact on the world, then you are making a big mistake.
You are making a big mistake because you are ignoring the flipside. Remember that for all of Tim Tebow’s detractors, there are millions more who hope for his success and find inspiration in the way he acts and inspires others. And those are the people that matter to Tim. Those are the people in your business that must matter to you.
For every negative email you receive there are hundreds – if not thousands – of people out there who will silently thank you for your help. The truth is you won’t hear from the success stories as often as the naysayers. That’s something you’ll have to deal with. But you must know that they are out there.
It’s not the critics who count, as Theodore Roosevelt once said, but “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
Commit to your cause. Take action. And attract – and pay attention – to the positive people in your life.
If you believe that what you are doing is right, and that what you are doing can help other people, then that is all that matters. Not the critics. Don’t let them stop you
[Ed. Note. If you are ready to ignore the critics, and to take action and to take control your future, then let us help. You CAN create your financial independence so that you set the rules on where you spend your time and whom you spend your time with. Watch this special video presentation where I reveal how anyone can achieve financial independence from the comfort of home.]