Discouraging comments are fabulous motivators.
Someone threw a belittling comment my way the other day and, for about thirty minutes, I was hurt... and mad. After about five minutes of saying to myself "Feeling this way won't get you what you want", I forced myself to get real:
#1- I was taking the comment personally. I knew that what this person said was about that person, not me and, yet, I was making this very personal.
#2- If one comment could irk me this much, in some way, shape, or form, it had to hit home. There was something here I needed to look at.
#3- To make this issue a "non-issue", I needed a perspective adjustment and, more than likely, an action realignment.
Within an hour's time, I worked out my issues with the comment and came out of the whole thing extremely grateful.
Why?
Because the comment pinpointed an area in my life that needed serious work and, if someone else hadn't struck the chord of discontent, I would've lived on ignoring the fact that it was there.
At times, we like to behave as if the changeable things in our lives aren't in urgent need of changing, as if living "ok" is fine for the meantime when it couldn't be farther from the truth.
If there's anything in your life that's keeping you from extraordinary success, it's a BIG deal. But, until you see it as urgent, it won't move to the top of your priority list... and that's where discouraging comments come in.
Sometimes you have to hear the unadulterated, exaggerated, oftetimes blunt truth from someone else to wake up to the call to action that's quietly been asking you to DO SOMETHING.
You might not heed your own inner calling to change but when someone else throws it in your face in a way that sets you off, don't get mad. Get grateful. That person didn't insult you; they inspired you.
The question is:
What are you going to do now?
Not all negative comments are personal. I do tend to take things personally that once I reflect, I realize it's really not about me at all.
ReplyDeleteI'm loving reading your posts :)