team"A thousand people can say something stupid and it is still stupid." This is one of my favorite quotes from the Teams founder Orrin Woodward. The sad fact of reality is that anyone with a tiny smidgen of a dream, goal or new idea can, often times, be sucker punched across the jaw by critics who are quick to tear people down and tell them that their idea will not work or their dream will never come true. Anytime anyone attempts to do anything of value in life they should expect critics and welcome them with a smile because they will surely come knocking as they approach success.
I joined the Team as an independent business owner a few years ago while being a full time college student. Any chance I got, whether in between classes, practice or studying late at night, I dove into the Teams training system to educate myself so I could develop a strong and profitable business. I understood that I was a 19 year old kid who did not know anything about business; however I knew that Orrin Woodward did. He had the results; he had paved the way and was able to teach me to get the same results he has achieved through the Teams training materials consisting of books, audio CDs and weekly/monthly leadership meetings. I devoured these training materials and listened to CD after CD after CD. I had hundreds of tapes and CDs that I invested in, stacked all over my desk, dresser, and stocked in my closet. I understood that you don’t know what you don’t know, and if you want to know you need to learn from those who know, you know? Anyhow, as I invested in these training materials and submitted myself to the Teams system by committing my time and energy to this endevour, I would be hounded by my roommate on a daily basis. During my time living in the same apartment as my roommate, the mocking, joking and laughing would only escalate from day to day. My roommate would bring friends over and point out to them the tapes and CDs I had lying around my room. He would say "look at all these self help tapes that he has," while pointing at a stack of ten tapes or so. His friends would smirk and joke around about the tapes, and he would say "that’s not all, look at these!" and he would open my closet which stored somewhere in the proximity of three to four hundred tapes and CDs!! His friend’s jaws would drop and they would literally SNAP!! "Whoa...you need self help tapes to get off the self help tapes," they would say. Because I committed myself to the Teams system I was well prepped and trained to handle this type of situation. I simply smiled and thought to myself "better they laugh at me, than me be them." You see, Orrin has taught me that you do not need to worry about what people think. In fact, Orrin has said that "you wouldn’t care what people think if you knew how seldom they did". If you attempt to do anything great in life you will surely have cynics who will scoff at you and your dream. I had a dream and I was not going to let a critic tear me down and make me quit my dream.
In Orrin Woodward’s book Leading the Consumer Rebellion co-authored with Team co-founder Chris Brady, Orrin and Chris illustrate how preposterous critics can be, by sharing an excerpt from Jane O’Boyle’s book Wrong! Jane O’Boyle’s excerpt is as follows:
· “Hurray, boys, we’ve got them! We’ll finish them up and then go home to our station.” - General George Custer, when first sighting a Sioux encampment near the Battle of Little Big Horn, 1876.
· “People will tire of talkers. Talking is not substitute for the good acting we had in silent pictures.” – Thomas Edison, 1925, on new movies with sound.
· “Drill for oil? You mean, drill into the ground to try and find oil? You’re crazy.” – Professional drillers in 1859, when Edwin Drake tried to enlist their services.
· “The telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” – Western Union Internal memo, 1876.
· “Everything that can be invented has been invented.” – Charles Duell, commissioner of U.S. Patent Office, 1899.
· “I think there is a world market for five computers.” – Thomas Watson, IBM chairman, 1943.
· “There is no reason why anyone would ever want a computer in their home.” – Ken Olsen, president, CEO, and founder of Digital Equipment, 1977.
· “Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau.” – Irving Fisher, Yale University Professor of economics, October 17th, 1929.
· “The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better that a ‘C’, the idea must be feasible.” – A business professor at Yale University in 1966, on Fred Smith’s senior thesis outlining a reliable overnight delivery service. Smith later founded Federal Express.
· “The internet will collapse within a year.” – Bob Metcalf, founder of 3Com Corporation, 1995.
Critics are a dime a dozen. While you are on your journey to success and you face an obstacle in your path, ponder the comments highlighted above, and remember that “a thousand people can say something stupid and it is still stupid.”
To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing. Don’t do that. Go out there and press on anyways. When you get laughed at, press on anyways. When you’re told that you will never reach your goal, press on anyways. If you’re close family members and friends become your biggest critics, press on anyways. Don’t ask yourself if you can do it, or is it possible? Ask yourself, is my dream worth it? Is my family’s future worth it? Ask yourself that, and you will be able to push your critics aside and keep your mental frame of mind in check to assist you in reaching your goals and dreams.