FEAR OF CRITICISM; A MAJOR HINDRANCE TO EXCEPTIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS

If fear of criticism prevents you from doing what you should do, you will never become exceptional in your endeavors; and you might perhaps never achieve anything worth celebrating.

The above statement is so true that record has shown that those that refuse to do what they have to do because of what people might say remains average all their lives. No one can count the number of people who have gone down as failures due to this, but we can point to several people who have defied the fear of criticism to do what they have to do and have their name written indelibly in the history book.

The fear of criticism has left a lot of people failures and if you check it, you might just find out you are one of them.

If you find out you avoid making decisions simply because people will criticize you, then you are one of them, who are going to end up as average in life if fear is not taken. It means you only want to be in people’s good books by doing only those things that makes sense to them. This just proves this saying right: “if you try to make sense to people every time, you might end up not making a single sense with your life. “

Being able to move on amidst criticism is the major reason why those that achieve exceptional successes in life did so and have been confused for mad people at one time or the other in their lives. Check the record. They never let the fear of criticism stop them from achieving their aims in life. This makes them looks mad, rebellious, arrogant and obstinate to people.

Let us look at the story of Mohammed, who is regarded by his followers as the last great prophet.

Mohammed was a prophet, but he never performed a miracle, he was not a mystic and had no formal schooling, he didn’t even begin his mission until he was 40. When he announced that he was the messenger of God bringing the word of the true religion, he was ridiculed and labeled a lunatic, worst of all, he was banished from his native city, Mecca and his followers were stripped off their worldly goods and sent into the desert with him.

He preached for 10 years, with only banishment, ridicule and poverty to show for it, but before another 10 years had passed, he was the dictator of all Arabian, Ruler of Mecca and the Ruler of the new world religion.

Despite all the odds against him, Mohammed moved on, one thing worked for him: his ability to move on amidst criticisms, which led him to being banished and left him to befriend poverty in the desert.

This quality inspired his persistence and other qualities that gave birth to what we now know as Islam.

No doubt, Islam is one of the most practiced religions in the world today, whether it be of God or not is not the question here, the question is: how did a religion formed by a prophet who never performed any miracle, and was without formal education gained large followership across the world and it is practiced by men of great education and wealth, who are willing to use their wealth to support the course of its tenets?

I tell you the truth, Islam would not have become a possibility and Mohammed’s name would not have been known if he had given up due to the fear of criticism.

The principles of success are always the same, they are no respecter of persons; anyone who taps into them succeeds, regardless of their motives. This is why Mohamed gained so much power, regardless of what people think of him. These principles remain unchanged and will not change because of anyone.

However something was responsible for Mohamed’s ability to withstand all odds against him and achieve his aim; this thing is what those who give up before starting, because of the fear of being criticized do not have.

It is: stronger believe in internal conviction than in popular opinions and oppositions. This proves Napoleon Hill right to say “if your fear of criticism is stronger than your desire to succeed, you will never succeed”. 

Many of us remain ordinary because let go a lot of ideas beautiful ideas given to us by infinite intelligence due to fear of criticism. We are ignorant of the fact that those that criticize us at first will always come back to be our staunchest supporters once they find out we are right to ignore their opinions, except they want to remain adamant and never let go their ego.

Mohammed’s believe in his internal conviction ahead of popular opinion is evident here today and if you are a Muslim, it won’t be hard for you to relate with this fact.

Did you drop that beautiful idea because of what people might think of you? Go back and pick it up!

I tell you, if you are approved by people at all time, you will never become exceptional; you will only live your life trying to make sense to a section of people and always remain under their influence.

To be exceptional, you have to defy fear of criticism.

Believe in your internal conviction; for whatsoever you can conceive, you can achieve.

If Mohammed could become the leader of one of the most practiced religion in the world, without formal education or a single miracle, then you can do better.

Be the best!

Written by Soul’e Rhymez

Poet & Public Speaker, based in Lagos, Nigeria.

For invitation to Seminars or for Questions, call +2348163800077 or send email to soulerhymez@gmail.com

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