How To Respond To Negativity In Your Life And Business?

Editor: Dr. Cheryl Cottle, Ed.D

Negative voices only serve as obstacles to hinder your growth and development; all obstacles can be removed. There are always people in your life who will tell you that you shouldn’t be taking on a task, particularly if it’s tied into your creativity and passion and entails your independence and abundance. While this may relate to the many different choices that we make in life, as an entrepreneur, we are often confronted by others who think that you should not be pursuing a business venture but that you should be thinking in terms of "finding a good job" or finding a "permanent job" rather than pursuing "this thing" as your business venture is often reduced to.

The voices of these negative messages often resonate with you during challenging periods of your business ventures, and you often ponder on the messages you received from those you value most in your live. We often think, "Am I right in pursuing my passion?" or Am I mad to have taken this course? And are they right in their assessment of me?” We often doubt our actions and this process of self-doubt goes on for a while and as a consequence cripples our progress towards developing a successful businesses. To deal with these negative voices in your head and to erratic limiting beliefs that affect your upward growth, should be buried. You should be able to get out from the abyss and or wasteland that you have found yourself in and soar. Ralph Waldo Emerson says;

Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.

According to Emerson, to succeed you should “map out a course of action and follow it through”. However, to define a course of action and implement it successfully, you must get rid of the voices of doubts that you have, and be courageous in the pursuit of your happiness. Those negative voices only serve as obstacles to hinder your growth and development. In your pursuit of self-employment, have you been told by loved ones that you should not, and why not find a “real job”. How this made you feel and how did you respond?