F*** What Others Think

Living a life that follows the ideal views of what other people think is a backwards way to live. It turns you into a victim who waits for other people to make moves before you do. You become a follower, not a leader. Being dictated by others will show the world you don’t stand for anything. If you are confident enough to express your thoughts, haters will tell you otherwise. If you have amassed wealth, haters will say you are lucky. If you are highly skilled at something, haters will say they have seen better. Others will always have something to say about you having a go in life and the sad truth is the majority of people in your network will have negative opinions towards you. This is the cost of excelling in this world and it is perfectly normal.

I used to care about what others thought of me. No matter how tough you are, it starts to affect you at some point. Whether it was the media writing negatively about me or a co-worker attempting to push me around, I slowly learnt how to deal with these types of situations. I was always told to ignore the haters and to just focus on myself. The problem with this, was that the anger would build up inside of me and I would explode and potentially take it out on somebody I really care about. For example, when I was working in nightclubs in my earlier years, there was a partner in the business who would attempt to bully me and humiliate me in front of the other partners and employees. He would say derogatory insults such as I should be working at 7/11 (because of my skin colour) instead of a nightclub, or I should be a cleaner rather than an aspiring entrepreneur. He continuously told me I was never going to be good enough to make it in business. I used to bottle my aggression up and tried to ignore him until one day I decided to take a stand. I approached the nightclub boss and told him to stop bullying me otherwise I would fight him and humiliate him in front of everyone. The other partners in the business could see I was serious and they calmed me down and made their business partner apologise to me. After that he respected me for taking a stand however didn’t like me for it. He later went on to become bankrupt and losing everything, while I went on to succeed in life.

After that experience I learned a valuable lesson. Instead of ignoring your haters, engage with them, respectfully. Confront them and question them on their actions. If they continue to be negative, be confident in your stance. Eventually things will fall into place as you can never force things to happen that you cannot control. When I first started investing in businesses and property, many people would tell me I would never make it. I confronted those people to show me what they have achieved. How successful was their business? How many properties did they own? These negative people were not even in business and held no property at all! What I found was that these people were merely expressing their own insecurities, and we’re ultimately just jealous I was doing something that they couldn’t do themselves. Now these same people, 10 years later, ask me for advice on how to get into the property market. There are still those that choose to stay negative, however those people end up in the same spot they were in 10 years ago.

Taking massive action is paramount when wanting to make a difference in the world. Most people wait for others to take action first, so then they can follow. I’ve always enjoyed watching other aspiring entrepreneurs start their hustle in their first business. These guys make me proud because they take that fearful leap of faith. But the more interesting observation I made is how some people respond to these new business owners. Most people are waiting around to see how others react before making a move. If people start to point and laugh, then others will do the same. If people are encouraging, then others will also be encouraging. Positivity breeds positivity, therefore you must ensure you place yourself in the right environment. Once you understand that this is how the majority of minds work, it is a big step towards freedom.

You have to ask yourself, “what is the worst that could happen? Are you going to die?” It is highly likely, no, you will not die. However we are all going to die someday, so we must make the most of our life now while we can. I guarantee that when you re 90 years old, you will not care about what others thought of you when you were 30 years old. Start standing up for what you believe in, because time is running out and you must take action now if you want to succeed in life.

In life, especially in business, it will be impossible to please everyone. You will always have people judging you and people will constantly disagree with you. However if we continue to work on pleasing everyone, we can come off as a push-over and lose respect from others. People who get pushed over are losers and if you become a loser you will attract losers. It is better to be respected rather than liked, as this will get you further in business. The key is, is to know your values, don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and surround yourself with winners. The majority of the world are sheep, but the lions who are well fed rule the kingdom. Do not lose sleep over the opinions of sheep!