Stay The Course! (February 2007)

From February 25, 2007:

Several years ago, I served under a very kind and capable woman. She truly understood the significance of delegation and trusted each one of us to do our best at our jobs. In spite of how much she cared for each and every person in the organization, and in spite of how hard she worked, she often broke down in tears during our meetings because there was always somebody she couldn't please. Then she would shake it off, reminding herself that she couldn’t please everybody, and trust in God. This was just one of many valuable lessons I learned from this her: You cannot please everybody.

I have touched upon this slightly in the past—that there is always somebody who will say that you are flawed in your personality, just because they cannot relate or understand, or may simply be envious. But it may be that so-called “flawed” part of your personality that makes you stand out, and makes you special. If you think about some of the people who stand out in society, whether you like them or not—from Donald Trump to Oprah Winfrey, Eleanor Roosevelt to Winston Churchill—some people will love them and some will hate them. According to motivational speaker Gail Blanke, the one thing that they all have in common is that none of them “would have lasted very long if they had worried about being universally liked.”

Blanke says that “Most of us are afraid to be controversial, or even to be too intensely who we are. We’re like lemonade with too much water in it and too few lemons. We dilute our ‘flavor’ so we won’t offend anyone. And, in the process, we give away our power, the essence of who we are that makes us unique and unforgettable.”

Madison Buffalo Jump

Age has taught me to be who I am and to act accordingly. Do I have to please everybody? No: It is the people I love that matter. I can be true to myself and still be myself. I don’t need to “dilute” myself in order to fit in or conform unless it is something in which I truly believe. If that is the case, I will do it whole heartedly and with conviction. I say: Stay the course and don’t lose yourself in the process.




So my advice to myself: Start something today.  Sometimes the path ahead will be hard, and many times it will be lonely.  But it will be the path I choose.