You Can Overcome

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

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“There is one way to avoid criticism: Do nothing. Say nothing. Be nothing.” says Aristotle. Criticism comes with breaking new ground. Criticism comes with putting yourself out there. But how do you respond when that criticism turns to hatred?

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Hatred is a hard thing to handle, particularly when you feel it is unjust. But I’m writing this for you today: DON’T LET IT STOP YOU.

Spread more love than hate

Theodore Roosevelt’s Man in the Arena

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Theodore Roosevelt, Excerpt from the Speech “Citizenship in the Republic” given at the Sorbonne in Paris, France April 1910

We are all people of the arena. Every human has to cope with this question:

What to Do When Someone Hates You

Be you. But being you will often cause undeserved hate from others.

Hatred is a hard thing to handle. Humans usually possess a “me-centric” view of the world. We’ve all seen how two good people can have a vastly different opinions. It happens. No matter what you do, how kind you are, or anything else, I promise you this: In your human-ness, you will attract haters. No way around it.

Haters are an inevitable part of life if you’re accomplishing anything of worth. You can decide what to do about that.

It will also shock and surprise you just how long some people will nurse hatred. It can be years later and they’re still hanging onto something that you barely remember.

Don’t confuse criticism with hate. People who care will give advice help you improve.

Tip 1: Not Every Criticism Is Motivated by Hate

A person giving you constructive criticism wants to help you improve and become better.

A hater wants to hurt you and wants you to die.

Determine if love or hate is the basis of the criticism by recognizing who criticized you and how they gave it. What was the intent? Help or harm?

Why Do We Notice the Negative?

You can be in a crowd of ten thousand and give an incredible speech. One critic blasts you on their blog or on Twitter, and what do you notice? You don’t see those hundred positive tweets — you see the one negative.

You can captivate your whole classroom except for one student who has decided to dislike you. You don’t relish 29 joyful, happy, learning kids — you languish because one student (and usually their parents) doesn’t like you. (I’ve been there — and goodness –, it’s hard when this happens!)

Tip 2: Reject Critics Math

Jon Acuff talks about this phenomenon in his book Start: Punch Fear in the Face, Escape Average and Do Work that Matters calls this “critics math.” Jon says:

1 insult + 1,000 compliments = 1 insult

He goes on to tell the story of Larry David, creator of the hit TV show Seinfeld. Larry went to New York and attended a ballgame. When the organizers spotted him in the crowd, they showed his picture on the big screen and played the Seinfeld theme song as the entire stadium stood and applauded.

After the game as Larry walked to his car, a stranger drove by, rolled down his window, and yelled,

“Larry, you suck!”

Which did Larry remember later? The one stranger who said that he sucked.

Are you kidding? One rude person can erase 49,999 giving you a standing ovation?

This math doesn’t make sense.

The first step in overcoming critics math is to realize that you’re doing it and refuse to go there.

Tip 3: Keep Perspective

I deal with the haters by admitting that there’s room enough in this big wide world for both of us.- Good people can dislike me. I can even dislike good people. Good and evil aren’t determined by whether people like you or me. This perspective helps.

I recall a professor in college who drew a little x at the corner of the board. Across the board he drew a cloud.

He points at the cloud and says, “This is the universe.” He walks across the front of the room to the tiny x and tells the class, “This is you.” Then, he says something profound. “Notice that you” (pointing at the x) “are not at the center of the universe” (pointing at the cloud.)

Love is a powerful response to hate.

Tip 4: Center Your Thoughts in Healthy Ways

Nope. I’m not the center of the universe, and neither are you. But we can choose to center our thoughts daily. When hate rears its ugly head — it hurts us. – And yet centering our thoughts gets easier with time. Focus on your goals. We’ve got things to get done!

Tip 5: Focus on the Likers, Not the Haters

Stop focusing on the futile: You probably can’t make the haters like you.

Instead, focus on the people who actually do like you. Spend time cultivating those relationships and perhaps they’ll come to love you (and you them).

Focus on helping and serving others and being kind. Choose to ignore those who may be speaking negatively about you — that can quickly become paranoia. Usually, it turns out that people aren’t even talking about you at all. I hate to tell you what I tell myself: You’re not that important. Keep perspective and keep to your task.

So, decide. We’ve already heard Theodore Roosevelt tell us clearly, “It is not the critic who counts” but why do we give such things power over us? Why should we let haters distract us from living an epic life?

Tip 6: Celebrate Good Times and Progress

My first boss sent a memo to his manager praising my performance. He brought the copy to my desk and I was so excited. I couldn’t believe it. Then, he told me something I’ll never forget.

“Create an ‘atta girl’ folder for those hard days. They’ll come and you’ll need to remember who you are and who you can be. This is your first ‘atta girl.’ Keep it.”

I still have the folder and made one in Evernote so that I can always get to it. “Atta girl” has pulled me through dark days when I failed at something.

We all fall. I fail. You fail. It’s part of life.

Tip 7: Keep Moving Forward

Failure becomes permanent only if we stop trying. It becomes success when we learn from it. It also helps to remember the good days when the bad days come.

But let’s be clear about the difference between failure and criticism. Criticism is not failure. Having a hater is not a failure. Being criticized and having a hater is part of being human.

Sweet Revenge.

Dr. Phil Adler, my favorite professor, always talked about racism and sexism and how to overcome the. He’d tell us that there were people who would not want us to be included in conversations because of our gender or race.

“Be so good that they can’t ignore you,” he said.
The best revenge is success and proving them wrong.”

Ever since that moment in class, I’ve repeated this thought when faced with a hater targeting me or my gender.

Tip 8: Be Excellent in Your Work.

Your best revenge against haters is proving them wrong. Succeed and work your best to do a fantastic job at whatever you’re called to do.

Some people want swift justice because their me-centered world demands it. Well, life is a marathon not a sprint. Be a turtle (as I share in Chapter 13 of Reinventing Writing).

Who Hating Really Hurts

Hating hurts the hater most of all. I read a story of the freed slave Frederick Douglass riding a train through Pennsylvania. He was told to ride with the luggage, and several white passengers came back to the luggage car to express how upset they were. Douglass responded by telling them that he was not degraded but that those who did this to him were degrading themselves for treating a fellow human being with disrespect. (Paraphrased from a story included in Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington.)

Tip 9: Commit Not To Hate

Hating is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.

Hating is like tying a dead body to your back — the body doesn’t care that it’s lashed to you, but you bear the burden.

Hating hurts the hater most of all.

When you are bothered by a person’s hate, it gives them power over you. They can rejoice because they ruined your day. Their purpose is wounding you and causing you pain, and they’d probably be happy only if you were dead. Since there’s nothing you can do to make them happy you have to learn to live with it!

Tip 10: Live Life!

And live with it you do! But do more than just live — thrive and succeed and enjoy your life. Fulfill your mission and spend time your loving the 99.9% of people who don’t have a problem with the fact you’re breathing air at this moment.

Life is too short to make a big deal about a small person. And hate does exactly that — it has a way of making the person on the receiving end feel smaller and less incapable of success.

So, my friends — forgive and move on. Do whatever it takes, but let go of hate. If someone hates you, sing the song from Frozen and “let it go.”

Haters are gonna hate. The question is: what will you do about it?