Make Your Haters Your Motivators

Diversity is important in all areas of life. A great financial portfolio has a diverse set of assets so it can profit in any financial environments. A great carpenter carries a diverse set of tools so every construction need can be met. A great business employs a diverse group of people who can understand, no – feel, the diverse needs of every corner of its customer base. Similarly, people who have great success require a diverse set of skills. The greatest among us live on a mission, committed to getting better every day despite or, better yet, because of all the challenges they will face. Sure, we would all rather play all of our games “at home” on a familiar field surrounded by stands packed the fans that show us the most love. However, we often must play the game of life before hostile crowds. Just like the carpenter needs the screwdriver and the hammer equally, your success plan needs to thrive equally on love and hate. You need to be able to make your haters your motivators.

A hater is someone who gets joy from witnessing your failure. Said differently, a hater does not enjoy seeing you have success. Because haters get their joy from seeing you fail, playing on their terms is a no-win situation for you. Your haters will only be happy if you are failing, pleasing them is obviously self-destructive. This is not nearly as self-destructive, however, as keeping haters on your “home team” and succeeding despite them. In this case, your haters will be forced to step up their hate game until they end your season for good. A hater is a threat to any and every positive move you make toward success because your success threatens his or her joy.

Further, it is not always easy to spot “hater-ation,” as Mary J. Blige would say, because sometimes it comes at you by surprise. Hate sometimes appears in your life as a monkey wrench in your engine thrown by “friends” and even family members. Naively, many people feel that they can simply avoid or ignore those who mean them harm. In their time of indecision, these people find their plan for haters is no plan at all, which often leaves them wide open to their haters’ attacks. Haters, if you let them, will make themselves at home in your mind, keeping you stuck in self-doubt and far from success. And yet, you must make your haters a part of your success plan. What? A carpenter would not go to the job without a hammer because their may be nails there that need pounding. In the same fashion, given that haters are an inevitable part of life, you may need to lay the hammer yourself, making your haters a part of your success rather than your demise.

In order to reach your highest potential, you have to get and stay motivated every day. Some days, the work of greatness will come easily to you. You will be so enamored with the worth of your mission that you will be able to push forward with ease. Some days, however, your motivation will wane, your step will drag, and your courage will weaken. These are the days in which you may need to use every trick in your book to stay motivated. These are the days in which haters are the most useful to you. Your haters are waiting for you to quit, waiting for you to admit that they were right all along about you. Will you let them have the satisfaction? Your haters are on standby waiting to stand over you after you’ve fallen from the mountain up which they were too frightened or too lazy to climb. Will you sit still for the diss? Your haters are trying to take food off your table and give you a backhanded slap on the way out. Will you stand for it?

On the days when the thought of your righteous mission is not enough to amp you up, think about your haters. They’re not right about you! They have no business standing over you dissing your game! And if they try to take what yours, you’ll take it back, ‘cause it’s like that! Use your haters to get back on your game. Steal your haters’ joy by staying on a winning path.

No one wants to think about haters. We would all rather ignore them and go about our business. However, if you love your greatness, you will make sure that nothing ever stands in your path. Don’t get caught being the carpenter without a hammer in his box. Though you should never, ever have haters as a playbook-carrying member of your squad, but be sure to use them to keep your mind right for success. Put all that hate to good use! n