How Far Will You Go?

I ran across a quote the other day that said "Small minds can't comprehend big spirits. To be great, you have to be willing to be mocked, hated, and misunderstood. Stay strong."

Not only did those words resonate, but we see it happen unfold on social media, at work, and even to those closest to us. The question is how far will you go before all the chatter, juicy gossip, to even outright lies start to affect your ascension to the next level? Will you give up? Will you fight back with lies and even more gossip to get even and to show those lovely haters you're not going to stand for it?

As much as it would please the flesh to time travel back to our days of being in junior high and say our 2 cents, it's way more rewarding to just take the high road. We should never sacrifice class to get even with someone who has NONE. Let them have the gutter. Take the high road.

There will always be those people that no matter what you do, how you do it, or when you do it, they will never have anything nice to say about you or the opportunities you're working on. In fact, it's not you they have an issue with, but it's that person in the mirror. It's their way of coping with the fact that they're not happy with themselves. They will love you and tell you what a great friend you are to your face, by email, on the IG, and if you're lucky enough, they'll even send you a birthday gift.

But...And it's a big but too...the moment you start to better yourself, whether it be by continuing your education, working longer hours in hopes of getting a promotion, working harder and producing more than the other sales people consistently, or that business you started on the side to make extra money is actually starting to take off, that is when the haters will start to peek their head up and take notice because your success, your hustle and relentless determination makes them feel super uncomfortable and the only way they know how to deal with your success is talking bad about you. Period.

Imagine for one second if the legendary Kobe Bryant addressed every single one of his haters after every game. Think about that. And the crazy thing is, if he really wanted to, he could have clobbered and silenced those haters with stats and analytics. Kobe was different. Instead of going on ESPN and Facebook to prove his critics and naysayers wrong, he took all that hate and negativity and poured it into 48 minutes in 82 games every single single year, not including playoff games, and having this insane work ethic by practicing and perfecting his game to go down in history as one of the best to ever play the game. So insane, that it was widely known he would be the first to show up to practice and the last one to leave. He would practice without a ball visualizing and going thru every move. He would refuse to leave practice until he made 800 shots. The list goes on.

Here is a guy that fought, scrapped, and wrestled his way to 7 -- count it -- 7 -- NBA Finals and walked away with 5 championships. It's virtually impossible to win 1 championship, let alone 5! To this day, you will still hear people talking and posting about how he lost 2 of those finals, and completely ignore and dismiss the 5 rings on 5 of his fingers. The irony.

Kobe was mocked, ridiculed, hated and misunderstood. Are you willing to be mocked?

So instead of trying to get even, tell them "Thank you for hating and confirming I'm on the right track!" Haters are a great sign that you're on the right path and heading towards your purpose.

#koury #thankyouforhating #kobebryant #nevergiveup #juicygossip #leadbyexample #love #forgiveness #takethehighroad #leadership