German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) once said, ‘All truth goes through three stages: first, it is ridiculed; second, it is violently opposed; and third, it is accepted as self-evident’.
It has been estimated that more than 90 per cent of people that you meet are negative!
This world has more discouragers than encouragers.
Therefore, you should develop your own self-confidence or applied faith that gives you inner strength and courage to be immune to any criticism.
Lim How observes that, ‘In almost any society or organisation, there is a short supply of encouragers and an over-supply of discouragers. For the purpose of personal progress, one should cultivate the inner strength to remain immune to negative comments, which are plenty and prevalent, and the courage to move ahead in spite of them’.
For example, in 1484, an Italian sailor Christopher Columbus carefully worked out his voyage plan.
It required a fleet of ships, men and provisions for them and Columbus did not have any of those things.
He was criticized and they said that he was crazy.
He asked King John of Portugal for help but he was turned down.
Then he asked King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain for help but they also turned him down.
At this time, Columbus had become extremely discouraged and sad but he persevered and persisted.
He asked, for the second time, for help from King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella and he was turned down again.
Finally, he decided to seek help from the King of France but before he got to France, Queen Isabella changed her mind and agreed to help him.
After eight years from the time when he had first drawn up his voyage plan it was finally decided that Columbus should have the men and their ships needed for his voyage.
Columbus left Spain with three little ships the Pinta, Nina and Santa Maria on his great adventure, across the mysterious and terrifying ‘Sea of Darkness’ as the Atlantic Ocean was then known.
Christopher Columbus’ self-confidence finally enabled him to achieve his extra-ordinary personal goal.
In 1632, after years of silence on the Copernican issue, Italian Astronomer and physicist Galileo published a book entitled, Dialogue On Two Chief World Systems, in which he supported a doctrine by yet another scientist Copernicus which stated that, ‘It was the earth that moved around the sun and not the sun that moved around the earth’.
This was a direct opposite of what had been believed in, in Europe and many other places elsewhere at that time, that ‘It was the sun that moved around the earth’, because everyone could see the sun move from sun-rise to sun-set.
Galileo was summoned by an inquisition in Rome for a warning by the Pope.
He was told to renounce this Copernican doctrine.
He was tried, threatened with torture and sentenced to house arrest for the rest of his life.
An inquisition was a Roman Catholic Church Tribunal for the discovery and punishment of heresy (i.e. opinion or doctrine contrary to Church belief or dogma).
The inquisition found Galileo’s discovery scandalous!
As Galileo was rising from his knees, after being forced to renounce the Copernican doctrine, he was heard saying, ‘Eppur si mouve’ in Italian to mean, ‘Yet it moves’.
Galileo strongly held on to his scientific fact.
Your lesson here is as clear as daylight at noon on a sunny day.
‘In spite of any let-down, hold on tightly and faithfully to your goal for your personal success in your life’.
After inventing the Steam Boat, Robert Fulton displayed his new invention on the banks of the Hudson River.
Some of the spectators of the display commented that, ‘It would never start’. But it started. As it was now going, the same people now said ‘It would never stop’. It stopped.
Fred Allen is right when he says, ‘If criticism had any real power to harm, the skunk would have been extinct by now’.
Any criticism simply says that: ‘Please Go Ahead and Show Them What You Mean’.
Joseph Niepce was a French Army Officer who in 1800 announced that he could capture scenes from life in a form of a photograph.
The world was shocked! He was criticized and discouraged but he persevered.
For the next 16 years he dedicated his spare time to experimenting with photography.
Finally, in 1886 he succeeded by producing the first ever photograph. It was a picture of a farm house and it took eight hours to develop!
Today, Joseph Niepce’s inner strength and courage have made him to be remembered as the inventor of photography.
Your let-downs are only a stimulant to your success.
After seeing the telephone which Alexander Graham Bell had just invented in 1876, the 19th US President Rutherford Hayes (1877-1881) remarked that, ‘That is an amazing invention, but who would ever want to use one of them?’
Today, the telephone is a global necessity.
When Guglielmo Marconi was working on inventing radio, which has made television and cellular phone possible, his family and friends had him taken into custody and examined in a psychopathic hospital for insanity!
As if that was not enough, his own Italian government showed a total lack of interest in his ‘bizarre’ idea.
Then he approached the British government which liked his idea.
In 1896, Marconi patented his radio apparatus in England.
It was described as, ‘A system of telegraphy using Hertzian waves by which electrical actions or manifestations are transmitted through the air, earth or water by means of electrical oscillations at high frequency’.
Heinrich Hertz was the first person to prove the existence of radio waves in Morse code.
The first public radio broadcast was made in 1920 and in 1922 all the companies which were involved in Marconi’s work joined together to form the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
To succeed in your life you need some let-downs to bring the best from within you.
The two brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright had to work against all odds because people at that time believed that only birds could fly.
In 1895, Lord Kelvin, President of the Royal Society said, ‘Heavier than air flying machines are impossible’.
In spite of all their criticisms and discouragement, the Wright brothers proceeded to construct their first ever aircraft, using the facilities of their bicycle repair shop.
In 1903, the two brothers made their famous first human-carrying flight.
Each made two flights and the longest flight lasted for only 59 seconds!
One week before their first flight, a New York Times editorial of December 10, 1903 questioned the wisdom of the Wright brothers for trying to invent a machine that is heavier than air which could fly.
Today, the Wright brothers are remembered as the inventors of the aeroplane.
During World War 1 (1914-1918), the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in France, Marshall Foch, after watching an aircraft display said, ‘All very well for sport, but it is of no use whatsoever to the army’.
About two decades later during World War 2 (1939-1945), the aeroplane made air power of the air force possible and a decisive impact.
Improvements in aerodynamics and electronics enabled military commanders to use war planes to cause devastating results.
By the end of 1945, most major world powers had a military air force.
At the turn of the 20th Century, King Gillette, the founder of the Gillette safety razors was criticized, discouraged and laughed at by engineers and barbers who flatly told him that his idea was impossible.
But during World War 1, the safety razor became a standard item in every soldier’s field kit. Gillette’s let-downs brought the best from within him that made him to succeed.
The only purpose of your straight rejections is to inspire and strengthen you to succeed.
In the 1940s, the idea of Chester Carlson was turned down by 20 companies.
After seven years of straight rejections, it was finally accepted in 1947.
Chester Carlson’s idea was the Xerox photocopying machine.
Sometimes, let-downs can even come from your very own family members, ‘friends’ or neighbours! Be careful.
When one hunter bought an extra-ordinary dog that could walk on water he looked forward to impress his friends with his new special pet.
One day, he invited his friend to go with him to hunt ducks at a nearby Oxbow-lagoon. Whenever they shot a few ducks, the hunter would order his dog to go and collect the birds which were floating dead on the water.
Throughout the day, the dog kept on walking and running on top of the water collecting the ducks that were shot.
The hunter eagerly awaited a compliment or at least a comment about his magnificent dog from his friend but it never came.
On their way home, the hunter asked his friend if he had noticed anything extra-ordinary and special about his dog.
His friend then passed a weak comment saying, ‘Yes, in fact, I did notice something abnormal and strange about your dog. Your dog can’t swim’!
Charles Haanel explains that, ‘Every individual who ever advanced a new idea, whether a Columbus, a Darwin, a Galileo, a Watt, a Fulton, a Stephenson, a Faraday or an Emerson was subjected to ridicule and persecution. The mind cannot comprehend an entirely new idea until a corresponding vibratory brain cell has been prepared to receive it. This explains why it is difficult for us to receive or appreciate an entirely new idea’.
It is important that you strengthen your self-confidence to give you enough inner strength and courage to overcome all your criticisms and let-downs and succeed in your personal life. Always follow the advice of Zig Ziglar, ‘A lot of people can stop you temporarily; but it is only you who can stop you on a permanent basis’.
To overcome your let-downs always be positive in your thinking and wholeheartedly believe in and become convinced of the possibility of your goal.
The author is a motivational mentor and consultant in positive mind-set change. Email: positivemindpower1511@yahoo.com/Facebook: lawrencemukuka.