Having hates is an inevitable part of any bold journey – everyone who has made a difference in the world has had doubters and critics. As natural as haters might be, in the age of social media it’s become harder and hard to ignore them – and so we asked some brilliant creatives and entrepreneurs to tell us how they deal with haters.
Kayce Hammer
I think people that are too scared to fulfill their own dreams, has something to say about everyone else’s. It’s scary to pursue something new, especially when you have no idea where it is headed – but the rewards can far outweigh the fear / negatives. I always try to remind myself of this when I’m feeling defeated or talked badly about. The most successful people in the world have the most haters. You have to stay in your own lane and remember why you’re doing what you do! And most important of all – you have to be doing it for yourself! Read more>>
Zaire Bellamy
By remembering I’m my own boss and simply because this is my livelihood is what keeps me going. Also, because I’m a mom, being able to spend more valuable time with my son versus always being busy with work or too tired is my motivation. It’s kind of my way to say ‘kiss my ass’, to everyone who has ever told me I wouldn’t amount to much in life. Read more>>
Kefas Brand
I find my haters the best thing that happened or happens to me for they find my imperfections and that helps me correct and that way I’m always getting better thanks to them. So personally I love my haters and I don’t get bothered by the negativity that comes with them rather get inspired to get better. Read more>>
Stephen Kozeniewski
I’ll tell you something interesting about the haters and the nay-sayers, and, trust me, I’ve encountered a mass of them over the years. Each of them has a little black hole inside them, one that can never be filled up, now matter how much garbage they dump in it. So you can look at this two ways: you can either obsess over the vacuum hearts and try, perpetually to fill them up by feeding them others in the hopes they won’t turn on you. But they’ll always turn on you. The other option, the one I tend to pursue, is to leave them to their own devices. They’ll devour themselves. And it drives them absolutely nuts when you don’t feed them, not even a scrap of bad emotion. Read more>>
Tamika V. Johnson
Haters will always exist. I learned that haters must carry some insecurity within themselves if their purpose is to attack someone’s character or their life is centered around speaking negatively about someone. By developing empathy with why someone would belittle me (or speak that I can’t do something over my life), I learned that people who embody those behaviors are usually projecting since they failed before, are inspired by something I did before them, or were not supported in their own journeys. To me, when someone is a hater or nay-sayer, it is a reflection of their character and not my own. Read more>>
James Parriett
I have the resilience that was instilled in me early when I would see my mother work so hard to feed her family and create a home with little to nothing. I looked up to my mom and she worked hard for what she got in life, though she had a disability she never agreed to anyone saying that she was disabled. She coached me to be persistent and to go after what I wanted in life, including when I joined the United States Marine Corps. I can really say that this was the opportunity I needed to grow, thrive and to learn from my life mistakes early on in life. So, moving forward is the only option in life, or you will be left behind whether you like it or not. Read more>>
Liz Huber
When I think of all of the barriers I have faced in my endeavors to increase access to self-rescue swimming lessons for children ages 1-6, I sometimes wonder how and why I keep going. While I know that drowning is the leading cause of death for kids 1-4, remains a large issue throughout childhood and that self-rescue swimming lessons save lives, I did not anticipate so much pushback. Some of this pushback came in the form of lack of pool space (so many pools said our program would be in competition with their program), financial support (business advisors said we’d never be able to reach enough children with 1:1 lessons to attract donors and/or make a real living), and concerns for the wellbeing of children (many people speculated that our program was traumatic). It would have been SO easy to quit. Read more>>
Kevin Alton
Once I realized that everyone is not going to like what I do or how I run my programs for one reason or another and that’s fine everyone has an opinion as long as I see the smiles on the children’s faces that I provide services for is all that matters at the end of the day I need the haters and the nay-sayers. They fuel a fire in me to keep going and getting better because the people on the outside might have seen something I overlooked or could do better. Still, instead of saying it positively it might come out as hate and I understand that but I can’t let that deter me from doing the work I need to do. Read more>>
