There are times in life when we reach a crossroad. We have the choice to go left or to go right. The road to the left is a road that leads to comfort and familiarity. While the road to the right, leads us to the mysterious and an uncomfortable place.

Given a choice, many of us would choose the path to the left. After all, isn’t a life full of comfort and ease what we are looking for? Isn’t this what leads to happiness? Why would anyone want to walk on a path that forces us to face our fears.

The truth is, one path leads to personal growth while the other leads to mediocrity. One path leads to joy and fulfillment, while the other leads to eventual remorse and regret. One path leads us on the ultimate journey to maximizing our potential in life while the other leaves us feeling small and wishing we had risked more.

The road to the right will lead you to personal riches so great that you will feel eternal gratitude for the life that you lived. Then why do so many of us choose the path of least resistance? Why do so many choose a path of leisure rather than a path of struggle?

Life was not meant to be easy. It is very paradoxical in the sense that to reach personal levels of greatness you must struggle through times of massive uncertainty and face your demons of fear.

Life is supposed to be a circular motion, we hit our own self-imposed limitations, then push past these limitations, celebrate the win, only to find out we must push through our next set of limitations.

We should never cower in fear when faced with a challenge that seems insurmountable to pass.

But yet we all cower at some point. We all stop short when things get hard.

There are two reason why this happens.

You stunt your own possible success through your own self-limiting thoughts and beliefs
The people you meet along the road to personal success slows you down or convinces you to stop chasing your dreams.

Today we focus on the other “people.”

Let’s keep in mind that throughout our lives we meet some amazing people, who help and support us through the toughest times in our lives. But there are also those, some of them are well-intentioned, who end up shifting our focus away from maximizing the limitless potential that lays inside of all of us.

Who are these groups of people? Let’s take a look.

The Relaxers

These are the types of people that don’t seem to have a care in the world. They spend their days relaxing and having fun. Spending the best hours of their best day’s laying around watching TV, partying, or doing things that won’t necessarily help them maximize their potential in their lives.

The danger with spending too much time with a relaxer is that you will slowly get sucked into their lifestyle. Once this happens you start veering you away from your own goals.

These types of people say things to you like:

“Hey you need to chill out and take it easy.”
“Why work so hard?”
“Have some fun in your life”

These people are well-intentioned, but unfortunately they don’t understand the value of hard work. Hard work that is aligned with your life goals is actually fun. A sense of accomplishment gives you an emotional high that is unmatched by superficial play.

The Worriers

This is another well-intentioned group of people who needlessly worry for you. They believe they are helping you by warning you of all the dangers that exist in the world. They are the first to tell you about the consequences of failing. They recommend to you that you should weigh all the negatives before you go ahead and take a risk in life.

Some of this advice is sound but most of it will be spoken with baseless evidence. It is a fear mongering that will cause you to shy away from taking a chance in life.

They say things to you like:

“Here are the different ways you can fail…”
“You shouldn’t change jobs because that new role isn’t secure”
“You shouldn’t try that, it sounds very dangerous”
"The grass isn't always greener on the other side"

If you continue to listen to a worrier, you will continue play small in life. Their words will slowly peel away your self-confidence and self-esteem.

The Critics

These are people who criticize your every move. They tell you that what you are doing is wrong. They tell you that you don’t have the authority to speak about the subject. They wave their finger at you telling you that you aren't good enough.

But who are these people really? Are they themselves afraid to see you climb the ladder of success because they themselves haven’t been brave enough to make that accent? Maybe they once had dreams, but they faltered along the way and decided not to try again? Maybe they have enough knowledge and expertise to be dangerous but not to be relevant?

Don’t waste your time listening to critics, instead spend your time listening to your fans. Those who support and believe in you. Think of it this way, critics are great to have because critics only come out when you are doing something right.

They say things to you like:

“You don’t have the authority to say that”
“Why in the world would you do that?”
“So and so is so much better than you”
“I have PHD, what are you credentials and who are you to speak?”

The Haters

Unfortunately, we live in a world where there are truly mean spirited people that exist. They are there to spread hate around the world regardless of what you do. Haters don’t just criticize you, they take it a step up by calling you names, ridiculing you, spreading rumors about you, etc. Haters are the bullies of the adult world and in today’s world the Internet has made it so much easier for them to hide…

These are small minded people, and many of them we have no hope of changing. So don’t even bother trying. All you have to do is stay completely focused on your own path and goals. Don’t argue, don’t even acknowledge these people as it empowers them to continue on with their tyrannical antics.

The last thing you want is for a Hater to get under your skin and waste your valuable time thinking or arguing about things that amount to nothing.

Haters say things like:

“You are so stupid, no one should listen to you”
“You are going to fail so miserably”
“You are the worst”

Remember, you rise and fall to the level of your associations. Choose the people you keep in your circle of friends very tight. Pick people, who support you, cheer for you, encourage you, and love you.

This will help keep you on the path towards personal greatness.

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