Light Leaping with the Right People

Light Leaping with the Right People

​Are you leaping with the right people?

Are they helping you reach your destination?

Are their opinions and constructive feedback positive and productive?

If not, why are you leaping with them?

Are you only paying attention to the negative things they said?

Or thinking about how they told you? When they told you? And what they told you?

Listening to the words of naysayers can block your ability to reach a goal and you can lose your focus.

My son texted me a picture of a toad this week while I was in a university meeting (tried not laughing as I was surrounded by colleagues-these moments from kids and their curiosity can be a great reminder of the importance of meaningful things). The picture he sent reminded me of an inspirational story I would share with students about being tired during the journey of reaching our goals and how during those times we have to surround ourselves with people who challenge us but also provide us positive and productive support.
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In my office, I have four little frogs that sit at the base of my computer that remind me of this story too.

The Story Of The Tiny Frog 🐸
There once was a bunch of tiny frogs who got together to arrange a competition to reach to the top of the highest tower in town.

As the date for the competition was announced, the news spread everywhere and crowd in large numbers gathered around the tower to see this interesting competition and cheer on the contestants. The crowd did not really believe any of these little frogs were going to make it to the top of the tower.

​Yet they were curious…

The competition began, the frogs quickly started to ascend and the crowd cheered!
As a few moments passed, someone from the crowd shouted, "Not a chance that they will succeed! The tower is too high!"

Another spectator said, "Yes, they will never make it to the top. It's way too difficult!"
As the competition continued, some of the tiny frogs began collapsing. One by one… tired… exhausted… But the race continued… as those who still had the fight left, passionately continued to climb higher and higher…

In the excitement and anxiety the crowd continued to yell, "It is too difficult. No one will make it!"

More tiny frogs got tired and gave up. They all continued to give up one by one, until there was only ONE little frog left in the competition who continued to climb higher and higher and higher…

This one wouldn’t give up!

This one tiny frog who, after a big effort was the only one who reached the top! This little soul was the winner! He made it! He got the glory!

Naturally, eveyrone wanted to know how this one tiny frog managed to pull it off when every other contestant gave up. Everybody wanted to know how this tiny frog had found the strength to reach this goal that everyone else thought was impossible.

So, they asked questions.

It turned out that the winner was deaf.

​(Retrieved from Kumar Gauraw, Challenging Complacency)

During times we are challenged and tired, we have to do our best to not listen to the naysayers and pay attention to our goal.

With this in mind, understand that I am not naïve.

I do need to be critiqued and receive direct feedback, it is important for growth. It is what you do with that feedback that matters. Typically, if I receive naysayer feedback about choices I have made or things that I am pursuing I take it in and then try to ground myself back into my purpose and why I do what I do.

I then seek out those in my inner circle (the right people) who can give me positive and productive feedback.

it is very easy for someone’s negative feedback to tear down what you are building making you want to give up. It’s even more difficult to stay the course when you are tired and in moments when you are not motivated.

​Sometimes we have to be deaf to the things that others say to weed out the distractions to live out our purpose and strive for our dreams.

Your truth tends to determine the people you attract and those within your inner circle. If you are not attracting the right people, examine the truth you are sharing. - Jeffrey G. Duarte