Why Do People Hate on Other People’s Success?
“My coach told me that haters are like crickets. Crickets make a lot of noise; you hear them but you can’t see them. Then, right when you walk by them, they’re quiet. At least the cockroach doesn’t pretend to be anything else. I know where it stands.”
Everyone loves a good entrepreneurial story on the way up, but as soon as you make it, they all want to see you come down. Success brings out jealousy and haters. I don’t know why… it’s already hard enough to live life as it is, why shouldn’t we celebrate those who make it so we can learn together and create more successful stories?
Many of my billionaire and multi-millionaire friends are afraid to share their success stories because in many countries, if you raise your head above the weeds someone is going to want to chop it off. I get many emails and Facebook messages from entrepreneurs who ask how I deal so well with the haters. I used to let it bother me a lot, but now I have come to two realizations about haters.
- Whoever is trying to bring you down is below you.
- Haters don’t hate you, they hate themselves because you’re a reflection of what they wish to be.
So here is some advice for you. We all have a hard time dealing with people who only seem to want to see you fail. When someone can’t do something, they want to tell you that you can’t do it either. I love when people say “JT Foxx is a Scam and Fraud.” I will ask them where they heard that, and they usually respond that their friend’s cousin’s brother went to one of my events, or something stupid along those lines. It’s all third party information, kind of like when you play a game of telephone and the final message ends up being completely different than when you first started. Many people hate because they can’t afford your product or service, and in fact, most reviews online are BS. I mean, what successful person has time to write wonderful, long emails about how happy they are. They are too busy living their lives, whereas negative people are busy and up at 1am writing 3 pages of disaffection comments.
You would think that after all the companies I own, the tens of thousands of people I have helped around the world, all the charity work I do, and the countries I have changed, that maybe the haters would give me respect. I know it’s wishful thinking, and no matter what I do they will never be happy until they see me fail.
John F. Kennedy once said “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” For those who hate, show me your resume; show me what you have done; show me how you have impacted the lives others, and how much you have given to charity. I don’t pretend to be better than anyone else, but I bust my ass every day to make sure I get results and to change people’s lives.
So, here are some tips for you to rise above the haters:
- Fire negative people from your life.
- Surround yourself with positive and more successful people than you.
- Expect that people will be jealous of your success.
- When attacked, smile and say “I’m sorry I’ve been such a disappointment to you.”
- Don’t threaten back, because that’s what the haters want.
- Sometimes you need to respond back, not to get back at the other person but to send a message to all those watching that you don’t take crap.
I saw a tweet from Mr. Trump, who by the way, laughs at the haters. It’s actually pretty funny, he said “If you don’t publicize your successes, your competitors will belittle them.”
In the end, I’m here to tell you that I believe in you and I want you to be successful, whether I know you or not. Life is too short for hate. It’s not easy becoming successful, but when you do reach that goal (whatever that is for you) I invite you to join me at the top. Not only is there more room at the top, but you eat far better.
Your #1 Fan, loving life.
JT Foxx
Serial Entrepreneur
World’s #1 Coach
P.S. Haters just make you more famous.