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We all need a little criticism in our lives. Otherwise how could we improve?

However, the carpers, the doubters and the envious we can do without.

Ex-president Theodore Roosevelt said it best,

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

And that is exactly what business is about. To succeed in business, life or anything you need to “DO.” For without action there’s no forward momentum that powers through the obstacles that life occasionally throws in our paths.

In all the time I’ve been in business there’s no doubt that I meet people in one of two mindsets:

• Those who know they know everything about business
• Those who remain open minded and are willing to try new things

And often the ones who think they know all about business, or have friends who can point them in the right direction don’t understand the value of learning things they don’t know yet. Or of having a coach who holds their feet to the fire when they don’t deliver on agreements.

The other thing they fail to realise is that if you pay for advice you pay attention to it! That means you improve your business. If you don’t pay you put what’s said to the back of your mind and nothing changes.

The open-minded try lots of new things, some work, some don’t. However, if you’ve implemented a new sales strategy that gets in an extra 10% of new sales isn’t that better than just staying as you were?

So when people criticise you for taking positive action refer them to the quote from Teddy Roosevelt.

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