Image via Wikipedia
Tom Monaghan founded Domino’s Pizza back in 1960.
Maybe you don’t like that brand of pizza – at the very least, you probably know someone who doesn’t. What does that mean? Not much, because as Tom Monaghan pointed out:
“You always get negative reactions. If you worry about that, you would never do anything.”
The point is that you will ALWAYS get some negative reactions to new ideas, or to your own, personal way of doing things. It didn’t dissuade Mr. Monaghan, who sold his company around fourteen or fifteen years ago for an estimated one billion dollars, (yes, that’s billion, with a “b”).
He has gone on to give away millions in philanthropic endeavors, often related in some way to his devout Catholicism, which also spurs a fair amount of negative reactions, (like most religions), which spills over onto Mr. Monaghan because of his support. None of that has stopped him from helping a lot of people with what he has earned or caused him to change what he believes.
This is a very simple message, really: forget about pleasing everybody, because you can’t. If you waited for everyone to agree with you, “you would never do anything.”
You only need one person to start, and that’s YOU, and YOUR idea, and YOUR passion and drive. With that in place, you will find that your audience will begin to discover you, and that beautiful energy will spread into greater-and-greater success. Of course, if your passion is illegal or unethical . . . well, I don’t think I need to go there; stick with integrity.
When it comes to those inevitable, “negative reactions,” live your life guided by the words of the late, great Admiral Farragut: “Damn the torpedoes!” Keep moving forward, and don’t allow a few bad reactions to dissuade you from your course. Doing so, you can be sure of reaching your destination.
Many Blessings To All…
