You Can Please Some of the People...

Have you ever heard that old saying, "You can please some of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time?"

I was reminded of that statement earlier today when something interesting happened. (I was also thinking that the belief I mentioned above is less than empowering, and I deserve to replace it with something else entirely!)

You know, I've written about this before, but I'm always amazed by the way individual people can have very different perspectives about the same incident.

This is what happened.

I sent out an email recently and it was in my typical no-holds-barred style. Within minutes, I received an email from someone who was praising my style and my message, telling me how much she loves to get my emails.

I won't lie -- it always feels pretty good when I get emails like that. Certainly beats the alternative!

Then, several hours later, I received a different email from another person who informed me that she didn't like my style and message, and she had unsubscribed.

Which didn't really bother me. I mean, come on -- if you've followed my work for any period of time, you know I'm bound to say something that offends you. And if you're easily offended, you're just not going to resonate with me. Which means you're probably better off unsubscribing NOW rather than getting ticked off every time I show up in your in-box, right?

Well, that's the way I saw it anyway. I mean, whenever I've REALLY been out of line, I always apologize. In fact, there are postings of THAT nature in this very blog!

But I wasn't out of line in this email. I'm certain of that. This was more of a personal preference issue.

And if I went around trying to please everyone, I wouldn't be serving anyone, do you get my drift?

So how is this relevant to you? Well, it's EXTREMELY relevant!

See, most people don't ever get off their butts and DO anything because they're afraid everyone won't like it! They won't say what's on their mind because they're afraid of offending someone. They're afraid people won't like them.

This is all perfectly normal, by the way. I certainly wasn't jumping up and down when I received the email from the 2nd person -- I wasn't thinking "Woo-hoo! Someone doesn't like me! Yeah!" Everyone wants to be liked, that's all perfectly human.

But to withhold showing your true colors -- to hold back on being who you TRULY are to avoid bothering or offending anyone -- well, this may be the greatest evidence in the world of missing the mark.

Because I am all about taking a stand for you -- I will call you on your crap for as long as I can talk, and as long as you'll listen.

Because we both know it's what you really, really want. You have enough people in your life who will ask how's it going and actually believe you when you rattle off an absent-minded "fine."

We all have too many of those, don't we?

What we really want is someone who will push our buttons -- who will FORCE us to see that we are far too magnificent to settle for mediocre. Yeah! That's what I want.

I just hired a new business coach, and I will tell you straight up: she kicks ASS. And she will NOT stand for any of my crap. She cares too much about me and my business to listen to any of my sorry excuses. She pushes me to reach further, and she is a stand for my greatness and THAT is how I know she cares about me and my success.

Everyone deserves to have someone like THAT in their lives. And I know, no kidding, I KNOW that not everyone can afford someone of her (or my) caliber.

That's why I spend so much time posting what I consider to be valuable info on this very blog -- and I make it available to the world. FOR FREE.

Because if you ask me, the world could use a little ass-kicking.

So forgive me if anything I say offends you, or if you don't like my style.

But I can only be me, and me, and nothing else but ME.

And I sure as heck expect the same from you.

Rock on, my friend. Now get out there and go be YOU. The world is waiting for it.

QoD: Where in your life are you most likely to hold back and pretend to be something other than your truest, most authentic YOU? What is the worst that would happen if you were to take your foot off the brake in this regard? What are you waiting for?

If you are waiting for permission, listen up:

By the power vested in me, by the Internet, I hereby grant you full, no-holds-barred permission to be YOU.

Now go for it, you beautiful thing you.