The final discussion point pertaining to living fiercely in your everyday life has to do with the feedback you are going to receive from other people.
Regardless of how immune you consider yourself to be when it comes to the opinions of other people, we are all influenced by them to some degree.
Our inherent social nature as human beings causes us to absorb and interpret feedback from our peers, sometimes even on a subconscious level.
It is important to understand the value of listening to other people’s opinions. There are undoubtedly times when an opinion other than our own allows us to realize a mistake we may be making, giving us the chance to correct.
Oftentimes the successful individual is described as being able to completely block out all the voices around them, heeding the advice of no one and benefiting because of this ability. While this sounds cool, you must be able to discern when feedback is actually valid and when someone is giving it to detract from your success, coming from a place of negativity.
As it relates to being fierce, however, the negative feedback is the first obstacle to consider. For whatever reason, most people cannot handle the thought of someone else succeeding more than them.
It is fair to say that the average person wants to see their peers doing well, just not better than they are. As you are living a motivated, purpose-driven life, this natural tendency is going to be something you must deal with on an ongoing basis.
There are a variety of reasons that people resent seeing ambition in others. The most obvious reason is jealousy. It can be hard not to become jealous of someone who seems to be on the path to success and exudes dedication and focus.
Another common reason that you will receive criticism is because your success and sense of purpose has a way of blatantly highlighting the lack thereof in someone else. People will look at you and become much more aware of their own mediocrity and complacency. This sudden self-awareness can be a bitter pill to swallow.
These types of people are usually not going to keep their resentment to themselves. Instead, they will do whatever they can to discourage you and try to make you feel foolish for pursuing things that they will never obtain. While this may come in the form of outright negative comments and behavior, which is the easiest form of criticism to detect, it can also be much more subtle.
What does this look like? A good example is one of your peers giving the impression that they are simply looking out for you and don’t wish to see you hurt or disappointed when you inevitably fail. There are people who will act supportive and encouraging to your face only to mock and trash talk you to everyone else who will listen.
While doubters and naysayers are the people whose opinions can derail your process, even those around you who genuinely sing your praises and encourage you can become a detriment as well if you let them.
Just as criticism can creep into your mind and cause you to lose focus and motivation, allowing yourself to depend on external encouragement too much is a risky move. This is a peculiar point, as most would assume that having people in your corner who are truly rooting for you could only add fuel to your fire.
The problem here is that there are going to be times when encouragement is hard to find. People have a much easier time rooting for you when you are on a roll, experiencing success after success. Remember though, the path to success is filled with highs and lows.
Regardless of how supportive some may be, you are simply not going to receive as much praise and admiration when you go through the low points. Failure and after failure, you will notice that your fan club seems to diminish, only to grow yet again when you get back on track and start succeeding again. If you allow praise to become one of your primary sources of motivation, you will struggle greatly when it isn’t there.
Living fiercely means that you do not allow praise to get to your head or criticism to get to your heart. Being fierce grants you the ability to push through all of the naysayers, fair weather fans and constant opinions of other people and continue towards your goals.
You must come to the understanding that your own internal feedback is the only opinion you can count on to remain consistent through thick and thin. While both criticism and praise can provide effective sources of motivation when used properly, they are never guaranteed. The truly remarkable individuals of any age and time have always been able to draw on something deep within themselves to fuel their fire.
This internal motor can be based on a number of things. For some, the simple desire to maximize their human potential and squeeze out every ounce of talent they possess is so strong that it becomes the means by which they actually do.
Maybe the underlying cause behind why they decide to keep going despite the inevitable series of difficulties and challenges stems from a problem in the world that they have identified and chosen to improve at all costs. Both of these are reliable sources of motivation because they come from within the individual.
Given that living a fierce life hinges on your ability to draw motivation from inside yourself instead of depending on external feedback, it would make sense that whatever serves as the source for this motivation better be something that truly resonates within your entire being.
Oftentimes, we will see people who get so fired up about something and charge full speed ahead into a process, only to give up shortly thereafter when this beginners enthusiasm fades out and they are left with the reality of just how long the road ahead continues.
There is no greater example of this than your local gym at the beginning of each new year. It makes no difference how driven you are to achieve a goal or make a change for the better if the reasoning for doing so cannot match this drive.
Living fiercely means to remain hellbent on accomplishing what you set out to accomplish.
This ferocity is not going to carry over into every aspect of your life because it simply cannot, you will spread yourself too thin. Try as you may, attempting to fiercely approach each and every facet of your daily life is not going to allow you to fully engage the parts you are truly passionate about. With that being said, it is paramount that you are selective about what you choose to fiercely pursue. A marginal percentage of your effort applied to too many things is much less impactful than a large portion of its laser-focused on a handful of causes.
Being fierce in your daily life, while there are traits that remain universal for everyone, is going to mean something specific and unique to you. When you are able to channel your greatest passions, set lofty goals for yourself that many others would not even attempt and allow your efforts to rely on an internal source of motivation instead of the fickle, inconsistent sources provided from other people, you are then living life fiercely.
If this sounds like a difficult trait to achieve and maintain, that’s because it is. Consequently, that is precisely why the vast majority of those around you do not live a fierce life. However, assuming that you have ventured this far into our discussion, you have decided that the status quo is not for you.
You have realized at some point that you want more out of life than the complacency and monotony found within your comfort zone. This realization alone serves as the essential first step on the path to high achievement.
