Don’t try to please everybody

Even though we are unique in all ways, we tend to fall into one of two traps:

1.    Thinking too much of ourselves.  

Harry Truman was thrust into the presidency of the United States by the death of Franklin Roosevelt.  That is when Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the House, took him aside and said,

“From here on out you are going to have lots of people around you, and they are going to tell you what a great man you are.  But Harry…you know and I know you are not.’” 

Truman took that advice to heart, and became a truly great president.  

To succeed in the assignment God has given you in life you need two things – dependence on God and confidence in God.  As long as those two things are in place you will succeed.

     2.    Thinking too little of ourselves.  

Many of us have made it our goal to change someone’s opinion of us; to prove to them that we are valuable.  

Until you stop agreeing with the opinions of those who criticize you, you will remain locked in a prison of your own making.  When your critic’s opinion becomes your opinion, you have built a prison inside your soul with only one prisoner – YOU.  

The fact is, some of the people you have spent your life trying to impress may never be impressed.  And you need to accept that from God’s perspective, it doesn’t matter!  

To succeed in life, you must be able to work alongside others without letting yourself be controlled by their moods and opinions.