As you pursue your dreams, you may find it difficult to handle the negative feedback from people close to you. The people who spoke against your goals and dreams will be the same people trying to control what you do as you work to achieve them.

You might be told that you need to do this or that, and if you let others guide you to the lane they want you in, your dream will never be realized. That’s why it’s so important not to let others push you out of your lane—like this woman tried to do with me at the beginning of my speaking career.

BOSSY MS. CATHY

One day I went to a speech club, and there was this woman in her mid-50s named Cathy, who loved my voice. She said, "You have a great voice, but the only thing I don't like is that you're doing motivation. You keep giving these inspirational speeches. Why don't you start talking more about politics? Why don't you start talking about religion? Those things will be a better fit for you."

Even though I appreciated her suggestion, I explained to her that it wasn't what I planned to do with my speaking career. I thought this person would have understood that that's not the direction I wanted to go, but I was wrong.

I WASN'T HAVING IT!

She became more forceful about it. I remember after I competed in a speech competition, she said to me in front of a group of people, "Gene, you need to be doing something other than just motivational speaking." She was trying to push me out of my lane, and I wasn't having it. Instead of doing what other people would do - which is give into what somebody else wants in order to win their approval - I stood my ground.

I looked right into her eyes and said, "Ms. Cathy, I'm doing what I was born to do and that is the way it will be. If you want to speak on politics or religion, go ahead and do it but do not tell me what I need to do with my voice." She became flustered and said, "I wasn't trying to tell you what to do with your voice Gene." "Yes you were and it stops today."

IT'S NOT MY PROBLEM

Ms. Cathy walked away and barely spoke to me after that day, which was okay with me. I decided that I wasn't going to let her push me out of my lane, and if she couldn't respect that, it was her problem, not mine.

You'll have to do the same with your dream when someone tries to push you out of your lane. So I want to encourage you to stand strong for your dream and don't let anyone push you out of your lane because You Are WORTHY TO BE GREAT!