TYE AND ANN RUSTRUM
TYE AND ANN RUSTRUM
OVERCOMING OPPOSITION AND MOVING FORWARD
BY: ANN RUSTRUM & TYE RUSTRUM
Albert Einstein said, “Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.” Now I am definitely not a genius like Albert Einstein, but I interpret that quote as not your brain or book smarts, but your spirit, that deep-rooted part of your soul that yearns to do more. If you want to step out and live a life that most people will never live, than you are going to encounter opposition. Think about it though… why do you take their advice anyway? Are they going to love your kids, are they going to love your spouse, are they going to provide for your family, better your spiritual or emotional walk, or better your life in any way? If not, then don’t let people’s criticism get in the way of you living out your value system.
It is important to distinguish between opposition from:
- Those who do not know the core of who you are and why you do what you do versus
- Those who have a vested interest in your success in all walks of life and who love you.
In other words, understanding the difference between those who are likely cynical of any type of success (for example, spiritual, emotional, social, physical, financial, etc…) compared to those who share common values and goals of striving to be better. If you determine that the opposition is from a negative cynic, you have to learn to have the emotional capacity to not let it interfere with the activity that moves your goals and dreams forward. If the feedback is from someone who has a vested interest in your life take the constructive criticism and apply it to help you move forward.
Zig Ziglar said, “There has never been a statue erected to a critic.” Through my experience, this is absolutely true, but the question you have to ask yourself is, “Have I erected a statue in my own heart to a critic and allowed it to hold me back from greatness.” If you have, I encourage you to emotionally tear those statues down. Break those strongholds over your life. Listen and apply the feedback from those positive influences in your life. Don’t let anyone steal your dream.
When Tye and I first embarked into entrepreneurship, we were the definition of status. We both had great degrees and great jobs, but we were completely miserable and scared of getting out of our comfort zones. The problem was, my heart had started to become hard in corporate America. I had started to accept that my life was just going to be the same as everyone else that had a degree and a job. But then a little spark was ignited.
Mark Twain said, “Don’t let your schooling interfere with your education.” Education doesn’t stop once you stop going to school, unless you choose for it to stop. You have the ability to educate yourself every single day from people who live the life you want to live or who have accomplished something that you want to accomplish. It’s not about the financial success for Tye and I, it’s about every other area of success in life, our faith, our marriage, our relationship with our kids, our health.
It took me a while to take a look in the mirror and admit that I was miserable and I would have to do something that I didn’t like doing in order to change our situation. Your current work habit shows your belief in the future. If you believe that something will provide the life that you want to live, than your work habit will back that up. If you want a different ending, you have to change the beginning. I have been there and Tye and I are no better than you. We simply decided to not just watch the time click by, but to continually do what it does and keep going.
To you millenials, you do know that one day you will be 36 years old. To you 36 year olds (like me), we will one day be 56 years old. You 56 year olds will one day be 70. The time is going to pass no matter what. You have to do things purposefully to move forward. Although we have taken action to move our entrepreneurial ventures forward, there were years of time where we just let the time tick by. It just kept on going as we did everything except put in the action to make it happen. For example, we did house projects. I remember an entire summer flying by as we redid our hard wood floors, painted the trim, removed wall paper, spackled the walls, replaced our countertops. We pretty much remodeled our whole house because we wanted it to look different, not because it needed to be done. And we justified our inaction in our business.
If you’re not confident in your abilities now, just put in the action. Take one step at a time. The effect of doing what is right will be quiet confidence forever. You won’t have to be loud about your confidence. It will quietly grow, and people will see it through your actions and results. Stop talking about it and do it. And remember; don’t worry about your critics. One day their criticism that hurt your heart so badly, will be a reminder that you are so grateful that you are not one of them. My hope is that you eventually get to the point of forgiveness because that is the first step in tearing down the statue in your heart.
Tye and Ann Rustrum Blog
