Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. ~Albert Einstein [tweet this]
"You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks." ~Winston Churchill [tweet this]
An inspiring story from my collections, is the story of a tiny frog who achieved the impossible. Several years ago a friend of mine sent this story in an email and it remained in my collection as one my favorite inspiring stories that teaches the value focus and intensity. I hope you enjoy this as much as I have over the years!
The Story Of The Tiny Frog
There once was a bunch of tiny frogs who got together to arrange a competition to reach to the top of the highest tower in town.
As the date for the competition was announced, the news spread everywhere and crowd in large numbers gathered around the tower to see this interesting competition and cheer on the contestants. The crowd did not really believe any of these little frogs were going to make it to the top of the tower. Yet they were curious…
The competition began, the frogs quickly started to ascend and the crowd cheered!
As a few moments passed, someone from the crowd shouted, "Not a chance that they will succeed! The tower is too high!"
Another spectator said, "Yes, they will never make it to the top. It's way too difficult!"
As the competition continued, some of the tiny frogs began collapsing. One by one… tired… exhausted… But the race continued… as those who still had the fight left, passionately continued to climb higher and higher…
In the excitement and anxiety the crowd continued to yell, "It is too difficult. No one will make it!"
More tiny frogs got tired and gave up. They all continued to give up one by one, until there was only ONE little frog left in the competition who continued to climb higher and higher and higher…
This one wouldn’t give up!
This one tiny frog who, after a big effort was the only one who reached the top! This little soul was the winner! He made it! He got the glory!
Naturally, eveyrone wanted to know how this one tiny frog managed to pull it off when every other contestant gave up. Everybody wanted to know how this tiny frog had found the strength to reach this goal that everyone else thought it was impossible. So, they asked questions.
It turned out that the winner was deaf.
The Moral Of The Story
Be deaf when people tell you that you can not fulfill your dreams and goals. [tweet this]
Winners never pay attention to what other people’s opinions are when it comes to their dreams and goals. Focus on your goal and march in confidence. People who are not playing with you, people who are not helping you reach your destination, will always have opinions and generally – a negative one. Do not pay any attention to them.
Recommended Resources On Dealing With Negative
If this story inspired you, you may want to grab these two phenomenal books:
- Kiss That Frog!: 12 Great Ways to Turn Negatives into Positives in Your Life and Work
- Emotional Vampires: Dealing With People Who Drain You Dry
Questions For You:
- Have you experienced negativity of other people when you started to do something new?
- Do you see negative opinions of others as an obstacle on the path?
- How do you suggest one can overcome this challenge and move ahead on their chosen path?
Please share your thoughts in the comments section now.
Hello Kumar,
Love the frog story!
I agree with filtering out the voices that seek to discourage us, and I understand the sense from which the story you shared arises. That being said, personally, I have never turned a deaf ear to criticism for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, I treat all people as my potential teacher because wisdom is invaluable and there may be something that I need to learn. Sometimes self-evaluation reveals the critics are right and there is room for improvement.Secondly, I use criticism as the spark to ignite my creativity… as motivation to BE better.
Warm Regards,
Bill
http://www.williambutler.ca
Bill,
Thank you for taking time to respond. I always value your words of wisdom.
To the context of being open to criticism, I see your point and agree. I am all for taking criticism to self evaluate for personal growth and improvements.
I am not against taking criticism, yes, it is important. But everything has it’s place and timing. When I know what I am doing, when I am already in the game and my coach says, “You are all set. You can do it”, and then if I keep my eyes and ears open to the negative elements, they will steal my dream. I must protect my brain from the unqualified people from cluttering it with their negativity. Don’t you agree?
I certainly agree that a maintaining a strong sense of who we are is important.
We all make choices in life as to what we allow or don’t allow to influence and impact us.
While I allow for the possibility of improvement through constructive criticism.
I do not allow negativity to invade or interfere… or anyone to rob me of my peace.
Thank you, Bill for clarifying. We are on the same side, again!
Awesome Post! And yes, this is very positive attitude story! I’m gonna share this post to all my connections! Thank you!!
Oh, Thank you Rishabh. I am sure they will enjoy it as much as you did!
This is one my favorite stories as well. We all need feedback from other people, our mentors, people we trust for guidance before we take the first step in the direction of our goals.
We also need direction from time to time (depending on the situation) from our mentors to achieve what we set out to achieve. But once we are ready, we must close our eyes from the distractions and ignore all criticism. Otherwise, there are many ways we can never reach the destination.
Great message in the story and worth revisiting from time to time.
The story is really inspiring. LIKE LIKE LIKE..:-)
Thanks Ankit. I am very proud of you for your willingness to learn and grow. Keep up with your great spirit!
Nice post!!!
This story is very inspiring once the most turning point of this is eventually last line “It turned out that the winner was deaf.”
If you look at past all great person has gone through many difficulties; but they succeed and today world salute those man.
I remember when Charles Darwin published his theory of evolution with compelling evidence in his 1859 book “On the Origin of Species”
Responses to publication were very adverse even he was boycotted from his society; then Darwin had only said
“Light will be thrown on the origin of man”,
But the first review claimed it made a creed of the “men from monkeys” idea from Vestiges.
I would like at add below quotes from Zig Ziglar
“You do not pay the price of success, you enjoy the price of success.”
I like the quote from Zig Ziglar very much. Thank you for sharing Ranjan ji. Appreciate your commentary!
Awesome Story Kumar! Enjoyed it.. 🙂 Definitely acting deaf for negatives will take us ahead..
Thank you, Rajendra. You have always demonstrated that ability. Keep up your great work! We are very proud of you!
Nice story Kumar. People should pay attention only to the constructive criticism not to the one without substance.
That is so absolutely true, Sudhir. Thanks for your response.
Thank you so much Sir, A great technique to get avoided from Negativity. I would like to know how can you make an alcoholic person to completely quit alcohol? Please advice me as I need to bring one such person to quit addiction from alcohol and make him a normal good attitude person although I have tried several means and ways to bring him to right path.