(Below from John Maxwell’s book, Your Road Map For Success)

Achievement Over Affirmation

Affirmation from others is fickle and fleeting. If you want to make an impact during your lifetime, you have to trade the praise you could receive from others for the things of value that you can accomplish. You can’t be “one of the boys” and follow your destiny at the same time.

A friend once explained something to me that illustrates this concept very well. He grew up near the Atlantic Ocean, where people catch blue crabs for dinner. He told me as they catch the crabs, they’ll toss them into a bucket or basket. He said that if you have only one crab in the basket, you need a lid to keep it from crawling out, but if you’ve got two or more, you don’t. That didn’t make sense to me until he explained further. He said that when there are several crabs, they will drag each another down so that none of them can get away.

I’ve found that some unsuccessful people act the same way. They do all kinds of things to keep others from getting ahead, trying to prevent them from improving themselves or their situation. They use all kind of devices to keep others in the basket with them. But the good news is that if people try to do that, you don’t have to buy into their belief system. You can stay out of the basket by refusing to be a crab. You may have to face opposition and live through times of insecurity, but you’ll also experience freedom, increased potential, and satisfaction. Raise yourself up, and raise others with you.

~Evolution of Self
#success #people #motivation #dontbeacrab #achievement