Yesterday was a special day for me. The local newspaper in the town where I live, ran a feature story on the release of my new book, “It’s Great to Be YOU” on the front page in full color. When you live in a town of 3,500 people any news out of the ordinary (especially positive news) is a pretty special event. My book is a positive book about being successful on purpose and it provides tools for you to use based on where you are in your life right now as far as reaching your personal or professional goals. You would think that it would be hard to find negativness in a book that is totally positive and written with the sole intent to help others.

Enter the 95%-ers. It has been said that 5% of the people are leaders and 95% of the people conform. Now, that doesn’t mean that the 95%-ers are not contributing. Actually, the world needs the 95%-ers, however, in that category exists a sub group of individuals that complain about everything. 

It wasn’t but 10 minutes after the paper came out (in rural communities, people line up and wait for the paper, in this case, on Wednesday afternoons) that negative comments were flowing. Why would this be? Well, as you may have noticed in your life, a lot of people around you are not happy and they don’t want to see you happy either. It is much easier for them to criticize others than to make changes in their own life to better themselves and become happy on purpose. Criticism requires no ownership, but bettering yourself requires ownership and action. The coffee shops and lunchrooms will be buzzin’  with negativity for the next few days with people complaining about this positive news and why they would never buy that “stupid book.” The paradox is that these are the people who could really benefit from it.

Don’t get me wrong, there are many people that enjoyed the story and look forward to getting this book and the benefits that it may present to them.

How do you react to this negative behavior? While you want to try to convince people to have a different attitude, that usually will not work. As the saying goes, “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink it.”  These people know everything already and it is best to leave them to their group where misery loves company! The way to attack these behaviors is to stay positive, move forward and lead by example. Hopefully, they will recognize how your behaviors create a more positive life for you and they will decide to move in that direction.

One common thread between leaders and the 95%-ers is this: “What you give your energy/time to will grow flourish and prosper in your life, and what you deny your energy/time to will wither and die out of your life.” It all comes down to what you choose to do with your energy and time. How are you investing it? It is where you invest your energies , positive or negative, that determines where you end up. You are in control.

Positive thoughts and actions will yield positive results. Negative thoughts and actions will yield negative results. It is that simple. 

The question for you is, where are you investing your time and energy?

Create a great day for yourself and remember, It’s Great to Be YOU!