Gandhi is credited with a quote that embodies a struggle against the odds.
“First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. Then they fight you. Then you win.”
When you set out to do something new, something you are fully committing to, at first no one is going to pay attention. If you stick with it long enough, hopefully some people will start to take notice and some of those people will begin to ridicule you. Sad but very true.
This is probably where most start to feel like giving up, but it is absolutely the most important time to bite down and double your effort.
If you’re anything like me though, what you really want is for some people to try and fight you. Not physically of course but to attack you mentally, to stand in your way. If you get to this stage of onslaught then you are here because you are well past mere ridicule. When people want to fight you, then you know you’re doing something meaningful. At the same time, you want a strong force of people who love what you’re doing. The worst place to be is in the middle, where no one hates you and no one really loves you. It means no one is paying attention and you should go back to the drawing board altogether. If you have both sides of this, then it is up to you to stay positive and stick with the ones that love you, because love tends to be contagious, and as they say, love always wins.
When I quit my breakfast show on Rock FM in Preston during the middle of a recession when opportunities in the radio industry were shrinking, I lost count of how many people who said I was mad. Imagine their reaction when I told them the reason for doing this is because I wanted to be on Radio 1.
It took 15 months from the moment I decided to quit to the moment I received my first opportunity with the BBC station. 15 months without ‘being on the radio’. 15 months of being ignored.
Of course during this time I had conversations about opportunities but nothing became real for 15 months. How would your brain work during this time? Would you quit?
During that 15 month period the ridicule went up a notch too. Everyone has people in their life that love to watch them fail. Believe me I have plenty, and they were having a field day. How is your brain working now? Nothing is materialising and people are slagging you off? Have you quit yet?
Everyone now knows that I have been called to deputise the early breakfast programme for the last 9 months on Radio 1. During this time I’m sure the amount of people that don’t like what I do on the radio has risen , but I’d like to think that at an even greater rate the people who do like what I do has also grown. Turning the haters into lovers is a battle I enjoy.
So, as it stands, they’ve stopped ignoring me because I didn’t quit and the ridiculing vanished a long time ago because again I refused to listen to the nego’s. I’m currently embroiled in a fight which I’m not going to give up on and if Gandhi is right (which he normally is) we all know what comes next!
One Response to BLOG – First, they ignore you … – 16/1/12
I for one love what you do Adam and i can’t wait for you to win!! Love hearing you on the early morning show when Dev isn’t around and your tweets make me laugh….keep fighting x
By adam, On January 16, 2012 at 8:10 pm