I’m sure you’ve heard this before, “You can’t please everyone.” It’s a typical response you’ll hear from a friend or loved one after you’ve done your best but still, someone is unhappy. We have a tendency to want to do our best at everything and seek approval from everyone on how well we’ve done. We want to be seen as someone who did a great job and made everyone happy. But I’m afraid that’s just about impossible. Perhaps The Donkey can help you see what I mean…
The Donkey
An old man, a boy and a donkey were going to town. The boy rode on the donkey and the old man walked. As they went along, they passed some people who remarked it was a shame the old man was walking and the boy was riding. The man and boy thought maybe the critics were right, so they changed positions.
Then, later, they passed some people who remarked, “What a shame, he makes that little boy walk.” So they then decided they’d both walk!
Soon they passed some more people who thought they were stupid to walk when they had a decent donkey to ride. So, they both rode the donkey. Now they passed some people who shamed them by saying how awful to put such a load on a poor donkey.
The boy and man figured they were probably right, so they decided to carry the donkey. As they crossed the bridge, they lost their grip on the animal and he fell into the river and drowned.
The moral of the story? If you try to please everyone, you might as well… Kiss your “donkey” goodbye! And even this ending won’t please everyone.
“Haters gonna hate.”
I’m sure you’ve heard someone say this before. No matter what you do, there will always be someone who isn’t happy with the result or look down on you even when you’ve done a good job. These are the haters people are referring to in the saying. These are the people who are unhappy with themselves and tend to be jealous or simply look for the negativity in everything. I wouldn’t try to please these people, because you never will.
The Takeaway
The truth is that you’ll never please everyone all of the time. Your best shot is to please some of the people some of the time. Do your best and put your best foot forward in everything you do. Be confident knowing you did a great job and be thankful for those you were able to help or please with the result. There will always be the people who are not satisfied, always negative, and look at the world through a narrow view. It’s not on you to please them. All you have to do is your best and you can confidently stand behind the results. Don’t go through life assessing how well you’ve done on whether you made everyone happy or if there are a few that think you fell short. There will always be a few that think you fell short and be dissatisfied. This says more about them than it does about you.
Remember, if you try to please everyone, you might as well kiss your “donkey” goodbye.