3 min read

At least 1% of every crowd will always hate you

When I was younger, I was brash and loud, growing up in a country where being quiet and even-tempered is the social norm. Many people didn't like me because I was so brash and loud. They called me arrogant and self-centered, and "too confident".


Their frequent disapproval and corrections got to me. I know it shouldn't have. But I slowly adjusted my natural personality to fit their expectations: I tried to be quiet, timid and overly accommodating. Now I found that people didn't like me for being so "weak" and frequently tried to take advantage of me!


In those dark times of anger and disillusionment, I realized that no matter what you do or how kind you try to be, someone will always dislike you.


If you speak to a group of 100 people, how likely is it that 2-3 people in that crowd will dislike you? That's just 2 or 3%. Statistically, if only 2% of people dislike you, that's really, really great. Imagine if 97% of people who visited your store, bought what you have to offer!


However, humans are wired to pay closer attention to the negative.

Source: Extra Fabulous Comics

The number of people that will dislike you no matter what you do scales up with the number of people you come in contact with. Touch 10000 people's lives, and at least 300 of those people will hate your guts, ridicule you, or even try to sabotage you.


So it makes no sense to try and please everyone. All you can do is set good boundaries and make sure you're doing your best to treat others with the respect they deserve.