A reporter once asked an insightful question when interviewing a woman from the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. How does it feel to get a standing ovation from the crowd at the end of your performance and then wake up in the morning to a negative review in the newspaper? Her response was even more insightful. She said over time she has learned not to pay attention to the applause of the crowd or the disapproval of the critics. She was only after the approval of her conductor. After all, he was the only person who really knew how she was supposed to perform.
Sometimes, we can be tempted to do what we do for the approval of people. Applause can become the fuel necessary to feel significant. When approval is a driving force in your life, it messes with your motives. You run decisions through the filter of What will people think? rather than What is the right thing to do? We not only respond to applause, we react to criticism. It's as if compliments are written in sand, but criticism is written in wet cement.
At the end of the day, it is only God (our Conductor) who will evaluate your life. Not on the world's definition of success but on His definition of faithfulness. May the only Well done that we seek to hear be from our Heavenly Father...in His grip.
Colossians 3:23
Coach's tip - Business is much like surfing. I cannot control the wave. But I can control how I prepare for it, ride it and maneuver through it.
Approval Addiction by Lance Witt in Replenish
Wits End - What's Going Into Your Head?