Who is your favorite athlete or celebrity? Who is your role model? Who are you dying to meet? Is there anyone out there that you will do anything for? What makes them likable?

Pause for a second and ponder this: who feels and thinks this same way about you?

Do not confuse the love of your gift/talent with the love for who you are.

Most times, people are not attracted to you; they are attracted to what you have to offer them.  Superstar athletes and musicians attract crowds and fill up world’s biggest arenas. However, do not mistake the love of the cheering and supportive fans.

The fans may appear to  love the superstar but once you disconnect the superstar from the activity you will discover that the fans only love  the performance. As long as the superstar is performing the fans are in love with them but once the superstar stops performing the love is gone.

Does this apply to you? Are you seeking fans or devoted followers?  You put your life on hold for people. You keep forcing friendships and relationships . You wish you are the one who gets all the attention.

You go above and beyond putting in effort to rekindle old flames and reconnect with someone who just keeps pushing you away. You are always in tears and medications over other people’s opinion of you.

What do you need to do?

Be likable.  Now you are probably thinking  -really? Is that all? Yes that’s all. Do not seek to be liked but be likable. Being likable means being polite, genuine, positive, confident, accepting your imperfections and smiling more.

Why should you seek to be likable?

No doubt you understand how stressful and sometimes depressing it is to get someone to like you. You might have experienced hate , ridicule or rejection from your boss, neighbors, colleagues, strangers and even friends or loved ones. These feelings and experiences drain you mentally, physically and emotionally.

You lose sleep and waste your valuable time worrying about being accepted. But you forget that the only thing you have absolute control over is yourself and not other people.

Renowned author and mega-preacher, Joel Osteen once said:

“25% of people you meet will never like you;

25% of people you meet won’t like you, but could be persuaded to;

25% of people you meet will like you but could be persuaded NOT to;

25% of people you meet will like you and always be there.“

Seeking to be liked by everyone or pleasing everyone is the recipe for depression, stress and frustration in your life. Act like everyone is on your side even when it’s clear that you are the only one on your side.

Remember to be yourself; it’s perfectly okay if they don’t like you.