Put the blinders on.

"A real leader cannot be slandered or damaged by lies of the envious, because all such attempts serve only to turn the spotlight on the leader's ability, and real ability always finds a generous following. Attempts to destroy real Leadership is love's labor lost, because that which deserves to live, lives!" Napoleon Hill, Law of Success

If you are truly on a path towards greatness, or achieving some definite aim, you will have to be guarded against all the negative things that people will say or do to you. Most people want to "protect" you from the pain of a great failure, it is their aim to keep you safe. At least that is what they tell themselves and sometimes what you tell yourself. The sad reality of this is that their fear has it's roots firmly planted in envy. They want you to stay exactly where you are, exactly where they are. They fear that if they can't do it why should you be able too. People like the idea of people succeeding and getting ahead but only after it has already happened. They like to look back and say "I knew they could do it.". That is rarely displayed while you are in the process of succeeding. You would probably hear words like risky, dangerous, foolish, and whatever else you can think of to try and demean the efforts of another. Henry Ford is one of the greatest example of this. He was told over and over again that he would never amount to anything and that stupid "horseless buggy" would never be created much less marketed and sold. Thank God he kept focused on what he was doing, could you imagine where we would be today without his vision.

If you are blessed enough to be able to lead people in any endeavor, you must be unshakable in your resolve to complete the clearly stated objective. People will follow a true leader with these qualities to the ends of the earth. You can bet that envy and jealousy of others will try to stumble their giant steps only to be trampled on like so much of their own broken dreams. So, do what you know in your heart to be true and just, the right people will notice and they will follow.