It is inevitable: success breeds hate. There are innumerable failures in the world, guys and chicks who struggle to make their mark and end up despising those who do. When haters get together, they can agree on only one thing: the object that they despise.

A positive attitude is the best antidote for dealing with haters. Smile, and the haters frown. Make a hater frown and you’re halfway to defeating him.

Why do haters hate? They have such cavernous inner lives, empty and soulless, that they need to express a derogatory opinion toward someone else. Haters are the bullies of the Opinion-World. They long to quiet the voices of others that are clear as a bell and beautiful to behold. Being ugly, a hater is no danger to anyone but can be a nuisance. The fondest wish of a hater is to find another hater to conspire with against the true, the strong, the beautiful.

When confronted by a hater’s challenging voice, give him a smirk. Wave at him casually. Treat him like a bull and you have the red flag. A hater deflates quickly when faced with a strong opponent who casually de-balls him. No hater has any stamina for the fight; they are quickly reduced to mutterings and under-the-breath remarks.

If you should face a group of haters, know this: they hate themselves and they hate each other. They have no real unity of purpose. They are like mindless lemmings seeking the sea. Their nature is such that they have to band together to reassure themselves that their voices are real. A sense of unreality pervades them.

One of the ways to dethrone a hater is to casually bring up the question of why they’re being so negative. Ask them if they get off on bringing everyone down. Ask them if they have any meaning in their lives, so that they can find interest in themselves, and not others.

Another thing that haters can’t deal with is when you have friends who side with you. The notion that their target is popular pulls down the castle of their haters’ words. All it takes is one voice outside of your own to armor you against low criticism and vitriol.

The worst thing you can do with a hater is take him seriously. Remember, he is defective. He is trying to spew his defectiveness onto your shoes like vomit. Don’t let him. A hater is only as tough as his support system, and most of them have none. The only thing you have to worry about is when your hater is above you in the hierarchy; then he must be defused, neutralized, so that you don’t get fired or reviewed negatively.