Face it. People are going to mock your goals and dreams at some point or another. That doesn’t mean they’re right. That doesn’t mean your ideas are nonsense. It does mean that you need to cut those people out of your life.

One of the things I’m most grateful for is how supportive my family has always been. I’ve had several dreams that others have literally scoffed at. But not my family. One farfetched idea after the other, they would say, “If that’s what you want to do, do it. Make it happen.” How awesome is that?

This mindset that you can do whatever you want, and that it’s okay to do what you want as long as you’re doing it to the best of your ability, has done more than a little in shaping how I view the world. It affects everything I write, and how I’m able to influence others. What this support has helped me realize is that the last thing you need in your life is someone who won’t build you up.

You can have a best friend, who you obviously get along with immensely well. If you, let’s say, want to be a comedian, and they think that’s stupid, they don’t deserve your company. If you have a subjectively awesome startup business idea, and a friend or acquaintance thinks your idea would never work, drop them. Rather than tearing us down, we each need people in our lives who will say, “Okay, so how are you going to make that happen?”

At all times and in all situations, you need supportive people around you to grow. You need the people you spend time with to be influences you can learn from and emulate. If you share a dream or goal with someone, and they laugh, scoff, demean, or play down your aspirations, they don’t fit the criteria. They’re not who you need in your life, no matter how close you might be.

When people laugh at your dreams, it doesn’t mean you’re crazy. It also doesn’t give you permission to be rude back to them. But it does provide an opportunity for you to politely part ways. You deserve better.